SSFS Closing

[Anonymous]

The camp decision is so strange. I’d guess that is purely income earning and would help pay off some debt. Unless they plan to file for bankruptcy asap or can’t make it to August before a huge default.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is awful. So sorry for everyone involved.

We have loved Friends Community School in College Park for our daughter. Outstanding school. It might be a good fit for the K-8 students.

+1

Our child chose FCS over SSFS for middle school and it has been a great experience. We wanted a Quaker school so it worked for us as parents.

FCS is a risky choice. Did not have a good experience there. Teachers were... iffy.

Iffy how was looking at them I’ve heard this would like to hear it from a former parent there.

Our experience at FCS has been absolutely extraordinary. We were at another well-respected school in the area but my child was being overlooked. We went to FCS and my child THRIVED. The school really walks the walk. I would advise anybody looking for a Quaker progressive education to take a look and draw their own conclusions.

The school has a new head of school coming in who was the previous head of middle school at Sidwell Friends. The Middle School head is outstanding. Lower School head is outstanding. It's a small program and that means there is an extreme amount of customization. Each child is truly known, respected, and allowed to be their best selves. The level of independence and coaching from supportive teachers in middle school is impressive. The children have leadership opportunities from kindergarten on up and they really seem to leave the school prepared for their lives ahead - high school and beyond. The community is extremely diverse and proud of it.

It's been a magical place for us. Exactly what I envisioned school for my child would be. I understand the other people have different experiences. Check it out!

I heard great things about SSFS but it's closing now so we have to go with other options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:If it really was they didn’t meet the numbers they needed for re-enrollment then why wouldn’t they do a last ditch call for donations from the whole extended school community? Why not even try, if it was a matter of 20 students tuition?

The FAQ said it was 14 to 16 million dollars in debt. 20 more students would not make up that deficit

With an amount that large, it also means the board was aware of this for some time and would have/should have known that they weren't going to be able to fund things. But maybe, as the announcement said, they were trying to secure additional financing or a merger. My heart goes out to the affected kids and their families. I hope you all find a good place to land.

Whittle was in a similar situation a couple years ago.

Absolutely not comparable. That was a for profit school, run by a notorious grifter. It was a flashy space and never had an actual plan or decent enrollment

Who's this notorious grifter?

Chris Whittle. Look up his track record

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those in K-8, you should reach out to the Sheridans, Lowells, Norwoods, St. Pats, etc. to see whether they might have openings.

Also St John's Episcopal in that area for Pk-8

Think twice on that one. There’s major drama in the admin—not a good situation. Too bad bc the school was great for my kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re going to start for 2025-2026. Public it is. Time to save some money.

I don’t understand why others aren’t using this opportunity, especially ones who lost their jobs.

[Anonymous]

FCS is not the place for you if your family has any health or disability needs beyond ADHD or ASD that can be mainstreamed. We have known kids who are diabetic, Deaf, and dyslexic who have all left the school because they simply weren’t willing to actually accommodate them. There are no Quakers actually running the school anymore, and it’s obvious in the way they only give lip service to the values. It’s still a decent school but it’s not the excellent place it was 10+ years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those in K-8, you should reach out to the Sheridans, Lowells, Norwoods, St. Pats, etc. to see whether they might have openings.

Also St John's Episcopal in that area for Pk-8

Think twice on that one. There’s major drama in the admin—not a good situation. Too bad bc the school was great for my kid.

New HOS starting in fall

[Anonymous]

Do you think the added real value to their educational experience? For a co-ed school seems as if their endowment wasn't high enough. That speaks highly to the outcomes of its graduates and philanthropy etc.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. Sorry to the SSFS community.

