SSFS Closing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible the board was taken by surprise by low matriculation, and by a lot of current students leaving?

You mean like they had no idea the school was in debt for several years, 80 families and 30 faculty left last year. And all this year things were looking grimer by the day? And this was all a surprise?

Well I’m not sure you’re boosting anyone’s confidence in the board. Just makes them seem utterly idiotic.

I'm not trying to boost anything. Clearly the school was in trouble and that was plain to see. I'm asking if the results of the application season were significantly worse than expected, even with those already known issues. Like if new contracts were drastically low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please look at the facts:
- SSFS breaks ground on new Upper School building November 12, 2018
https://www.ssfs.org/cf_enotify/view.cfm?n=1646
- Covid begins March 2020
- RG began as HOS July 1, 2020 (during covid)
- Upper School building completed and began usage March 2021

All the bulk of construction was summer 2020 thru spring 2021
The groundbreaking was barely a shovel. Cause I was walking around in fall 2019 and right before Covid and the whole plot was still covered in grass.

At the end of the day it was never stopped or paused by anyone who was in admin when clearly they didn’t have the funds

If the building was opened March 2021, then in summer 2020 they had already invested a lot of borrowed money. Backing out at that point didn't make sense.

RG may have caused a lot of problems, but you can't blame him for the new building.

And so you can never back out. I guess that’s why inspite of being in debt they should have taken on the roof repairs and pac repairs - cause you know why stop?

We should all continue buying new cars and houses cause once in debt why back out?

What RG owns is alienating families to the point that last year lost 80+. Or do you say they all left because they hated the new building?

As far as how many donors pulled back because of RG we will never know. Interesting how the 500K to Renovate the LS came right after RG left. Amazing.

[Anonymous]

Who are the people ultimately responsible for the closing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Who are the people ultimately responsible for the closing?

The board.

[Anonymous]

The unfulfilled pledges play a big part actually in what's happening

Is this something you know firsthand or something you’ve heard from others?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please look at the facts:
- SSFS breaks ground on new Upper School building November 12, 2018
https://www.ssfs.org/cf_enotify/view.cfm?n=1646
- Covid begins March 2020
- RG began as HOS July 1, 2020 (during covid)
- Upper School building completed and began usage March 2021

All the bulk of construction was summer 2020 thru spring 2021
The groundbreaking was barely a shovel. Cause I was walking around in fall 2019 and right before Covid and the whole plot was still covered in grass.

At the end of the day it was never stopped or paused by anyone who was in admin when clearly they didn’t have the funds

If the building was opened March 2021, then in summer 2020 they had already invested a lot of borrowed money. Backing out at that point didn't make sense.

RG may have caused a lot of problems, but you can't blame him for the new building.

And so you can never back out. I guess that’s why inspite of being in debt they should have taken on the roof repairs and pac repairs - cause you know why stop?

We should all continue buying new cars and houses cause once in debt why back out?

What RG owns is alienating families to the point that last year lost 80+. Or do you say they all left because they hated the new building?

As far as how many donors pulled back because of RG we will never know. Interesting how the 500K to Renovate the LS came right after RG left. Amazing.

Maybe they felt building out the facilities would attract more families to the school. The reality is the they are all clamoring to get to the BIG DC privates and those in Bethesda. Utter fail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not surprised they are closing. I was there for a tour in January on one of the coldest days of the winter and there was no heat in the gym. I know this because the children were wearing their winter coats inside during PE (which seemed odd), so I asked why, and was told there was an HVAC issue and they weren't sure when they would be able to fix it. There was also no heat in a dormitory (not sure if there's more than one). That was a huge red flag to me.

Wow, that is shocking!

Exactly who was responsible at the time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The unfulfilled pledges play a big part actually in what's happening

Is this something you know firsthand or something you’ve heard from others?

It's mentioned in one of the school communications as a factor. But it doesn't say how big a factor that was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Friends of SSFS Coalition is reporting that they have raised more than half of the 3-year shortfall in less than 48 hours.

