Whittle School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a matter of being down on the school, but at the moment, it is 1990's style vaporware. Anyone can promise the moon, but why would anyone want to risk their kids education to be the first ones in, and at a steep financial cost?

PP here, and I haven't read the whole thread, but this is again why I think business/MBA types might be interested in the school. Huge risk, but they get to be on the ground floor of a whole new school movement that may shake things up in the private school world. They liked the pitch and the players, and decided to go for it.

And let's be real, their kids' educations won't be ruined by one year at this school. And if they have 50K to use in this way, I doubt it's a steep financial cost to them.

You don't make money by being the customer of a startup, you make money by being an investor. I may be willing to invest in Laureate Education (NASDAQ: LAUR), but I'd never pay for my kid to attend Walden University over even a third rate traditional college. This kind of school appeals almost exclusively to rich parents with a desire to get their child a visa to the US. The educational value is a secondary feature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a matter of being down on the school, but at the moment, it is 1990's style vaporware. Anyone can promise the moon, but why would anyone want to risk their kids education to be the first ones in, and at a steep financial cost?

PP here, and I haven't read the whole thread, but this is again why I think business/MBA types might be interested in the school. Huge risk, but they get to be on the ground floor of a whole new school movement that may shake things up in the private school world. They liked the pitch and the players, and decided to go for it.

And let's be real, their kids' educations won't be ruined by one year at this school. And if they have 50K to use in this way, I doubt it's a steep financial cost to them.

But unlike getting in on the ground floor of an investment, you can already equal returns elsewhere at other schools. There's no benefit to being the first.

The benefit is saying you were there. Perhaps I'm overestimating the likelihood of people going for this. Of course, people who are more risk-averse are going to stay away. But I'm thinking of people who might approach this like a venture capitalist, but not for the financial return--people who like the model and are intrigued enough to enroll their kids. If you're legit rich, your kids will be fine, so what's the down side?

Until they have a few graduating classes with result, 'saying you were there' is meaningless. It's your kid's education, not the super bowl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The welcome event for new families was well-attended this past weekend with several committed families and many that are still making decisions. These are families that have questions, maybe one foot in the water...people that really want this to work and are seriously excited by the proposed curriculum. Parents came out in real life and put a lot of pressure on HOS and other admin regarding some of the same issues that DCUMers have been crying about from the comfort of the virtual peanut gallery since story in WaPo. HOS was asked about everything from divisional sports and PE to visual and performing arts to whether or not the system Whittle is using to track student progress was a market ed product or developed specifically for this school. Language immersion, class size, travel abroad opportunities, the middle school teacher that's coming over from Sidwell, the interdisciplinary blocks of study, expedition days, etc. It was all there.

And, yes, construction.

And no, I'm not an evil marketing consultant.

And yes I'm a parent. Washington is robust with great legacy institutions but I've never seen anything like what this school is proposing.

Hope it works. If for NOTHING else, than to shut this Keyboarding Club UP.

There is literally nothing about this school that doesn't already exist in DC. To say you have never seen anything like what this school is proposing means you simply haven't looked.

As a parent that looked at most of the DC privates, charters, and public schools in the area, including a lot of time with Whittle, ( and NO I don't work for any of the schools ) I can say that to think Whittle isn't unique is just factually wrong. It might be significantly over promising...that's fair...we will see...find me the school in DC that has a sister school in China and more to come on several continents potentially. Find the school in DC that allows students to dive deep into a passion and take each Wednesday as an experience day. Find the the school in DC that has the resources to build a far more sophisticated maker lab than one sees in most colleges, find me the school in DC that is offering immersion along with all those qualities PK-12. Find me the school in DC that along with all that--- is doing intense lengthy personal advisory each day with each student and then customizing the homework each night to that student's abilities. Maybe a few schools are doing bits and pieces ( Lowell seems to do good advisory, there are Chinese programs all over, WIS is project based, Fusion is highly personalized..) but I don't know of one doing all of this intentionally which is why I think they are disruptive and triggering so much defensiveness on the part of posters on this board. It's fantastic for parents that significant competition is coming into the area --It will be a wake up call for lots of schools to up their game and all of us will benefit.

Most people are just saying nothing unique in terms of it educational approach that has not been done elsewhere in the last 20 years in OECD countries. If you have been exposed to fancy private education outside of the US some of Whittle is familiar. And if you have a passport go to China and hang out with your kid for the summer. Quality time, and you save the tens of thousands you are about to spend on tuition. And your kids not having the elite of China mess with his or her mind too much!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do we know where the $175M came from specifically? The in-house poster made reference to resources but what is the form of those resources? Debt? Equity? Chinese government money? Institutional money? This isn't an endowment of some sort. I'm not quite sure why that isn't discussed in greater depth.

