Reply to Head of School searches: How did it go

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The financial problems started with unmanaged spending in the first year and obfuscation of the lack of funding to anyone who asked why cash for things like classroom resources were all of a sudden gone by March. This wasn't Covid related at all. The folks that came in to restructure after the place blew up reported significant mismanagement. All fingers ultimately pointed to Chris Whittle himself --the easiest target---but one would think a head of school was participant in the mess.[/quote]

It was only "unmanaged" spending when the budgeted investments that Whittle was supposed to receive fell through when COVID hit 6 months into the school's first year and blew up its funding plans. This was a new, start-up school that depended on financing for it to get established and grow. Sure, in hindsight, the upfront spending in the first year could seem outrageous when you look at money out vs. money in, but you can't look at it without the context of the school relying on $100 million in funding that fell through. Per the WaPo "The pandemic dealt a formidable blow to his launch plans, he said, derailing the development of a Brooklyn campus, delaying other expansions and leading investors to abruptly withhold $60 million that had been committed to the enterprise. He said an almost-done deal for another $40 million also dissolved in early 2020. The net result: $100 million had suddenly vanished from the school’s grasp. That was more than a third of the total investment ($270 million) Whittle had been counting on at the time".

I'm not going to apologize for Whittle but I don't see how this is a sign that the HOS had poor management skills or mismanaged a budget that unexpectedly cratered to the tune of 9 figures due to an unprecedented global health crisis.

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