SSFS Closing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[list]

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Anonymous wrote:Catholic independent schools can’t be compared to parish schools. They’re not all thriving, either. Some have huge endowments left from the days when their religious orders were still there, but others are hanging on by a thread.

For every Visi or Gonzaga, there’s a Woods Academy that could easily be the next SSFS.

Or a Good Counsel or SJCHS which are thriving. No religious orders left them huge endowments.

To be clear, the endowments typically weren’t from the orders but reflect the relationship students and families had with them. They’re from wealthy people annd even small donors at a time when donating whatever money you had to your parish or school was very much expected. A lot of these big endowments grew from 1-2 rich families who felt a connection to the sisters, or situations like a single woman graduate never marrying and giving her entire net worth to her alma mater after her death. $10k here or there in 1920 or 1940 is a robust endowed fund today.

Ok nice history lessen but irrelevant to these schools. Are you even in the DMV?

It sounds like their spending was out of control and huge mismanagement. They owned the land, as it was donated to them.
Well it’s relevant in that in comparison, SSFS is relatively new to most schools in DC and its endowment and financial picture certainly reflected that. Most postwar independent schools are vulnerable in the same way. They just don’t have sufficient generations of family money or alumni money to keep up with the expectations of families.

You can’t make money off of land you can’t sell.

You can’t mortgage land.

Land is nice to have but financially useless.

I think the letter said they DID mortgage the land. And can’t divide it. So I guess a past board thought the school would be able to refinance and it turns out they can’t.

Really? Not the building, too? I didn’t realize you could mortgage land that has a building on it separately from the value of the building. Especially if the land can’t be subdivided?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Change.org petition: https://chng.it/LYSJXKksNW

Note: YOU ARE ABLE TO SIGN THE PETITION AND SUPPORT THE CAUSE WITHOUT MAKING A DONATION, SO PLEASE DO, AS THE PETITION IS THE TARGET. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SKIP THE CALL FOR FUNDS PAGE. DONATIONS DO NOT GO TO SSFS.

Who in their right minds would stay/ teachers, staff, families not juniors- for 1 more year?

A lot of people. This is a mean and unhelpful comment.

As the petition states, keeping the school open for one more year would give everyone the needed time to make a thoughtful transfer into their next chapter. It would also provide full transparency of a situation that was clearly hidden from too many vested parties. Perhaps that is why the school administration did not take the step of a one-year announcement in the first place, which would further infuriate me if I were a student, teacher or parent at SSFS.

I certainly won’t be. I’m not being mean. Just a realist. No way am I going to continue putting my life in the hands of these ppl. Then any mess I find myself in next year will be on me. No thank you

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Change.org petition: https://chng.it/LYSJXKksNW

Note: YOU ARE ABLE TO SIGN THE PETITION AND SUPPORT THE CAUSE WITHOUT MAKING A DONATION, SO PLEASE DO, AS THE PETITION IS THE TARGET. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SKIP THE CALL FOR FUNDS PAGE. DONATIONS DO NOT GO TO SSFS.

Who in their right minds would stay/ teachers, staff, families not juniors- for 1 more year?

A lot of people. This is a mean and unhelpful comment.

As the petition states, keeping the school open for one more year would give everyone the needed time to make a thoughtful transfer into their next chapter. It would also provide full transparency of a situation that was clearly hidden from too many vested parties. Perhaps that is why the school administration did not take the step of a one-year announcement in the first place, which would further infuriate me if I were a student, teacher or parent at SSFS.

I certainly won’t be. I’m not being mean. Just a realist. No way am I going to continue putting my life in the hands of these ppl. Then any mess I find myself in next year will be on me. No thank you

Yep. Fool me once...

[Anonymous]

The school is subject to annual independent audit by an outside accounting firm that is selected by the BOT (and the accounting firm is rotated every few years for independence purposes). The outside accounting firm reports its findings the BOT. They do a full annual review of books and records and all the controls in place. The School has being receiving a clean opinion for many years. This external process would have identified if the process controls had deficiencies or if malfeasance was taking place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholic independent schools can’t be compared to parish schools. They’re not all thriving, either. Some have huge endowments left from the days when their religious orders were still there, but others are hanging on by a thread.

For every Visi or Gonzaga, there’s a Woods Academy that could easily be the next SSFS.

Or a Good Counsel or SJCHS which are thriving. No religious orders left them huge endowments.

To be clear, the endowments typically weren’t from the orders but reflect the relationship students and families had with them. They’re from wealthy people annd even small donors at a time when donating whatever money you had to your parish or school was very much expected. A lot of these big endowments grew from 1-2 rich families who felt a connection to the sisters, or situations like a single woman graduate never marrying and giving her entire net worth to her alma mater after her death. $10k here or there in 1920 or 1940 is a robust endowed fund today.

