Anonymous
Post 12/09/2024 15:14     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Is Feynman not helping at all to find spaces for its students at other schools?

+1 This is standard practice when a school closes. Are they doing this?


Yes they're helping
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 20:50     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's a shame this school is so poorly run. The head of the school is a gifted educator, but an abysmal administrator.

Communication was non-existent.

I worry the parents are going to have a difficult time getting transcripts.

I would not be surprised if Feynman just allowed a lease to expire without renewing, because they forgot to get to it. I suspect that is why they had to change locations in the first place.


Current parent and I agree with that assessment. Re transcripts — they are legally obligated to provide those, but I fear you are correct that timeliness could be a problem…


We had to convince our new school to adjust their expectations of what a former school provides, including the timeliness. Fortunately, Feynman has this reputation now, so the new school should be understanding on why a teacher recommendation (which inexplicitly required the head of the school to review and authorize) may be missing from the application.

Good luck all. Once we left, the other parents agreed with us that it was almost hard to adjust to a new school that is actually responsive and transparent. We had become so numb to the disfunction.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 20:14     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:It's a shame this school is so poorly run. The head of the school is a gifted educator, but an abysmal administrator.

Communication was non-existent.

I worry the parents are going to have a difficult time getting transcripts.

I would not be surprised if Feynman just allowed a lease to expire without renewing, because they forgot to get to it. I suspect that is why they had to change locations in the first place.


Current parent and I agree with that assessment. Re transcripts — they are legally obligated to provide those, but I fear you are correct that timeliness could be a problem…
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 19:52     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:Based on the tax docs, they were in pretty good shape at the end of 2021. But I know they lost a lot of students over the last few years, as the quality of the administration really fell.

I do note that the loan to the head of the school is a little unusual. It specifically says the loan was not approved by the Board, and no written agreement exists. (this of course was as of the end of 2021, so not clear how much these loans to the head of the school continued).


Interesting thank you. I don’t have an opinion at this time about the propriety of the loan (loans?) to the head of school, but I feel that parents deserve more information. The lack of transparency is astonishing.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 19:11     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t Feynman move from WHC on Falls Rd to the JCC on Montrose for the start of this school year? And for some reason I want to say that it was at another location prior to WHC.


Feynman moved prior to last year for 2023/2024 year.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 18:56     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Didn’t Feynman move from WHC on Falls Rd to the JCC on Montrose for the start of this school year? And for some reason I want to say that it was at another location prior to WHC.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 17:46     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Based on the tax docs, they were in pretty good shape at the end of 2021. But I know they lost a lot of students over the last few years, as the quality of the administration really fell.

I do note that the loan to the head of the school is a little unusual. It specifically says the loan was not approved by the Board, and no written agreement exists. (this of course was as of the end of 2021, so not clear how much these loans to the head of the school continued).
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 17:38     Subject: Feynman School Closing

It's a shame this school is so poorly run. The head of the school is a gifted educator, but an abysmal administrator.

Communication was non-existent.

I worry the parents are going to have a difficult time getting transcripts.

I would not be surprised if Feynman just allowed a lease to expire without renewing, because they forgot to get to it. I suspect that is why they had to change locations in the first place.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 09:39     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 09:38     Subject: Feynman School Closing


Any Feynman parents adept at analyzing tax returns?
The Form 990 for fiscal year ending in 6/22 notes the number of financial aid grant given (53) for a total of $473,160 (p. 30) and also identifies a (relatively small) loan to the founders on p. 31. Query whether anyone can figure out enough of the financial situation so parents can decide what steps to take next.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 09:32     Subject: Re:Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:One option for some students:

https://www.baretscholars.org/


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


I think this poster is trying to be cute. That program was created by the founder of Whittle School, which similarly closed under controversial circumstances.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 09:23     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:Feynman is organized as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, and has obligations to maintain books and records under various laws. Admin should provide information regarding revenue and expenses for the last few years. For parents, it’s the only way to know what, if any, assets, remain for distribution. Does the school intend to refund any recent donations from parents? What about those parents who paid full tuition for the academic year?

If the school is not more transparent, parents may start researching the various federal and state laws applicable to non-profit schools like Feynman, and may file a lawsuit for breach of contract in order to force discovery regarding financial records, and pursue any other remedies available such as asking for an IRS or state audit. Better if the school communicates more openly with parents rather than making parents angry enough to look into all legal remedies and potentially retain counsel (or organize the attorneys among them to proceed on behalf of a group).

Most recent tax return available online (for fiscal year ending June 2023) shows net assets of $351,904.
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300526593/202411369349311566/full

2022 tax return (fiscal year ending June 2022) shows net assets of $587,908
https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/300526593_202206_990_2023061221442366.pdf

Tax return for fiscal year ending June 2020 shows net assets of NEGATIVE $964,870
https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/300526593_202006_990_2021052518190405.pdf

Who’s ultimately responsible?
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 09:10     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Try CES in Rockville. They usually have a couple of kids enroll mid year.
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 08:33     Subject: Feynman School Closing

Feynman is organized as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, and has obligations to maintain books and records under various laws. Admin should provide information regarding revenue and expenses for the last few years. For parents, it’s the only way to know what, if any, assets, remain for distribution. Does the school intend to refund any recent donations from parents? What about those parents who paid full tuition for the academic year?

If the school is not more transparent, parents may start researching the various federal and state laws applicable to non-profit schools like Feynman, and may file a lawsuit for breach of contract in order to force discovery regarding financial records, and pursue any other remedies available such as asking for an IRS or state audit. Better if the school communicates more openly with parents rather than making parents angry enough to look into all legal remedies and potentially retain counsel (or organize the attorneys among them to proceed on behalf of a group).

Most recent tax return available online (for fiscal year ending June 2023) shows net assets of $351,904.
https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/300526593/202411369349311566/full

2022 tax return (fiscal year ending June 2022) shows net assets of $587,908
https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/300526593_202206_990_2023061221442366.pdf

Tax return for fiscal year ending June 2020 shows net assets of NEGATIVE $964,870
https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/300526593_202006_990_2021052518190405.pdf
Anonymous
Post 12/08/2024 08:10     Subject: Re:Feynman School Closing

Anonymous wrote:One option for some students:

https://www.baretscholars.org/


Feynman went through 8th grade.