Private schools face challenges

BOULDER — Private schools aren’t necessarily in business for the money.

Most in Boulder County are non-profits, but more and more parents are shelling out $2,000 to $11,400 per child annually for a private-school education. Parents here have a wealth of schools to choose from for their children.

About half of the private schools in Boulder County are based in religion. Boulder’s Sacred Heart of Jesus School with 465 students is the largest private school in the county, according to a survey in July by The Business Report. But other schools are growing fast.

Bal Swan Children’s Center in Broomfield offers classes for children with disabilities; Waldorf schools, such as Shepherd Valley Waldorf School in Niwot and Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder, offer “experiential” environments. A science assignment in a Waldorf school, for example, might include art to illustrate some concept; students also create their own textbooks.

Some offer foreign language classes in elementary grades some public schools don’t offer foreign language classes until students are in middle or high school. Arts and music programs are also a draw.

Private school administrators say parents are attracted to private schools because the classrooms are smaller, and, as a result, students get more individualized attention. With the exception of the Longmont-based Faith Baptist School and St. John the Baptist School, most private school officials report that their teacher-student ratios are 1:20 or lower.

Mary Engle, admissions director for the Boulder-based Friends’ School, says students also feel more accountability because the students know everyone and everyone knows them. “They’re not lost in the crowd,” Engle says. “They can’t get away with stuff.”

The Columbine shooting incident only increased the number of phone calls from parents looking for other options for the children’s education. Charmaine Cook, school board president for Shepherd Valley Waldorf School in Niwot, says middle-school students are increasingly showing interest in private schools “especially in light of recent events.”

The opposition

Despite the increased interest in private schools, finding land for them is near impossible in Boulder County. Two schools were moving this summer after launching capital fund-raising campaigns to build new schools. Cook and Doyle Kersey, headmaster of Boulder Country Day School, both experienced opposition when they presented their plans in meetings with the public.

Kersey says neighbors around his school were far from receptive when he went to inform them of his plans. “One woman even went as far as to shake her finger at me and say, Shame, shame, shame,’ ” he recalls. “She didn’t want a bunch of kids making noise around her.

“They went as far as to put out a flier with a picture of the property and sketching in our buildings like they were going to be skyscrapers blocking everybody’s view and that we were going to rape the land and kill the wildlife.”

Cook says her school experienced similar opposition but later found that the lone protester made a habit of condemning any development plans. Shepherd Valley had a temporary site at Gunbarrel Shopping Center with trailers on a parking lot in back. The school has had plans to move since its inception in 1993.

Arrested development

Finding land and getting approval to build took two years. Since school officials had plans for a farm, the land had to be zoned for agricultural use, then a special permit was required to build.

Four buildings and a barn are planned at Shepherd Valley’s new site at 6500 W. Dry Creek Parkway in Niwot. Children will tend animals and assist with the agricultural development of the school’s land once the school is complete.

The first phase of construction is estimated at $2.1 million; the total cost is estimated in the $5 million range. The farm will take up about 90 percent of the school’s 38 acres, and students will learn about organic and biodynamic gardening. Cook says biodynamic farming is a step further than organic farming.

“All the treatments to the land are out of natural resources,” she explains. “Instead of depleting the land, it actually enriches the land.”

But until the construction is complete, Cook says the board is looking for a temporary site to start classes in the fall.

Boulder County Day School’s new site at 4820 Nautilus Court North is twice as large as its old space at 3800 Kalmia St. The new school will have five buildings, consisting of separate buildings for the preschool, elementary and middle-school grades. Kersey says the school board bought the land, which was appraised at $790,000, for $600,000.

Kersey says the school raised approximately $800,000 but adds that the work couldn’t be accomplished without help. Boulder’s Railton McEvoy Architects and Wyatt Construction did in-kind work to help build the school. “We did all kinds of stuff,” Kersey says. “We went to our parents, and we put together a case statement. We also hired a consultant, and she walked us through what we should do.”

With a little help

Private schools sustain themselves on contributions and donations from parents, alumni, businesses, whoever. Some schools get breaks on rent by leasing space in churches, other schools collect annual fees, which are put toward development funds.

Donald David, school board vice president of the Boulder-based Shepherds’ School, estimated that 80-85 percent of the budget went toward teacher salaries with the rest going for rent and supplies. But David, like most administrators, always wishes more money was available.

“We just have teachers that are willing to work for whatever we have to pay,” David says. “The salaries have been really quite low. They may be willing to work for pennies one year, but not forever.”

But even if the teachers move on, parents whose children start out in private schools seem committed to keep them there. The only problem is that the selection of private schools slims as children get older because most cater to preschool and elementary school-aged children.

Jan Strobel, whose children attended Flatirons Christian School in Boulder, which closed after the principal was accused of writing himself almost $11,000 in checks of the school’s money (see related story on page 27A), moved from Louisville to Longmont to keep her son in a private school. Strobel’s son, who was to begin middle school, worried about negative influences in public schools. He also once had trouble reading and said he didn’t want to be teased. He now attends Faith Baptist School, which has a high school.

“He went from failing grades at Coal Creek to being an A student,” Strobel says. “He doesn’t want to see that slip.”

The whole child’

Engle wouldn’t be surprised by the turnaround. “Students who are often not successful, who are bored or who are frustrated in public schools excel tremendously in private schools,” she says.

“They leave here with a foundation of high self-esteem. You’re looking at the whole child. You’re learning about yourself, you’re learning about community, how to interact, how to accept differences and how to work together.”

The private-public school issue, however, brings much debate.

Amendment 17, a ballot issue last November to provide tax vouchers to parents with children in private schools, failed by a huge margin. Opponents of the issue said it would take money away from public schools, which they said were already under-funded. Gov. Bill Owens, however, has said he vows to redress private-school tax vouchers.

“It’s a stigma that private schools are just for the elite, stuck-up upper-class realm,” Engle says. “A lot of people don’t send their children to private schools and say, I don’t want my child with all these stuck-up people.’ It may have been true years ago, but that’s really changed.”

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