Ok nice history lessen but irrelevant to these schools. Are you even in the DMV?

Well it’s relevant in that in comparison, SSFS is relatively new to most schools in DC and its endowment and financial picture certainly reflected that. Most postwar independent schools are vulnerable in the same way. They just don’t have sufficient generations of family money or alumni money to keep up with the expectations of families.

SSFS was founded in 1961.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Responding as an independent school administrator. Many independent schools enter an “arms race” to ramp up facilities and renovate — to stay competitive and attractive in the market. Boards make decisions to borrow money for costly projects w/o much strategy to generate revenue beyond tuition. This can happen when a campaign won’t be able to meet its goal. Philanthropy is a critical piece of how independent schools achieve long term sustainability.

With 140 acres, was there talk of ever selling some land to right size?

Also an administrator and it’s scary to see what’s going on at SSFS…and at my former colleagues’ schools up and down the East coast. We see philanthropy concentrating itself at schools that are already stable, and families coming to our school are just not willing to donate at a level that covers the true cost of educating their student, so forget major gifts. But meanwhile they are demanding all the things- arts programs as broad as those in public schools, extensive sports facilities, multiple languages regardless of class size, etc.

There will be a few schools untouched by this climate- the Sidwells, NCSs, etc. The rest of us are going to blow ourselves up no matter what we do. It sounds fatalistic but that’s how I feel. I can’t reconcile what parents expect vs. what we have the funds to offer. Either we’ll fail because enrollment declines when everyone jumps ship for more bells and whistles, or we’ll fail because we spend money we don’t have on more bells and whistles.

There is a market for a leaner private school without all the bells and whistles, but it has to have lower tuition to match. This is like the new car manufacturers who are all chasing the most affluent purchasers, new cars languishing on lots, while ignoring the upper middle class.

I'm really curious what that market is. Who wants to send their kids to a school that doesn't have certain amenities. What if they don't offer extracurriculars? What if there are no AP classes? What would that look like? Who is out there saying I'll pay more than public to send my kid to a private school that has way fewer amenities than the public school?

This is not at all uncommon for smaller religious private schools. Know many in our area, tuition in the range of 8-15K. No bells and whistles, just an education. And no $500K hos salaries. Teacher salaries are also much much lower. But the motivations are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Catholic independent schools can’t be compared to parish schools. They’re not all thriving, either. Some have huge endowments left from the days when their religious orders were still there, but others are hanging on by a thread.

For every Visi or Gonzaga, there’s a Woods Academy that could easily be the next SSFS.

Or a Good Counsel or SJCHS which are thriving. No religious orders left them huge endowments.

To be clear, the endowments typically weren’t from the orders but reflect the relationship students and families had with them. They’re from wealthy people annd even small donors at a time when donating whatever money you had to your parish or school was very much expected. A lot of these big endowments grew from 1-2 rich families who felt a connection to the sisters, or situations like a single woman graduate never marrying and giving her entire net worth to her alma mater after her death. $10k here or there in 1920 or 1940 is a robust endowed fund today.

Ok nice history lessen but irrelevant to these schools. Are you even in the DMV?

Well it’s relevant in that in comparison, SSFS is relatively new to most schools in DC and its endowment and financial picture certainly reflected that. Most postwar independent schools are vulnerable in the same way. They just don’t have sufficient generations of family money or alumni money to keep up with the expectations of families.

SSFS was founded in 1961.

Yup. That means it has zero money from the 19th century or turn of the century wealth that other schools were founded on, and has only 3ish generations of alumni, max. The oldest alumni are just now dying in large numbers so it probably hasn’t benefited from estates and trusts to a degree that would build huge reserves and endowments.

[Anonymous]

Honest question.

Parents are upset and demanding answers, but what does the school actually owe you (other than, possibly, deposits paid for the 2025-2026 school year)? They are finishing this school year and maintaining student records. This isn't like Feynman where the school stopped operating mid-year and people lost tuition money.

I completely understand that people are upset, but why do they think that they are owed additional information?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest question.

Parents are upset and demanding answers, but what does the school actually owe you (other than, possibly, deposits paid for the 2025-2026 school year)? They are finishing this school year and maintaining student records. This isn't like Feynman where the school stopped operating mid-year and people lost tuition money.

I completely understand that people are upset, but why do they think that they are owed additional information?

Legally, not that much. Ethically quite a bit more. Does the leadership of the school want to salvage their professional reputation at all?

I would think any unspent directed gifts should be repaid, since their purpose cannot be carried out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:So poor leadership/BOT stewardship + Rodney. Yup.

