Gifted Academy In Elgin Closing At End Of School Year
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Parents of children enrolled in a small private school for the gifted in Elgin said they were shocked this week when they were told Da Vinci Academywould close at the end of the school year.
"This is a bomb dropped on us on Monday, and we've been brainstorming. What are we going to do? So we're trying everything we can to see if we can save this," said Ron Woodruff, whose son is in kindergarten at Da Vinci.
School officials blamed the decision to close Da Vinci on insufficient enrollment.
Da Vinci Academy chairman of the board Jeff Martin says that,
"Over the last six years, we've seen a pretty consistent reduction in enrollment," said Jeff Martin, president of the board of trustees.
Martin said there are now 81 students enrolled at Da Vinci.
Parents said they were told the school has been running a deficit of $400,000 which was covered by a benefactor until the end of this school year.
Woodruff and his wife cannot sing enough praises about the school. Their 6-year-old son, Noah, started at Da Vinci in September.
Brittney Woodruff called Da Vinci, "an amazing school."
"There's nowhere that exists that's like Da Vinci," she said. "The educational philosophy fosters critical thinking as well as learning through exploration and the social/emotional side of it, as well."
Ron Woodruff said he doesn't believe the school board had "taken everything into account and really tapped the potential of the … 65 or 60 families of the kids that attend the school."
Martin said the decision to close Da Vinci has been devastating His own three children attended the school, which opened in 2000, and where tuition ranges from $12,000 to $18,000.
"It was certainly worth it for my family. It's been very heart-breaking to have to go through this process in the last few months, and the last week with the parents," he said.
Martin said suggested some parents might be able to cobble together a plan for a "starter school" that might be able to be housed in the Da Vinci Academy facilities after the current school closes; and have fewer educational and extra-curricular options for students.
"A good way to do it would be to see how many parents were interested in being in that starter school, which would mean you would probably have something like combined grades in a classroom; less special, so less of the Spanish, and art, and music."
The Woodruffs, and other like-minded parents, have been meeting to discuss their options to try and save the school, which Ron called "a little gem in Elgin."