Feynman School Closing

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They started that way with a strict IQ cutoff. There were not enough kids in this area believe it or not. They always struggled with enrollment, which was always puzzling to me. It’s very sad, our kid had great early years there.

Perhaps instead: There were not enough parents of kids who qualified who believed that this school was the best choice for their family.

[Anonymous]

OP, I will be thinking about you and all the families that are dealing with the aftermath of this situation this holiday. Please circle back amd keep us posted!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They started that way with a strict IQ cutoff. There were not enough kids in this area believe it or not. They always struggled with enrollment, which was always puzzling to me. It’s very sad, our kid had great early years there.

Perhaps instead: There were not enough parents of kids who qualified who believed that this school was the best choice for their family.

This. Our kid’s IQ is high. We looked at the school many years ago and ultimately decided it wasn’t the direction we wanted to go in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Naive question: if parents are paying tuition, why would the school run into so much financial trouble? Isn’t the math just adding up the costs of the things you’ll need for the year (salaries, rent, equipment, etc.) plus some cushion?

from the letter sent to parents:

"Since last school year, we have worked tirelessly to raise the funds needed to address the financial shortfall caused by the expenses of our move and the financial aid commitments we made to families who relied on our program. These commitments were made to students we believed in—students who have flourished in our unique learning environment. Turning them away was never an option, as our mission has always been to provide access to those who need us most."

Blaming the kids on financial aid is disgusting.

The reality is that if the school struggles with enrollment then having kids on financial aid is better than having no kids so this is particularly unfair.

[Anonymous]

Feynman may be just the tip of the iceberg.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Feynman may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Meaning what? More school closures are expected?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Feynman may be just the tip of the iceberg.

I would think most privates would have record enrollments right now given the turmoil of of local public schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again, wouldn’t tuition insurance cover this kind of situation?

If you paid by credit card you can dispute the charges and might recover some resources that way.

[Anonymous]

"Study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent, and original manner possible."

-Richard Feynman

[Anonymous]

One option for some students:

https://www.baretscholars.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Feynman may be just the tip of the iceberg.

I would think most privates would have record enrollments right now given the turmoil of of local public schools

Not given the high costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They started that way with a strict IQ cutoff. There were not enough kids in this area believe it or not. They always struggled with enrollment, which was always puzzling to me. It’s very sad, our kid had great early years there.

Plenty of kids have IQ's in the top first or second percentile rank in the area. Look at AAP. It just seems slightly pretentious to enroll your kid in a school for the "gifted".

It reminds me of the far side cartoon "Midvale School for the Gifted" with the gifted kid pushing on the door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They started that way with a strict IQ cutoff. There were not enough kids in this area believe it or not. They always struggled with enrollment, which was always puzzling to me. It’s very sad, our kid had great early years there.

Plenty of kids have IQ's in the top first or second percentile rank in the area. Look at AAP. It just seems slightly pretentious to enroll your kid in a school for the "gifted".

It reminds me of the far side cartoon "Midvale School for the Gifted" with the gifted kid pushing on the door.

So it’s not pretentious to enroll your kid in the public gifted program (literally; AAP used to be called GT - gifted and talented), but it’s pretentious to enroll your kid in a private gifted program? Or do you just think it’s pretentious to pay for school at all when public schools exist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most schools rely on fundraising and financing for a portion of their budget. Our k-8 (well established, no financial concerns) said that tuition covered about 80-some percent (82? 83? Something like that) of its annual operating budget. This is common. But it only works if the school has a good handle on and reasonable expectations for what it can fundraise each year. A small school or one that knows it doesn’t have enough community support needs to adjust its budget so that tuition covers what it needs to cover.

Schools don’t borrow money for operations. They close the gap between tuition and costs through donations and other non-tuition sources of revenue (e.g. camps). They may also draw a percentage from their endowment. What they do often finance is a portion of the costs for major capital improvements, acquisition of new real estate, and other expenditures outside of operations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One option for some students:

https://www.baretscholars.org/

Is this college level program your answer to a k-8 school closing?