Are these investors looking for a return like all investors? How? Through dividends and distributions? When are they projected to be profitable? Anyone seen pro formas?

Or is it investment in the form of a cash infusion from a foreign government with a very clear agenda that differs from the general educational philosophy of most parents that would send their kids to other DC independent schools? Will Tianaman Square be taught? Belt and Road? Resource stripping investments in Africa? Support of brutal regimes that are otherwise financially beneficial to the investor? The Great Firewall?

I just think it's bizarre for parents to consider sending their kids to a school without a clear understanding of its motivation, backers, philosophy, financial objectives and backstory.

Excellent questions. My guess the money would be made by charging the boarding students an insane amount. Everyone else is gets over billed also.

But you do raise some more fundamental issues about them. Important because the last school venture he was in did not go very well. And now the city has given them a stop work order.

[Anonymous]

Boarding is $75k

[Anonymous]

I’m the longwinded poster asking the financial questions above. I understand that tuition is high, but it still doesn’t make sense. Let’s think of this in terms of a business rather than a school for minute. Safe to say that the school needs a certain enrollment level - probably 90% of its projected 2500 students - to break even. After all, the fixed costs (the building, renovations, technology) don’t get cheaper because there are fewer students. The incremental costs (teachers, supplies) scale somewhat based on enrollment for sure. But if an investor wants a competitive return, say 7%, what kind of margins do these guys need to run? Let’s say it takes four or five years to get to 2500. It’s already well outside of the allowable investment time horizon of legit private equity firms. They’d want to be fully exited in five or six years.

So if not private equity, let me ask the question again...where is that kind of money coming from? It’s fully defendable if the “investor” is a nation and the funds are coming from either a commerce department, education department or defense department that identifies a strategic benefit to educating wealthy youth is Washington DC. In other words, their return is not financial like normal investors but ideological, like someone who is playing the 100 year game rather than the five year game.

Sound like any country in particular?

Not trying to be paranoid or to spread conspiracy theories, but this seems to be painfully obvious.

[Anonymous]

There are middle aged women who don’t get the Jan joke? Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The welcome event for new families was well-attended this past weekend with several committed families and many that are still making decisions. These are families that have questions, maybe one foot in the water...people that really want this to work and are seriously excited by the proposed curriculum. Parents came out in real life and put a lot of pressure on HOS and other admin regarding some of the same issues that DCUMers have been crying about from the comfort of the virtual peanut gallery since story in WaPo. HOS was asked about everything from divisional sports and PE to visual and performing arts to whether or not the system Whittle is using to track student progress was a market ed product or developed specifically for this school. Language immersion, class size, travel abroad opportunities, the middle school teacher that's coming over from Sidwell, the interdisciplinary blocks of study, expedition days, etc. It was all there.

And, yes, construction.

And no, I'm not an evil marketing consultant.

And yes I'm a parent. Washington is robust with great legacy institutions but I've never seen anything like what this school is proposing.

Hope it works. If for NOTHING else, than to shut this Keyboarding Club UP.

There is literally nothing about this school that doesn't already exist in DC. To say you have never seen anything like what this school is proposing means you simply haven't looked.

As a parent that looked at most of the DC privates, charters, and public schools in the area, including a lot of time with Whittle, ( and NO I don't work for any of the schools ) I can say that to think Whittle isn't unique is just factually wrong. It might be significantly over promising...that's fair...we will see...find me the school in DC that has a sister school in China and more to come on several continents potentially. Find the school in DC that allows students to dive deep into a passion and take each Wednesday as an experience day. Find the the school in DC that has the resources to build a far more sophisticated maker lab than one sees in most colleges, find me the school in DC that is offering immersion along with all those qualities PK-12. Find me the school in DC that along with all that--- is doing intense lengthy personal advisory each day with each student and then customizing the homework each night to that student's abilities. Maybe a few schools are doing bits and pieces ( Lowell seems to do good advisory, there are Chinese programs all over, WIS is project based, Fusion is highly personalized..) but I don't know of one doing all of this intentionally which is why I think they are disruptive and triggering so much defensiveness on the part of posters on this board. It's fantastic for parents that significant competition is coming into the area --It will be a wake up call for lots of schools to up their game and all of us will benefit.

They are saying they will do all that but are not yet actually doing it. We heard many similar promises about BASIS McLean and it turned out to be one lie after another. Incidentally they also have sister schools in Asia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: If you're legit rich, your kids will be fine, so what's the down side?

