A Quaker school in Montgomery County, Maryland, could have a second lease on life after a group of parents and school alumni raised $15 million in just days to cover a financial shortfall.
Sandy Spring Friends School, which has been open since 1961, announced last week that it would close at the end of this academic year due to a lack of funds to service debt, repay a soon-maturing loan, cover operational losses and perform maintenance. The school said it would need $14 million to $16 million over three years to stay open.
The sudden move shocked the school’s community into action, with the Friends of Sandy Spring Friends School raising $15 million in three days.
“It is inconceivable to us that the school has reached this point without transparent communication regarding the severity of the situation. The abrupt announcement has left the community reeling, and many of us feel blindsided. There has been no reasonable explanation for the lack of engagement with the very people who have supported and loved this school for decades,” a Change.org petition posted online after the closure announcement read.
The coalition seeks to change governance at the school, which serves 615 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade, and set up an endowment to ensure that SSFS doesn’t find itself in this situation in the future.
“We will not blindly hand over pledges with how things are currently done and without significant governance leadership changes at SSFS. We have not changed our position on that, nor will we change our position,” the group wrote on its website over the weekend.
As of Monday, the group had 1,447 members signed up. The coalition’s governance goals include establishing “foundational changes to ensure sustainable leadership” and securing “the school’s long-term future, with oversight and contingencies of coalition-generated funding secured in a protected fund.”
The SSFS Board of Trustees wrote in a message over the weekend that it’s grateful for supporters, is working with Friends of SSFS and is “hopeful that a path can be found” for the school to remain open, per a post from the school on Facebook.
SSFS has seen a great deal of leadership turnover over the past year.
Former Head of School Rodney Glasgow, who had been at the school since the 2020-2021 academic year, resigned ahead of the 2024-2025 term.
SSFS proceeded with the ongoing academic year with an interim principal. At first, then-Assistant Head of School Christine Lewis was due to be bumped up to the interim job. A different interim leader, Sue Groesbeck, took over in November.
If SSFS remains in operation, a new leader, Sean Hamer, is due to take the position on a full-time basis starting on July 1. A new leader for SSFS’s middle school, Jesse Hardman, is also due to start on July 1, while a new head of the SSFS lower school, Kay Mason, is slated to start work sometime this month.
Mr. Hamer, a veteran of two other Quaker schools, said in a blog post on the SSFS website that “you need to remain centered and be a place of stability for the school community. The most successful way to do that is in partnership with families, faculty, administrators, and the Board of Trustees.”