SSFS Will Stay Open

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish the school luck, but reenrolling at this point seems like a sunken cost fallacy.

Are you a current family member who had to wrestle with this decision?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish the school luck, but reenrolling at this point seems like a sunken cost fallacy.

Are you a current family member who had to wrestle with this decision?

I’m not the poster but am a current family and I just can’t see how coming back is going to be the same experience of a normal year. It just seems like a way to defer the inevitable.

[Anonymous]

I’m a current family who is still looking at options. If none of them admit my child, or doesn’t feel like a good fit, we may come back to SSFS. But likely just for a year while we continue to apply elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a current family who is still looking at options. If none of them admit my child, or doesn’t feel like a good fit, we may come back to SSFS. But likely just for a year while we continue to apply elsewhere.

Same for us.

[Anonymous]

I really feel for the teachers. Some were great, some were fine but it’s surprisingly hard to find other teaching positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really feel for the teachers. Some were great, some were fine but it’s surprisingly hard to find other teaching positions.

I’m with you. I feel worse for the teachers than the students even if it’s my kid! I don’t feel like we have any right to ask them to put their livelihood on the line just because my kid wants to finish high school with friends. My kid will survive finishing highschool elsewhere just fine. And real friends will remain so whether they’re in school together or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A school already set up to operate at a small size is not the same thing as taking a 700 student school and running it with a third of its size.

The extra buildings, staff, amenities like the cafeteria - all would need to run on donations since the income will not cover any of it.

Also a 275 school does not need 135 staff members. What are you proposing happens to the extra? They get paid to stay without students to teach? A already smaller sized school would have a smaller staff.

I don’t see how you compare the two situations.

+1. A school of 275 spread across K-12, that used to have over 500-700 is trending in the wrong direction. Very very badly.

OR, it's no longer trending in the wrong direction. It hit it's low with the announced closure and lower enrollment, the community and alumni have rallied and found donors. The leaders are set to change. And now from this point forward it will begin to trend in the right direction.

I wish you all the best of luck and success. I love the optimism. But it’s a tough moment and one has to acknowledge that. I can’t help but wonder what the interim head of school has been doing and what their role was during the events of last number of weeks. And I hope your new head is fantastic. Because this is a huge job, saving this school. Everybody keeps talking about the board of trustees, but your head of school is supposed to be your CEO that knows more about school governance and the business of running a school than anyone else at the table.
As I said, I’m pulling for you guys.

Ugh. More man-splaining. Yeah we know what needs to be acknowledged. We know what the role of the HOS is and the role of the BOT. We understand our own school and what needs fixing.

And that’s my point. Understanding your school and what needs fixing - and how to do it- can best be done by a fantastic HOS. It doesn’t seem as though the interim wanted to or wasn’t able to invest themselves. This coalition clearly is more capable than the board, but this coalition cannot run the school. I’m just exercising my right to speak as openly as everyone else on this public forum, no “splaining” intended.

[Anonymous]

Anyone else from SSFS who is staying experiencing an "I told you so" attitude from those who were leaving before the shut down? It's quite disheartening and also curious that they are seeking validation for their decision.

[Anonymous]

How was the auction event?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else from SSFS who is staying experiencing an "I told you so" attitude from those who were leaving before the shut down? It's quite disheartening and also curious that they are seeking validation for their decision.

I have not experienced that. But it also depends on how you “hear” what ppl say. Anyone who left last year left for reasons that amount to something they didn’t like about the direction the school was headed so if they say now it looks as though they were right are they bragging or just stating what we all can see? Ppl who left last year that I’ve spoken to have expressed nothing but sadness that things went this way, even if they are - rightfully - relieved to have gotten out earlier. I don’t blame them for being relieved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How was the auction event?

It went well! Best auction in all the years I’ve seen it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How was the auction event?

It went well! Best auction in all the years I’ve seen it.

This made me laugh bigly. Sounds like something our President would say. School is on shambles, there are 160 kids enrolled for next year, but it was the BEST AUCTION IN YEARS!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How was the auction event?

It went well! Best auction in all the years I’ve seen it.

This made me laugh bigly. Sounds like something our President would say. School is on shambles, there are 160 kids enrolled for next year, but it was the BEST AUCTION IN YEARS!!

And you sound just like our President - crass, ignorant, and jealous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone else from SSFS who is staying experiencing an "I told you so" attitude from those who were leaving before the shut down? It's quite disheartening and also curious that they are seeking validation for their decision.

Similar. We are not re-enrolling after the shut down/reopening announcements and I have experienced an uncomfortable "glad you finally see the light" attitude. I agree, it's disheartening because the decision to not re-enroll has been really difficult for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How was the auction event?

It went well! Best auction in all the years I’ve seen it.

This made me laugh bigly. Sounds like something our President would say. School is on shambles, there are 160 kids enrolled for next year, but it was the BEST AUCTION IN YEARS!!

I was referring to the fact that we raised more money in recent years. Of course the school is struggling but people showed their support at the auction.