Sandy Spring Friends School, a Quaker private school in Sandy Spring, will be closing at the end of the 2024-2025 school year due to not having the “financial wherewithal to meet its obligations,” according to a Monday letter from the Board of Trustees to the school community.
“The board does not take this decision lightly,” the letter said. “It comes only after a thoughtful and extensive assessment of the school’s untenable financial position, as well as thorough analysis of our enrollment and fundraising picture.”
The announcement comes about two weeks before Sandy Spring Friends was scheduled to hold its April 29 spring admissions event. The school at 16923 Norwood Road did not immediately respond Tuesday to Bethesda Today’s phone call seeking comment on the closure.
The school, which operates under the “spiritual support” of the Sandy Spring Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, opened in September 1961 with an upper school program for 77 students, according to the school’s website. A middle school program was added in 1980, followed by an elementary school in the early 1990s.
The most recent developments were the completion of a new upper school building in 2021 and, in February, the school announced the hiring of new leadership for the entire school, including the lower school and middle schools.
The school serves 615 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 on a campus of more than 140 acres that include an educational farm, cross-country trails and a swimming pond, according to its website.
Annual tuition for the 2025-2026 school year ranged from $26,900 for preschool to $45,350 for high school. Thirty-three percent of students receive financial aid, according to the website.
The nearby Adventure Park at Sandy Spring, which operates as a separate entity from the school, will continue to function, and the school’s closure will have no impact on the park, according to a letter from the park.
Closure factors include pandemic’s impact
The letter explained the school doesn’t have “nor does it have a reasonable expectation of obtaining” funds to cover operating costs past the 2024-2025 school year. The school would need an additional $14 million to $16 million in revenue over the next three years “in order to remain open in the long-term” while covering the cost of operating losses, debts, repayment of a loan and needed major maintenance projects, according to the letter.
The board said the school’s current financial situation was due to several factors including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on enrollment and donations, aging facilities and capital needs, and a lack of “strong philanthropy from which other schools benefit.”
“But, in the end, it was no one factor,” the board explained. “The school’s financial picture simply became unsustainable.”
The board said it had “every expectation” to continue school operations well into the future, which is why it had recently hired new school leaders. The board also has been “working diligently” to identify alternatives to closing but cutting costs and efforts to increase enrollment and philanthropy weren’t enough to keep the school operating.
According to the letter, currently enrolled students and their families will receive additional information about refunds for 2025-2026 deposits and tuition for the 2025-2026 school year, as well as the process of applying to another school. The school will also provide faculty and staff information about compensation, benefits and career transition support.
“We understand that this news comes as a shock, and that the timing of our announcement may only compound the stress of selecting a school for 2025-26 and beyond,” the board said in the letter. “We are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible for all involved.”
The school will hold graduation as planned on June 7, according to the letter, and other annual events will be decided on a case-by-case basis. There are no plans to run the school’s summer camp. The fate of the school’s assets, including its campus, will be determined over the next several months and will be decided by the school’s “financing commitments.”
Families in the school community said on social media that the closure was “devastating” and “very sad,” since their children enjoyed attending the school and its summer camps.