If you are part of the SSFS community and interested in donating time, expertise, or money, the form is here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeGcMj7TwE0wjzHBO_FqiFLK58hy4Fz05u7R0TH9eOoftQWDA/viewform?pli=1

And we should believe this anonymous post proves money in hand … because …

Yeah. This sounds too good to be true....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The unfulfilled pledges play a big part actually in what's happening

Is this something you know firsthand or something you’ve heard from others?

It's mentioned in one of the school communications as a factor. But it doesn't say how big a factor that was.

If it is a big enough factor for the school to mention it, then that means something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The unfulfilled pledges play a big part actually in what's happening

Is this something you know firsthand or something you’ve heard from others?

It's mentioned in one of the school communications as a factor. But it doesn't say how big a factor that was.

If it is a big enough factor for the school to mention it, then that means something.

Well, I guess I can't tell if they mentioned it because it's a real factor or is it a way to blame others rather than themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not surprised they are closing. I was there for a tour in January on one of the coldest days of the winter and there was no heat in the gym. I know this because the children were wearing their winter coats inside during PE (which seemed odd), so I asked why, and was told there was an HVAC issue and they weren't sure when they would be able to fix it. There was also no heat in a dormitory (not sure if there's more than one). That was a huge red flag to me.

Wow, that is shocking!

I’m sorry that the no-heat day was tour day, but I’m not sure it is shocking. My kid came home and was like “heat broke today. It was cold. What’s for dinner?” Equipment breaks and someone has to come fix it.

Now, the board shutting the school is shocking. I’m still gobsmacked and really sad.

Don’t take this the wrong way but if your kid coming home saying heat broke (which wasn’t just a 1 day thing, plus the pac was already broke etc) at your 40K tuition school, admins are leaving left and right, CFO is getting and you’re still gobsmacked when it turns out the school was collapsing … maybe you need to ask why nothing was raising red flags for you.

Again not at all trying to be mean but we felt something was up and were one of the 80 families who left the year before. I didn’t think in a million years that the school was in such bad shape that it would close but I sensed something was wrong and am not gobsmacked. Sad and angry but not surprised.

If 80 families left and those weren't graduating seniors huge red flag. Sounds like the only way to make this work would be a complete overhaul with new board, new head and new administrators who can do right by the school but that's rare to find folks who actually will.

80 is the rough difference of total enrollment start of 23-24 (around 690) and 24-25 (around 615). Not seniors who were replaced by juniors.

These ppl did not leave because of the US. Or because they realized how much debt the school was because of it. They left because the school wasn’t providing the education they were paying for.

Obviously not everyone’s experience. But enough people were having a bad experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it possible the board was taken by surprise by low matriculation, and by a lot of current students leaving?

You mean like they had no idea the school was in debt for several years, 80 families and 30 faculty left last year. And all this year things were looking grimer by the day? And this was all a surprise?

Well I’m not sure you’re boosting anyone’s confidence in the board. Just makes them seem utterly idiotic.

I'm not trying to boost anything. Clearly the school was in trouble and that was plain to see. I'm asking if the results of the application season were significantly worse than expected, even with those already known issues. Like if new contracts were drastically low.

I am sure this years re enrollment would have been lower than last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with you 6:59. Parent of current junior. Selfishly there isn't much I wouldn't do for a one-year reprieve so our child can finish at the school they've grown to love. But other than junior parents, I have a hard time seeing who will take that risk with us?

We'd need in very short order an ENTIRELY new Board of Trustees (since the current batch is a big part of why we're here!), a HOS and who knows how many teachers since it's entirely unclear who would stay.

Again as a parent of a junior I'd leap at the chance to give our kid that last year. If I were a parent of a 7th grader, or a 10th grader, I'm sorry but there's no chance I'd stay, just not enough faith!

Totally agree about the BOT !

[Anonymous]

Did anyone posting here go to the BOT meetings? Lots of rubber stampers serve on boards. It may be unfair to assume everyone on BOT supported the excess spending.

Plus I bet almost everyone in school community wanted the new high school. Did anyone speak against it?