SSFS updates? We are thinking about it for a last minute HS switch

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

The school has had this issue for some time. No one talks about the elephant in the room. What happened to drive people away in the first place? Not all schools are losing 10/25/50% of their students. But ssfs did. Why? Not the same reason for everyone but clearly multiple problems existed that drove ppl away, I hope the admin at least Kate paying attention to those exit interviews even if they don’t say out loud what the answers are. Because if the problems aren’t fixed they will continue to struggle with enrollment. School can’t never recover until they can attract students.

Are you staying or going? Are you interested in solving any problems or just complaining? Are you interested in moving forward with this renaissance or hanging out in the past? This is a broken record.

[Anonymous]

I’d ask if they closed again, how would you get college recs, transcripts, etc. They will probably say they plan to stay open but I’d want to know what was the plan in place for the current juniors when they announced they were closing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d ask if they closed again, how would you get college recs, transcripts, etc. They will probably say they plan to stay open but I’d want to know what was the plan in place for the current juniors when they announced they were closing?

If they close again students would need to pull necessary records in advance. Thats even for students who choose not to return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

The school has had this issue for some time. No one talks about the elephant in the room. What happened to drive people away in the first place? Not all schools are losing 10/25/50% of their students. But ssfs did. Why? Not the same reason for everyone but clearly multiple problems existed that drove ppl away, I hope the admin at least Kate paying attention to those exit interviews even if they don’t say out loud what the answers are. Because if the problems aren’t fixed they will continue to struggle with enrollment. School can’t never recover until they can attract students.

Are you staying or going? Are you interested in solving any problems or just complaining? Are you interested in moving forward with this renaissance or hanging out in the past? This is a broken record.

Please do fill us in on how the school has acknowledged the reasons for the enrollment drop, and what changes they are implementing. Otherwise it's just sleepwalking down the same path as before, and throwing away 22 million in the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

SSFS was a literal lifesaver for one of our kids many years ago, so I was sad to read about its closing and elated that the closing has been averted.

That you continue to participate in discussions about the school having already made the decision to leave is not productive and certainly does the school no favors. Why must you persist in doing so?

[Anonymous]

It’s important to understand what went wrong in order to prevent it from happening again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

SSFS was a literal lifesaver for one of our kids many years ago, so I was sad to read about its closing and elated that the closing has been averted.

That you continue to participate in discussions about the school having already made the decision to leave is not productive and certainly does the school no favors. Why must you persist in doing so?

Because it's not a bad thing that I still care. And because failing to understand the past means continuing to fail.

[Anonymous]

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

SSFS was a literal lifesaver for one of our kids many years ago, so I was sad to read about its closing and elated that the closing has been averted.

That you continue to participate in discussions about the school having already made the decision to leave is not productive and certainly does the school no favors. Why must you persist in doing so?

Because the people who are whistling past the graveyard are the ones doing the school no favors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

The school has had this issue for some time. No one talks about the elephant in the room. What happened to drive people away in the first place? Not all schools are losing 10/25/50% of their students. But ssfs did. Why? Not the same reason for everyone but clearly multiple problems existed that drove ppl away, I hope the admin at least Kate paying attention to those exit interviews even if they don’t say out loud what the answers are. Because if the problems aren’t fixed they will continue to struggle with enrollment. School can’t never recover until they can attract students.

Are you staying or going? Are you interested in solving any problems or just complaining? Are you interested in moving forward with this renaissance or hanging out in the past? This is a broken record.

Please do fill us in on how the school has acknowledged the reasons for the enrollment drop, and what changes they are implementing. Otherwise it's just sleepwalking down the same path as before, and throwing away 22 million in the process.

Please fill us in on why you are interested? The school has been quite clear on the changes they are implementing. Perhaps you are just no longer privy to that information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d ask if they closed again, how would you get college recs, transcripts, etc. They will probably say they plan to stay open but I’d want to know what was the plan in place for the current juniors when they announced they were closing?

If they close again students would need to pull necessary records in advance. Thats even for students who choose not to return.

