While the D.C. region has no shortage of expensive, exclusive private schools, parents say the Seneca Academy in Darnestown, Maryland, isn’t one of them. But they love it, and have a passion for it just the same.
“It’s not one of your chic, high-end private schools where everybody drives fancy cars and you have a ton of really wealthy people that send their children there,” said Caraline Hickman, a parent with two kids at the school. “A majority of our students get financial aid. Some up to 50%. In order to enable that the school has been working on a shoestring budget for quite a while.”
But the coronavirus could be a knot the Seneca Academy might not be able to slip out of.
With so many people having financial difficulties, the school announced earlier this month it would be closing in order to give teachers a chance to find new jobs and parents the opportunity to find new schools for their kids.
It also gave parents, such as Hickman and others, a chance to fight to save the school they’ve come to love.
“End of the day, it was the right call to make. It also enabled us as parents to have the time to step up,” said Hickman. The first two days of their fundraising efforts have netted $80,000.
“That’s all grassroots funds,” Hickman said. “That’s not big donors at all.”
But with a goal of raising $750,000, big donors are needed, and soon, in order to fulfill Hickman’s vow that they would “not take no for an answer.”
She’s hoping others will see the impact the school has on kids, including her own, and be willing to step up and help save the school from closing.
“When we found out the school was closing,” Hickman said her daughter, who is getting ready to turn 10, broke into tears and told her, “‘Mama the only thing I want for my birthday is for you to save my school.’ And it hit me.”
She said the community there is like a village, and that everyone, from students to parents to staff, are willing to share burdens and challenges to help everyone succeed.
“It fills a unique area for kids who have a hard time of fitting into your traditional learning environments and need extra supporting,” Hickman said.
“Seneca truly is a village. That’s what makes Seneca so special, and that’s why kids come there and flourish. We get kids who have been in the public school system and have felt stupid and felt slow and felt like they just — they’re not good at learning. And they come to Seneca, and there’s this village of support,” Hickman said.
Other parents who have sent their children to Seneca Academy said they have made connections and forged relationships that have lasted years after their children attended school there.
“It was and is a vital part of our lives and our children’s lives, and we are still in contact with many members of the community,” said Kristen Carter, of Germantown. “Some of our closest friends are the parents of other students from our kids’ classes.”
And while parents only have a few more days to reach the goal, their hope is that the mission and the results will resonate enough to help achieve it.
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