Feynman School Closing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a link that talks about Feynman closing?

Afaik they haven’t made a public announcement. The website doesn’t even mention it. It still shows an open house happening tomorrow afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can they not return the money? What did they do with that money? Who exactly is responsible for this?

I’m sorry for the families and staff who are now out of a job. And if the school expects them to spend unpaid time packing up their rooms, that’s absurd. If it were me, I’d just pack up what’s exclusively mine and leave the rest of the room a mess.

Organizations go bankrupt all the time. You're one creditor among many. You're behind secured creditors and you're behind the teachers and other staff owed wages. Maybe you can get lucky and prove that they knew this was inevitable and took tuition money anyway. If there is enough evidence that it raise to fraud, then you can go after the school leaders personally, but that's a very hard standard to meet

They'd have to file for bankruptcy. My guess is they'll do everything in their power to avoid doing so and simply dissolve the nonprofit entity. Which leaves few options for staff to try and get wages, let alone families trying to claw back tuition they paid. Unfortunately, I think folks are going to have to sue the individual school leaders personally.

Just in case anyone needs names, here are the folks listed as Officers and Directors in the most recent 990:
Robert M. Gold
Ursula A. Golladay
Philip H. Cullom
Mitzi Wertheim
Susan A. Gold

dissolving a non-profit that is heavily in the red is not straightforward or easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a link that talks about Feynman closing?

Afaik they haven’t made a public announcement. The website doesn’t even mention it. It still shows an open house happening tomorrow afternoon.

If you outsource your website and aren't paying your administrators, they aren't making updates

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a link that talks about Feynman closing?

Afaik they haven’t made a public announcement. The website doesn’t even mention it. It still shows an open house happening tomorrow afternoon.

If you outsource your website and aren't paying your administrators, they aren't making updates

At the initial meeting, they begged parents to figure out how to take over the website. Other than the email sent out, there will be no announcement. Expecting them to post any information is too much for them to handle clearly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a link that talks about Feynman closing?

Afaik they haven’t made a public announcement. The website doesn’t even mention it. It still shows an open house happening tomorrow afternoon.

If you outsource your website and aren't paying your administrators, they aren't making updates

At the initial meeting, they begged parents to figure out how to take over the website. Other than the email sent out, there will be no announcement. Expecting them to post any information is too much for them to handle clearly.

If there is a past due bill, they aren't posting anything even if they wanted to

[Anonymous]

Just called the school. They close tomorrow!!

[Anonymous]

Sorry, gotta go to public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of these kids went to public school and had a miserable experience. Many Feynman kids aren’t just gifted but are also super quirky, nerdy, anxious, sensitive, etc. These are kids who don’t fit in well, and it’s easy to blame parents for overlooking red flags or being elitist until you meet some of these kids and understand how lonely and different and sad they were in public school. If your kid was bullied and depressed at your home school, you’ll risk school closure over suicide. If you’ve never had this worry, then perhaps you should stop being so judgmental.

I think a lot of these kids are best served by small, quirky private schools (though some will do fine at the more established, cookie cutter schools in the area). The best small school for your kid can be hard to find. The lesson from this is to look for a school that will provide financial information you ask for and can detail their plan is for maintaining or growing enrollment moving forward.

IF MS age, try Field or Burke. Both take kids mid year.

[Anonymous]

Sycamore school in Arlington

[Anonymous]

Linder in Alexandria

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of these kids went to public school and had a miserable experience. Many Feynman kids aren’t just gifted but are also super quirky, nerdy, anxious, sensitive, etc. These are kids who don’t fit in well, and it’s easy to blame parents for overlooking red flags or being elitist until you meet some of these kids and understand how lonely and different and sad they were in public school. If your kid was bullied and depressed at your home school, you’ll risk school closure over suicide. If you’ve never had this worry, then perhaps you should stop being so judgmental.

I think a lot of these kids are best served by small, quirky private schools (though some will do fine at the more established, cookie cutter schools in the area). The best small school for your kid can be hard to find. The lesson from this is to look for a school that will provide financial information you ask for and can detail their plan is for maintaining or growing enrollment moving forward.

IF MS age, try Field or Burke. Both take kids mid year.

Burke isn't. Can only apply for Fall 2025.

[Anonymous]

Linder in old town seems to have spots for upper elementary. Commonwealth may be worth trying, too. Obviously not ideal geographically if you’re coming from MD, but as the parent of a kid that fors this profile, I really don’t think sticking them in public is an option for everyone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Linder in Alexandria

Another small school with questionable administration. Do your research!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the school has a GoFundMe fundraiser 6 months ago, seeking to raise $175,000 and only received $1,650.

“If these critical funds are not raised, the students will not have access to the education that they need. No other institution in area provides what they need to thrive.”

https://www.gofundme.com/f/empower-minority-students-at-feynman-school?attribution_id=sl:2a5430b1-fa62-4bea-9269-655eb8f82b72&lang=en_US&utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link

Also she posted the same fundraiser more than once and marketed it for minority students as a guilt trip with photos of students that haven’t existed for years! They recommend for families and staff to ask their families and jobs for money.

This is crucial. It shows she has not been honest with parents for many months about her ability to provide the services they paid for. The GoFundMe is dated 14 May. While last year's school was still in session and parents and new families were paying tuition and signing up for next year for an education she knew she couldn't provide. Parents were not informed of any financial issues until an aggressive out of place fundraising plea at back to school night in September. Appreciate whoever found that and posted it!

I'm not seeing the fundraiser posted a second time on GoFundMe, but yes we were told to ask everyone we know for money (completely inappropriate).

She hasn't posted anything on Twitter since 2013, but did post a link to the GoFundMe in mid-August.

I found the GoFundMe through the school’s LinkedIn page (they posted it twice).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Linder in Alexandria

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/967231.page