After more than 60 years, Sandy Spring Friends School will close at the end of this school year.
In a notice atop the school’s webpage, it states, “It is with heavy hearts that we share the difficult news that Sandy Spring Friends School will be closing following the completion of the 2024–25 school year.”
The summer camp program will not be offered.
The Board of Trustees issued a letter Monday stating the decision was not made lightly. “It comes after a thoughtful and extensive assessment of the school’s untenable financial position, as well as thorough analysis of our enrollment and fundraising picture. Regrettably, despite an immense effort to shore up the school’s financial foundation, we simply do not have the financial wherewithal to meet our obligations next year.”
According to School Closure Announcement FAQs, “the school’s financial outlook does not provide adequate stability to open the school next year. The school does not currently have, nor does it have a reasonable expectation of obtaining, sufficient funds to cover all the costs of operating the school for the 2025-2026 year and beyond.
Between $14 million and $16 million over the next three years is needed to keep the school open, members of the board noted. That money is needed to cover operating losses, debt service, repayment of a loan maturing in the near future and needed major maintenance projects.
The school’s business office will contact families enrolled for the upcoming school year concerning reimbursement of any deposits and payments as well as assistance in locating another school to attend.
The future of the school’s 140-acre campus and buildings on Norbeck Road “will be decided over the next several months, and will largely be determined by our financing commitments,” according to the board’s letter.
Under the school’s charter, the land, which was donated, cannot be divided. The property is fully mortgaged.
According to board members, no one issue caused the closing. “We can chalk up the school’s financial picture to a number of factors – the lingering impacts of the pandemic on enrollment and giving; our aging facilities and capital needs; the absence of strong philanthropy from which other schools benefit. But, in the end, it was no one factor. The school’s financial picture simply became unsustainable.”
According to the letter, the board looked into merging with another school or selling the school, “but we were not successful. Due to our large debt and the current uncertainty in the regional market, we are not a likely merger partner for another school.”
A few alumni posted on the school’s Facebook page, including one person who wrote, “Sandy Spring Friends School changed, if not saved, my life. I got the feeling it was changing even then, but really watched change happen over the past decades. Nothing can last, and what we had there certainly couldn’t. And I know there were many many classes of folks since then who also had an amazing experience. Heartbroken and stunned.”
MCM attempted to contact school officials for a comment but has not heard back.
The coed Quaker school is a college preparatory school with students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. There currently are 615 students and 186 faculty and staff members. The average class size is 16 students.
