Parents organize to keep Kildonan School open

AMENIA — Given the legacy of Kildonan School and its work with children with dyslexia, it’s no wonder the recent announcement of its impending closure ignited concern among families whose children attend the school. Just last month, the Kildonan School Board of Directors determined that because of low enrollment, the school likely won’t achieve the number of students necessary to promote a thriving academic program and assure families and staff of its financial stability. Keeping these challenges in mind, a group of concerned parents developed a proposal for the board to keep Kildonan open for the 2019-20 school year and beyond.

Totaling 20 parents, the committee submitted an action plan to the board on Friday, June 28, followed by a corresponding financial plan on Tuesday, July 2. Though the plan focuses on a complete restructuring of the school, the committee emphasized its desire to retain the school’s Orton-Gillingham-based academic program that’s been used to instruct students with dyslexia since the school first opened. 

Among the plan’s finer points, the committee focused on what the board can do to attract new students, reduce school costs, offset program costs with additional sources of income and fundraise. Included in their suggestions for acquiring students, committee members recommended that the board contact a number of organizations in order to market the school and its services and appeal to families interested in enrolling. 

As far as reducing costs, suggestions ranged from researching options for insurance coverage, energy subsidies, tax rebates and solar to creating a committee of parent volunteers that would be responsible for carrying out tasks that would help keep the school running. 

Recommendations for offsetting program costs with additional sources of income included offering horseback riding lessons for a fee to other schools and community members; allowing students to board their own horse for a fee; and renting the school’s athletic building and offering travel teams. 

Ideas for fundraising included applying for grants; having families and staff collaborate on a fundraising effort to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary; and hosting an on site 5K walk/run, an annual fund drive and/or a local golf tournament.

In a notice addressed to other Kildonan parents, the committee shared its goals to set both revenue and expense streams and ensure that the school “remains financially viable every year in the future, and that it balances its books every year in the future.

“It is the bare-minimum responsible thing to do,” the committee’s letter stated. “We have a fiduciary responsibility to all Kildonan stakeholders. We are committed. We think we can save Kildonan. We’re ready to do the required work.”

The committee also acknowledged that, in the event of its success, there will be a lot of work over the summer to get the school ready to reopen in the fall. Foreseeing possible challenges and understanding the value the school has in the community, the committee confirmed it will keep families updated as the board reviews its proposal and plan.

“This committee… is passionately devoted, committed to keeping the school open,” said Craig Cornell, a committee member and the father of two children who attended Kildonan School. “It’s one of the very few fine schools for students with dyslexia and we desperately need it to remain open.”

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less