Ok but how would juniors get college recommendations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

The school has had this issue for some time. No one talks about the elephant in the room. What happened to drive people away in the first place? Not all schools are losing 10/25/50% of their students. But ssfs did. Why? Not the same reason for everyone but clearly multiple problems existed that drove ppl away, I hope the admin at least Kate paying attention to those exit interviews even if they don’t say out loud what the answers are. Because if the problems aren’t fixed they will continue to struggle with enrollment. School can’t never recover until they can attract students.

Are you staying or going? Are you interested in solving any problems or just complaining? Are you interested in moving forward with this renaissance or hanging out in the past? This is a broken record.

Please do fill us in on how the school has acknowledged the reasons for the enrollment drop, and what changes they are implementing. Otherwise it's just sleepwalking down the same path as before, and throwing away 22 million in the process.

Please fill us in on why you are interested? The school has been quite clear on the changes they are implementing. Perhaps you are just no longer privy to that information.

Because I still care about SSFS and don't want to see it fail.

Why don't you help OP out with a brief summary of the changes. Since it's a reasonable enough question for a prospective family, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d ask if they closed again, how would you get college recs, transcripts, etc. They will probably say they plan to stay open but I’d want to know what was the plan in place for the current juniors when they announced they were closing?

If they close again students would need to pull necessary records in advance. Thats even for students who choose not to return.

Ok but how would juniors get college recommendations?

After the closure announcement, the school set up a site for students to get all of the documents that they need, including transcripts, recs, etc. My student had teachers offer to write letters of recommendation, and my understanding is that all of the documents would have been sent over to the student's new school (and that is what's happening for students who are leaving).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question as a family choosing not to go back to high school this year. Those of you who are returning - are you not troubled that for all the talk about finances past and future, no one is talking about why the school lost 200 enrollments from fall of 2023 to Spring of 2025? 690 kids to 495 — and that’s why they thought they had to close the school. Now with reopening they are at 326.

They had to shut the school because of a huge exodus of families and there has been zero discussion of the underlying reasons for that. I have been at every board meeting, coalition call, and all over Slack.

The fact that there was something so broken that almost 1/3 of families left and no one wants to talk about that - we couldn’t overcome that. But I am finding it so amazing that so many families don’t have insurmountable problems with that.

The school has had this issue for some time. No one talks about the elephant in the room. What happened to drive people away in the first place? Not all schools are losing 10/25/50% of their students. But ssfs did. Why? Not the same reason for everyone but clearly multiple problems existed that drove ppl away, I hope the admin at least Kate paying attention to those exit interviews even if they don’t say out loud what the answers are. Because if the problems aren’t fixed they will continue to struggle with enrollment. School can’t never recover until they can attract students.

Are you staying or going? Are you interested in solving any problems or just complaining? Are you interested in moving forward with this renaissance or hanging out in the past? This is a broken record.

Please do fill us in on how the school has acknowledged the reasons for the enrollment drop, and what changes they are implementing. Otherwise it's just sleepwalking down the same path as before, and throwing away 22 million in the process.

Please fill us in on why you are interested? The school has been quite clear on the changes they are implementing. Perhaps you are just no longer privy to that information.

Because I still care about SSFS and don't want to see it fail.

Why don't you help OP out with a brief summary of the changes. Since it's a reasonable enough question for a prospective family, right?

Because I'm not going to play your "game". The gaslighting that continues from SSFS forum to forum is motivated by either resentment of the school or insecurity with the decision to leave. The facade of "caring" about the school is easy to see through when you choose to make your claims or raise your fake questions on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d ask if they closed again, how would you get college recs, transcripts, etc. They will probably say they plan to stay open but I’d want to know what was the plan in place for the current juniors when they announced they were closing?

If they close again students would need to pull necessary records in advance. Thats even for students who choose not to return.

Ok but how would juniors get college recommendations?

After the closure announcement, the school set up a site for students to get all of the documents that they need, including transcripts, recs, etc. My student had teachers offer to write letters of recommendation, and my understanding is that all of the documents would have been sent over to the student's new school (and that is what's happening for students who are leaving).

Thats fantastic. I would think College AOs would be sympathetic to a students school closing but getting the recs from a teacher who knows them is definitely an asset.