Recent FCS parent AND trustee here - the school's financials are in excellent shape, with modest (appropriate) liabilities and strong reserves. Yes, there has been turnover - I believe the root causes of most of that are in the past and will calm down. In every community, there are some parents who complain no matter what we do - trust me, trustees hear most of it (if the school doesn't do what they want, they often talk to us directly). FCS went as far as it could to accommodate a wide range of kids (do we fault a school that cannot accommodate every child for saying so? Better the family know the truth). It would be a very good option for many people leaving SSFS. - Person who is mostly a centrist and realist, who has had kids in 5 different schools

[Anonymous]

Untenable debt, lack of strategic financial plan, rising tuition, thin enrollment, etc. combined with a private school “surplus” in a strong public school market does not translate well. More conversation should focus on mergers in these concentrated markets where it can feel like survival of the fittest. Regardless of how compelling one school’s value is, there are not enough families to serve them all let alone afford it. At the end of the day, the board owns the school’s long term solvency.

Why did this not get aired ahead of the school’s national search for a head and searches for other key admins this year? Search firms are typically tasked with learning a school’s financial skeletons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That’s what’s so confusing-if a marginal increase in enrollment would have made the school viable for another year, then why didn’t they go to the community hat in hand trying to raise that money when they didn’t hit those numbers? And if hitting their enrollment targets would NOT have been enough then why did they continue recruiting, not let families know they should be applying out, leave teaches in this position, etc.

Total speculation here - no evidence- just thinking through scenarios that could describe their odd timing on this decision…...

Maybe they ‘thought’ the just needed to hit aggressive new student recruitment targets - but after admissions they discovered more current students announced they were leaving than they expected and then also didn’t hit the new enrollees target either.

NP who knows nothing about the school’s situation but have been involved in other similar situations: it is probably less that they thought they could dig out of $14m with 20 additional students, and probably more likely that a perfect storm of insufficient yield and surprise withdrawals blew up their debt service coverage ratio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is awful. So sorry for everyone involved.

We have loved Friends Community School in College Park for our daughter. Outstanding school. It might be a good fit for the K-8 students.

+1

Our child chose FCS over SSFS for middle school and it has been a great experience. We wanted a Quaker school so it worked for us as parents.

FCS is a risky choice. Did not have a good experience there. Teachers were... iffy.

Iffy how was looking at them I’ve heard this would like to hear it from a former parent there.

Our experience at FCS has been absolutely extraordinary. We were at another well-respected school in the area but my child was being overlooked. We went to FCS and my child THRIVED. The school really walks the walk. I would advise anybody looking for a Quaker progressive education to take a look and draw their own conclusions.

The school has a new head of school coming in who was the previous head of middle school at Sidwell Friends. The Middle School head is outstanding. Lower School head is outstanding. It's a small program and that means there is an extreme amount of customization. Each child is truly known, respected, and allowed to be their best selves. The level of independence and coaching from supportive teachers in middle school is impressive. The children have leadership opportunities from kindergarten on up and they really seem to leave the school prepared for their lives ahead - high school and beyond. The community is extremely diverse and proud of it.

It's been a magical place for us. Exactly what I envisioned school for my child would be. I understand the other people have different experiences. Check it out!

I heard great things about SSFS but it's closing now so we have to go with other options.

Yes. That’s why pp was suggesting FCS - Friends Community School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those in K-8, you should reach out to the Sheridans, Lowells, Norwoods, St. Pats, etc. to see whether they might have openings.

Also St John's Episcopal in that area for Pk-8

Think twice on that one. There’s major drama in the admin—not a good situation. Too bad bc the school was great for my kid.

New HOS starting in fall

Nope… new interim HOS starting in the fall. For-real new HOS starting the following fall. That will be four HOS in four years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those in K-8, you should reach out to the Sheridans, Lowells, Norwoods, St. Pats, etc. to see whether they might have openings.

Grace also likely has openings for those looking for K-5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Wow, a surprise 15 million dollar hole is huge! It’s scary that these people were educating kids.

It's not like teachers had any clue this was happening--they found out at the same time as everyone else.

Obviously someone is hiding something. These numbers didn’t just jump out of nowhere. Someone has been covering up.
Normally there would have been a big fundraising campaign to bring the school up to where it needed to be. There would have been outreach. But when there is nothing and new HOS are being hired? This doesn’t pass the smell test.

I agree!