That's why calling it the school for the Gwyneth Paltrows of DC is highly accurate. You are already rich, your kids' life is set. They will never have to worry about money or good jobs. They had the hooks and connections from the moment they were conceived in the womb. Whittle is a play school for rich kids who live in this fairy tale world of lightness and pretty things and the security of knowing that no matter what happens, they will be taken care off, so schools and colleges and occupations are all meaningless beyond as an accessory or label. The quality at Whittle will be like the quality of a very expensive watch or handbag, it surely is made from good products but at the same time it's just luxury rather than meaningful substance and not necessary at all. It's like the Avenues School in New York. By contrast the other DC preps are slightly more grounded in reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The welcome event for new families was well-attended this past weekend with several committed families and many that are still making decisions. These are families that have questions, maybe one foot in the water...people that really want this to work and are seriously excited by the proposed curriculum. Parents came out in real life and put a lot of pressure on HOS and other admin regarding some of the same issues that DCUMers have been crying about from the comfort of the virtual peanut gallery since story in WaPo. HOS was asked about everything from divisional sports and PE to visual and performing arts to whether or not the system Whittle is using to track student progress was a market ed product or developed specifically for this school. Language immersion, class size, travel abroad opportunities, the middle school teacher that's coming over from Sidwell, the interdisciplinary blocks of study, expedition days, etc. It was all there.

And, yes, construction.

And no, I'm not an evil marketing consultant.

And yes I'm a parent. Washington is robust with great legacy institutions but I've never seen anything like what this school is proposing.

Hope it works. If for NOTHING else, than to shut this Keyboarding Club UP.

There is literally nothing about this school that doesn't already exist in DC. To say you have never seen anything like what this school is proposing means you simply haven't looked.

As a parent that looked at most of the DC privates, charters, and public schools in the area, including a lot of time with Whittle, ( and NO I don't work for any of the schools ) I can say that to think Whittle isn't unique is just factually wrong. It might be significantly over promising...that's fair...we will see...find me the school in DC that has a sister school in China and more to come on several continents potentially. Find the school in DC that allows students to dive deep into a passion and take each Wednesday as an experience day. Find the the school in DC that has the resources to build a far more sophisticated maker lab than one sees in most colleges, find me the school in DC that is offering immersion along with all those qualities PK-12. Find me the school in DC that along with all that--- is doing intense lengthy personal advisory each day with each student and then customizing the homework each night to that student's abilities. Maybe a few schools are doing bits and pieces ( Lowell seems to do good advisory, there are Chinese programs all over, WIS is project based, Fusion is highly personalized..) but I don't know of one doing all of this intentionally which is why I think they are disruptive and triggering so much defensiveness on the part of posters on this board. It's fantastic for parents that significant competition is coming into the area --It will be a wake up call for lots of schools to up their game and all of us will benefit.

Sister schools in China and maker labs are bells and whistles. At the end of the day, most schools don't have these things because kids can only do so many activities, and schools can only do so many things to a high standard.At the end of the day, colleges and employers exercise kids to master a body of skills and knowledge, including math and coding. You learn these things by spending a lot of time on them, engaging in spaced repetition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: If you're legit rich, your kids will be fine, so what's the down side?

That's why calling it the school for the Gwyneth Paltrows of DC is highly accurate. You are already rich, your kids' life is set. They will never have to worry about money or good jobs. They had the hooks and connections from the moment they were conceived in the womb. Whittle is a play school for rich kids who live in this fairy tale world of lightness and pretty things and the security of knowing that no matter what happens, they will be taken care off, so schools and colleges and occupations are all meaningless beyond as an accessory or label. The quality at Whittle will be like the quality of a very expensive watch or handbag, it surely is made from good products but at the same time it's just luxury rather than meaningful substance and not necessary at all. It's like the Avenues School in New York. By contrast the other DC preps are slightly more grounded in reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the longwinded poster asking the financial questions above. I understand that tuition is high, but it still doesn’t make sense. Let’s think of this in terms of a business rather than a school for minute. Safe to say that the school needs a certain enrollment level - probably 90% of its projected 2500 students - to break even. After all, the fixed costs (the building, renovations, technology) don’t get cheaper because there are fewer students. The incremental costs (teachers, supplies) scale somewhat based on enrollment for sure. But if an investor wants a competitive return, say 7%, what kind of margins do these guys need to run? Let’s say it takes four or five years to get to 2500. It’s already well outside of the allowable investment time horizon of legit private equity firms. They’d want to be fully exited in five or six years.

