A number of private schools are marching on with capital campaigns and are planning upgrades despite the tight giving environment and growing demand for financial aid.
Myriam Woods, head of The Fraser-Woods School in Newtown, said that last year”™s annual fund identified technology needs and about $20,000 worth of SMART Boards were installed.
She said this year, funding should go toward creating a reserve for a parking lot, repaving and opening up land for trails.
In addition to building improvements, changes will occur in programs.
Woods said the school just created a full-time summer program “which is much more user-friendly to parents who want to choose a school instead of a day-care program.”
If the summer program is deemed a success, winter- and spring-break programs will follow.
In New York, Kay Hoffman, administrator at the Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, said two years ago the school began a $3 million capital campaign and construction will begin on the main portion of it in the 2010 building season.
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“We”™re really creating a space that is more modern and more suitable for the student body,” said Claus Sproll, business manager, of the Arts building that includes a small auditorium. “It”™s an expansion of an existing structure.”
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Sproll noted several other changes Green Meadow implemented following the downturn.
“We modified our full-time equivalency in terms of full-time staff, increased tuition assistance and invested heavily in marketing,” he said.
The school saw about a 10 percent to 12 percent increase in demand of appeals to initial financial aid awards, Sproll said.
At Archbishop Stepinac High School in White Plains, N.Y., administrators saw a 29 percent increase in enrollment.
Principal Paul Carty said that although “a couple” of families have left because of money-related issues, “we look at the value proposition and try to keep tuition affordable.”
High on Stepinac”™s list of priorities is an ambitious $3.5 capital campaign, in which $2.2 million has been raised so far.
The Major Bowes auditorium will be undergoing an extensive renovation of the seating and lighting.
SMART Boards were added in classrooms and a new gymnasium floor was installed.
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About $500,000 of the $2.2 million was earmarked for the all-turf athletic field, according to the Rev. Tom Collins, major gifts officer and vice principal for student life.
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Prior to the economic downturn, Collins said the school considered “swing gifts,” or “those who continue to give, but with some reductions.”
“With swing gifts, you know your capital campaign also has to swing,” he said.
It was adjusted accordingly to about $3 million.
Also plugging along is Rye Country Day School in Rye, N.Y., which embarked on a projected $23 million Building on Excellence campaign two years ago.
Headmaster Scott Nelson said the school is working on a 14,000-square-foot addition to the high school, which should be completed next August.
“We were very lucky to be so far along in the campaign,” Nelson said. “We”™ve raised the goal twice and to have been where we were last fall (in reference to the economy) and see plus payments come in, we”™re in good shape.”
