June 29, 2009

Dear Thornton Friends School Community:

It is with extreme sadness that the Thornton Friends School Board of Trustees is writing to advise you that Thornton Friends School must cease operations, and will not re-open for September 2009.  The Board, which includes several TFS alumni parents, deeply regrets the difficult challenges this creates for remaining families and staff, but a continuing and substantial decline in enrollment of current students would leave the school without sufficient financial resources to ensure a quality educational program for our students next year.

Since January 2009, Norman Maynard’s leadership, energy and vision for a renewed program have been excellent.  This, along with contracts from existing students and anticipated additional enrollments (based on TFS’ long history of late enrollments) led the Board to decide earlier this Spring to keep the school open for next year.  However, since that decision, a number of contracts have been withdrawn and anticipated new enrollments have not materialized.  This would result in a significant budget shortfall for next year.  Although we considered the possibility of operating an even further reduced program, we could not identify enough funds from tuition and fundraising to finance a program of sufficient breadth to allow students to be well prepared for post-secondary education.  Therefore, the only responsible option is to close the school now and give families and staff as much time as possible to find alternative placements. 

The school leadership staff and Board will provide families and staff with immediate support to find placements for the next school year.  And, in the coming weeks and months, they will undertake the tasks needed to complete an orderly dissolution of Thornton Friends School. 

May we hold each other in the Light through this difficult transition.

Sincerely,

Thornton Friends School Board of Trustees