Ideas please: Opening a new Private in upper MoCo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just because you see a need to be filled doesn’t meant there is anything close to a business model to sustain it. Strongly recommend you hire someone who understands the complex financials required not just to start a school but to navigate rough economic times. have seen this movie many times. Parents think they understand how schools work but have completely distorted lens on what’s required. Remember as parents you are really just customers.

For that reason, I suggested the micro school route above. The bar for entry is significantly lower and you can build the car as you test drive it.

If we heeded consultants advice, nothing new would ever be done/invented/improved. If you are going to do it for your own kid, no matter what- you lose nothing by expanding to a wider net. Innovations in education are huge right now. I also suggest listening to Kerry McDonald’s “LiberatED” podcast. She interviews founders in every episode.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just because you see a need to be filled doesn’t meant there is anything close to a business model to sustain it. Strongly recommend you hire someone who understands the complex financials required not just to start a school but to navigate rough economic times. have seen this movie many times. Parents think they understand how schools work but have completely distorted lens on what’s required. Remember as parents you are really just customers.

For that reason, I suggested the micro school route above. The bar for entry is significantly lower and you can build the car as you test drive it.

If we heeded consultants advice, nothing new would ever be done/invented/improved. If you are going to do it for your own kid, no matter what- you lose nothing by expanding to a wider net. Innovations in education are huge right now. I also suggest listening to Kerry McDonald’s “LiberatED” podcast. She interviews founders in every episode.

Depends very much how much capital you have up front and how much you are willing to burn through aiming for a break-even point. A school needs premises, equipment, and staff for teaching and admin. There is a number you can figure for minimum costs well into six figures (plus a contingency on top of that).

If your number is $300K and you can get 15 students paying $20K each, it can work. The upside is that you can easily wind down a school after a year (provided your lease has an out).

Sycamore School was founded exactly like that with a small student group that grew later.

[Anonymous]

Not to analysis paralysis you, but it may also be worth looking at a couple of different *types* of schools, if only to get a better feeling for the trade-offs involved, a broader overview of curricula available, various challenges, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Non- traditional post.

Group of parents are looking into starting a new independent school in “upper MoCo” (Rockville and Northwest). School would concept would be similar to the Nora School in Silver Spring, Linder or New School in VA.

Essentially a small school for “quirky” kids who are college bound. Think relaxed, no uniforms, small classes, and bucolic setting in Darnestown.

Does anyone know a consultant who specializes in starting private schools? Or, recommendations on how to get started?

It’s a lot to ask but there is a market for it.

Darnestown is the sticks. It’s not like a nice school in a cool area - for example like Georgetown Visitation which is smack in middle of gorgeous Georgetown.

[Anonymous]

School administrator here. If you're going to try this, definitely the micro-school approach would be safest. You're trying to enter an over-saturated market (top 3 in the country) of independent schools. Some schools are struggling to stay open.

You're going to need far, far more money than you're anticipating. Who are your donors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Non- traditional post.

Group of parents are looking into starting a new independent school in “upper MoCo” (Rockville and Northwest). School would concept would be similar to the Nora School in Silver Spring, Linder or New School in VA.

Essentially a small school for “quirky” kids who are college bound. Think relaxed, no uniforms, small classes, and bucolic setting in Darnestown.

Does anyone know a consultant who specializes in starting private schools? Or, recommendations on how to get started?

It’s a lot to ask but there is a market for it.

Darnestown is the sticks. It’s not like a nice school in a cool area - for example like Georgetown Visitation which is smack in middle of gorgeous Georgetown.

Someone doesn’t know what bucolic means…. Perhaps you can go to this school when it opens?

[Anonymous]

You need to find people who have started micro schools or charter schools. You also need to be clear on what grade levels, what type of model and curriculum. And you need to understand who your target audience is. People may say they want private school, but when it comes to paying they are going to have varied ideas about what they are willing to pay for and how much they are willing/can afford to pay.

What have you thought through already? Take some time and list to out what you “think” is required to start and run a school and put together what you think would be the budget. This is not about analysis paralysis, but getting together an understanding of what you’re actually trying to develop. One way to do this, think about what you’d need if it was a homeschool with two kids. Then five, then 10. What changes? What do you need to account for?

[Anonymous]

I think now may be a good time, actually. A lot of parents are upset with the options for public school boundary changes and other families do K-8s and still need a HS.

[Anonymous]

Try to get your hands on a few handbooks for other schools.

Take a good look at them.

What are there rules and policies and do they make sense to you or are they the opposite of what you want? What is your mission?

You can think about what you want to take out. Ask your co-founders if you can live without some of those someone with a different perspective may say "wait, we can't delete that-e need (an attendance policy, some kind of dress code, a code of conduct for all students..." or whatever.