No possible way these financial troubles began with Rodney. More than likely they started under Tim Gibian former head of school who left in 2020. Seems that the school kept building and growing beyond their financial means. An audit will reveal how long this has been in play and the cause, which is something our families deserve to understand. How did the day-to-day management by the leadership and CFO of the school impact it, did the BOT truly understand what was happening and when, did the transition away from Quaker principles to a focus on social justice issues in a heavy-handed way by Tom Gibian’s replacement push families and staff away, was there truly a reduction in the number of boarders? The truth needs to be revealed as a 61-year old institution where my children went is now going to close and it had been a bright light for our family and so many and now no one else can benefit from this very special place.

You make some good points. And social justice is a Quaker principle.

Yes, of course it is, and it is not the only. However, it seemed primary and exclusive to Tom’s replacement.

Exactly. Anyone with half a brain could see that nothing RG did followed Quaker principals.

LOL. You can't even spell principles.

Ok, apologies that I hit submit on my phone before i proof read. But other than laughing at an obvious spelling mistake - do you have any points to make that RG WAS following Quaker PRINCIPLES?

[Anonymous]

Go woke and go broke. The Quaker way is great but all the DEI hires the last few years killed the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honest question.

Parents are upset and demanding answers, but what does the school actually owe you (other than, possibly, deposits paid for the 2025-2026 school year)? They are finishing this school year and maintaining student records. This isn't like Feynman where the school stopped operating mid-year and people lost tuition money.

I completely understand that people are upset, but why do they think that they are owed additional information?

Legally, not that much. Ethically quite a bit more. Does the leadership of the school want to salvage their professional reputation at all?

I would think any unspent directed gifts should be repaid, since their purpose cannot be carried out.

I’m certain the upper and middle heads knew along with the BOT. Serving as the frontline shield, they were part of the coverup and lack of transparency. There’s no way they didn’t know by the time RG was let go.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a brokenhearted student who has thrived there for over a decade, I would like some explanation in addition to... we ran out of money and we are letting you know now when its way too late to do anything. Our family has been blindsided. The teachers are some of the most genuine educators I have ever met, people with vocation who should have some information about why their jobs have been terminated and why their lives have been turned upside-down. In so many ways, SSFS walks the walk when it comes to values and community. Not perfect. Not expecting perfection, but I have seen them do right by a lot of people or at least try their best in situations where other schools would have thrown up their hands. I assumed the Board upheld similar values. That's on me for trusting and not verifying, not demanding more transparency, asking for financial reports. But I will humbly say, I didn"t even know what to demand. I dont know about boards or how a private school is run. I leave that to those whose skills lie in this area. I thought the Board was an extention of the fine, fine people I have had the honor to know personally, the heads of school and teachers, people who have cared for my kids while teaching them to write, analyze poetry, balance equations all while making the feel like they mattered, like they had something valuable to contribute to the world just by being themselves. If that doesn't "deserve" an explanation then I don't know what does. Pie in the sky sure. Naive, probably. But cynicism doesn't thrive inside me or SSFS.
This is simply too much damage, far too many people impacted negatively to offer such little information.

[Anonymous]

I do feel badly for the very new board members who thought they were signing up to help their kids school and walked into this fiasco. It must be unbelievably stressful and I do think that although the board is responsible for the most part the responsibility lies with previous members.

Having said that, announcing after it’s too late for applications and to put teachers in this situation is on the current board, and that’s plenty bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a brokenhearted student who has thrived there for over a decade, I would like some explanation in addition to... we ran out of money and we are letting you know now when its way too late to do anything. Our family has been blindsided. The teachers are some of the most genuine educators I have ever met, people with vocation who should have some information about why their jobs have been terminated and why their lives have been turned upside-down. In so many ways, SSFS walks the walk when it comes to values and community. Not perfect. Not expecting perfection, but I have seen them do right by a lot of people or at least try their best in situations where other schools would have thrown up their hands. I assumed the Board upheld similar values. That's on me for trusting and not verifying, not demanding more transparency, asking for financial reports. But I will humbly say, I didn"t even know what to demand. I dont know about boards or how a private school is run. I leave that to those whose skills lie in this area. I thought the Board was an extention of the fine, fine people I have had the honor to know personally, the heads of school and teachers, people who have cared for my kids while teaching them to write, analyze poetry, balance equations all while making the feel like they mattered, like they had something valuable to contribute to the world just by being themselves. If that doesn't "deserve" an explanation then I don't know what does. Pie in the sky sure. Naive, probably. But cynicism doesn't thrive inside me or SSFS.
This is simply too much damage, far too many people impacted negatively to offer such little information.

Well said.