When Enough is Enough

Last winter brought some light flurries to Independent School Land, but it was no snowstorm. Permit me to elaborate: the flurries were school closures in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. I'm not minimizing these closures by calling them "flurries"; however, what I am suggesting is that they might represent the calm before the snowstorm: a more significant number of closures.

What we're experiencing now, in terms of an economy that is tepid at best (not to mention jobless), is as real as it gets. This is the new normal, for the foreseeable future.

We all know independent schools that have suffered greatly as a result of the financial crisis and its lasting effects. For some, these past two years have served to bring together frayed strands within the school, leading to a unity of purpose and mission; these schools will weather the crisis. In the end, they will be survivors, though perhaps tarnished in some respects: down, but not out. For others, however, these past two years have served to precipitate a decline that was inevitable, as these schools were poorly managed on all fronts, from the board through the administration and into the faculty and staff. Finances were treated loosely, things were put off until tomorrow (think deferred maintenance, professional development, replenishment of course materials, technology infrastructure...), and the boards spent no time (or precious little) learning about their responsibilities. The result, a tremendously weakened school, is the logical result. Imagine trying to pick up the pieces at this point... Blame will be assigned everywhere, usually to those who are no longer present, when what is needed is a mirror.

When is enough, enough?

What will it take in these tense times to make such schools realize that the best thing for the school community may be for the school to end its run? How long can schools rob Peter to pay Paul? Vendor relationships will be the first to go; faculty/staff casualties will happen along the way, although a few will hang on, hoping for some sort of miracle from on high, even when their benefits are eliminated entirely and they're teaching 30 kids in a section; they will cling to the thread of hope that somehow, some way, the school will find its footing again, enrollment will grow dramatically, and all will be right with the world. Families, of course, will sense this discord immediately and begin to withdraw, either at the end of the current year, or perhaps immediately (be ready for those mid-year transfers).

My worry for those schools who actually possess the wherewithal to determine that "enough is enough" is that they'll decide "enough is enough" in mid-May, at that last board meeting of the year. After the bulk of the admission season is over. After they have re-enrollment contracts from a dwindling number of families. After they've downsized the faculty and staff...again. After they have eliminated yet more (if not all) benefits. After teachers have signed contracts for the next school year. After families have already begun to pay tuition for the next year...and the school has already begun to spend it in the current year, violating the confidence and trust that those families have in the school. After the school can no longer place the vast majority of its students in other independent schools, since their admission season has all but closed. After the school has sucked out the very marrow of life of those in its employ.

So I ask again: when is enough, enough?