So if not private equity, let me ask the question again...where is that kind of money coming from? It’s fully defendable if the “investor” is a nation and the funds are coming from either a commerce department, education department or defense department that identifies a strategic benefit to educating wealthy youth is Washington DC. In other words, their return is not financial like normal investors but ideological, like someone who is playing the 100 year game rather than the five year game.

Sound like any country in particular?

Not trying to be paranoid or to spread conspiracy theories, but this seems to be painfully obvious.

It took me a while, so this is basically an arm of the Ministry of Education in China. If you put your kid here you are getting a subsidized education from the PRC.
Tiananmen Square in the high school curriculum?

Are foreign investors publicly reported anywhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a matter of being down on the school, but at the moment, it is 1990's style vaporware. Anyone can promise the moon, but why would anyone want to risk their kids education to be the first ones in, and at a steep financial cost?

PP here, and I haven't read the whole thread, but this is again why I think business/MBA types might be interested in the school. Huge risk, but they get to be on the ground floor of a whole new school movement that may shake things up in the private school world. They liked the pitch and the players, and decided to go for it.

And let's be real, their kids' educations won't be ruined by one year at this school. And if they have 50K to use in this way, I doubt it's a steep financial cost to them.

But unlike getting in on the ground floor of an investment, you can already equal returns elsewhere at other schools. There's no benefit to being the first.

The benefit is saying you were there. Perhaps I'm overestimating the likelihood of people going for this. Of course, people who are more risk-averse are going to stay away. But I'm thinking of people who might approach this like a venture capitalist, but not for the financial return--people who like the model and are intrigued enough to enroll their kids. If you're legit rich, your kids will be fine, so what's the down side?

No. You probably don't have kids. People don't view their children as capital to invest in experiments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not a matter of being down on the school, but at the moment, it is 1990's style vaporware. Anyone can promise the moon, but why would anyone want to risk their kids education to be the first ones in, and at a steep financial cost?

PP here, and I haven't read the whole thread, but this is again why I think business/MBA types might be interested in the school. Huge risk, but they get to be on the ground floor of a whole new school movement that may shake things up in the private school world. They liked the pitch and the players, and decided to go for it.

And let's be real, their kids' educations won't be ruined by one year at this school. And if they have 50K to use in this way, I doubt it's a steep financial cost to them.

But unlike getting in on the ground floor of an investment, you can already equal returns elsewhere at other schools. There's no benefit to being the first.

The benefit is saying you were there. Perhaps I'm overestimating the likelihood of people going for this. Of course, people who are more risk-averse are going to stay away. But I'm thinking of people who might approach this like a venture capitalist, but not for the financial return--people who like the model and are intrigued enough to enroll their kids. If you're legit rich, your kids will be fine, so what's the down side?

No. You probably don't have kids. People don't view their children as capital to invest in experiments.

PP here. I have one young kid in private. However, I could imagine that some other (much more affluent than me) parents may be intrigued by the notion of a new, innovative school. What's the worse that could happen? If the school is not working for their kids, they can simply apply out in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m the longwinded poster asking the financial questions above. I understand that tuition is high, but it still doesn’t make sense. Let’s think of this in terms of a business rather than a school for minute. Safe to say that the school needs a certain enrollment level - probably 90% of its projected 2500 students - to break even. After all, the fixed costs (the building, renovations, technology) don’t get cheaper because there are fewer students. The incremental costs (teachers, supplies) scale somewhat based on enrollment for sure. But if an investor wants a competitive return, say 7%, what kind of margins do these guys need to run? Let’s say it takes four or five years to get to 2500. It’s already well outside of the allowable investment time horizon of legit private equity firms. They’d want to be fully exited in five or six years.

So if not private equity, let me ask the question again...where is that kind of money coming from? It’s fully defendable if the “investor” is a nation and the funds are coming from either a commerce department, education department or defense department that identifies a strategic benefit to educating wealthy youth is Washington DC. In other words, their return is not financial like normal investors but ideological, like someone who is playing the 100 year game rather than the five year game.

Sound like any country in particular?

Not trying to be paranoid or to spread conspiracy theories, but this seems to be painfully obvious.

It took me a while, so this is basically an arm of the Ministry of Education in China. If you put your kid here you are getting a subsidized education from the PRC.
Tiananmen Square in the high school curriculum?

Are foreign investors publicly reported anywhere?

I don't think that would be public this story explains some of the financing - some of the property ownership is tied up in NY based private equity firms, good luck working all that out! If this is the Chinese State it might be a bit curious that they now own a large equity state in a building that resides on US federal land. I guess that is legit.

https://www.bisnow.com/washington-dc/news/capital-markets/owner-of-intelsat-building-closes-225m-financing-deal-55m-equity-sale-after-bringing-in-private-school-91568