<p>Conserve School in Wisconsin is changing to a semester school and is not accepting freshman applications.</p>
<p>Private</a> northwoods school to cut back -- chicagotribune.com I'll put this on the "endowments" thread, as well.</p>
<p>The point of them cutting back is to make money (obviously), but if they are cutting back so much nobody is going to want to go anymore, they will loose even more applicants, and then they won't have any students. Then obviously they won't be making any money. isn't this a bad choice?</p>
<p>I don't think this is a choice "to make money." I think it's a change the board feels they need to make to survive. I expect that their endowment is no longer some $200 million. If you read this thread, <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/573003-financial-market-impact-endowments-financial-aid-applications-etc.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/573003-financial-market-impact-endowments-financial-aid-applications-etc.html</a>, schools aren't immune to changes in the economy.</p>
<p>i believe there was a cc member (not sure if they want to be identified, so ill leave it at that) whose son currently attends conserve as a freshman. i wonder how that's going ...</p>
<p>my son is a conserve school freshman. It's not going well. Kids are seriously disappointed. Kids and staff all crying and parents angry and frustrated. It's horrible.</p>
<p>There will be no provisions for this year's freshman, they are out and on their own. Sophmores and juniors can return next year with a reduced staff. After that it will be a semester school for juniors only. Many of the students are saying they won't return because the teachers will be reduced and many of the favorites will be gone.</p>
<p>Us Freshman parents are struggling to find alternatives for our kids at the last minute. Many application deadlines are coming up quickly. Even more difficult is that I expected my eight grade daughter to be accepted and now I have to find a place for her as well.</p>
<p>This all came out of nowhere, just last month the headmaster was telling us everything was fine. There was NO consultation with the staff or parent organization. The board down in Chicago came up with this solution, which pretty much closes the school, all on their own.</p>
<p>What a shame they at least didn't tell you earlier when families would have had more time to find an alternative for their children. The economic times are tough but one would think that those in the business of educating children would have shown more sensitivity. </p>
<p>k.roach - I wish you and your son, as well as the other Conserve families, success during this difficult time. On the bright side, there are many great schools out there and some may find it tougher enrolling students in this economy. I wouldn't hesitate to contact schools about applying late given your circumstances.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear this news. And very surprising that the parents weren't given the benefit of more notice.</p>
<p>Very sorry to hear this. Conserve was one of the schools I applied to. Fortunately for me, the only thing I'm out is the time to complete the application and the application fee. However, if I were a year older this might not be the case. I wish there was something more I could do to help the students like k.roach's kids. What I do have to offer is the following list I put together of other boarding schools that they may be interested in and whose application deadlines have not passed yet.</p>
<p>Feb 15 enrollment deadline:
Colorado Rocky Mountain School
Orme School of AZ
Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School
MacDuffie School
George School</p>
<p>Feb 20:
Miller School</p>
<p>Mar 1:
St Andrews - Sewanee
Hyde - Woodstock & Bath</p>
<p>Mar 15:
West Nottingham Academy</p>
<p>Apr 1:
Oakwood Friends School</p>
<p>Apr 15:
Midland School</p>
<p>Rolling:
Darrow School
Northwood School
Oliverian School
Southwestern Academy
Squaw Valley Academy
Verde Valley School
Wasatch Academy</p>
<p>I wish the best of luck to all the affected students, and I hope no more schools suffer a similar fate!</p>
<p>Wow, I think that was really terrible of them to not tell the students earlier. I feel really bad for the affected students, I know if something like that had happened at my boarding school, I would have been devastated.</p>
<p>And just a question...how would a school that only serves juniors for a semester work? That just seems like a weird idea for me, most kids I know wouldn't want to go to a new place just for a semester.</p>
<p>personally i think that was extremely unprofessional of conserve to notify its students right after the january 15 deadline of most boarding schools, and not enough time for january 31st or february 1st deadlines of many other boarding schools. then again i heard private school deadlines sometimes fall on the 15th (correct me if I'm wrong), so maybe families can apply to local day schools?</p>
<p>of course it may have been a rushed decision, but I would think that conserve knew its money was going downwards, at least hinting to the fact that freshmen should consider applying out for the following year, even in december.
yeah i'd also like to know why conserve chose to do a semester of junior year. there are many grade 11&12 boarding schools, but most of them are for gifted academics that usually focus on science or tech and none of them only have one semester for juniros. then again it would be awkward to have a senior-only school</p>
<p>They seem to want to treat the school like a semester-abroad program. Juniors from across the country in public schools or Green charter schools can spend a semester at Conserve with an emphasis on environmental sciences. Maybe 40 students per semester.</p>
<p>They could get by with eight teachers, no sports, music, art or any of those other untidy activities. Saving loads of money and opening up the facilities to many more potential students. </p>
<p>All the parents think it's a terrible idea, destroying a good school and replacing it with a nature camp. </p>
<p>We are trying to fight this decision, not just for our kids but for the future as well. We believe in the original mission of the school and don't want to see it end. nor are we entirely convinced this is a purely financial decision. The trustees seem sold on this semester school idea and seem determined to implement it regardless of the financial situation. </p>
<p>The staff has been excellent through this. They found out about all this on friday the same day as the students. They are in the same position as the students. And in some ways have it worse. Many teachers live on campus so they are not only losing their jobs but their homes as well. They are being very quick about recommendations and are phoning schools to get extensions for our applications.</p>
<p>reading the post above me.. nevermind about my sort of rant about the school not notifying the students.. though i still think it's unfair that the decision itself was suddenly declared to anyone who hadn't known earlier -including the staff- , in january.</p>
<p>I have never heard of a "semester school." I wonder what kids will think to attend it. </p>
<p>If the school is a non-profit, which I assume it is, isn't it required to follow it's mission statement?</p>
<p>My son is a freshman at Conserve. I also have an older son that graduated in 2007. I had a bad feeling when I recieved the State of the School meeting annoucement; they never had one before that we were told of. I never imagined it would be this. I thought they were going to cut back spending and to expect less financial aid. Never this. Never.
As far as honoring the founder's original writings, I don't believe he had a semester school in mind. They weren't all the rage in his lifetime. And even his own wishes "practicable with the requirements set by school officials of the State of Wisconsin" leaves a question in my mind. I know this had to be a difficult decision for everyone involved. I feel so badly for the extremely dedicated staff. I just wish it wasn't so.
Leaving the freshmen with no options completely stunned me. I will add, my son wouldn't stay if they only had 8 teachers and no competitive sports. Btw, it took them years to get into a conference.</p>
<p>There are some existing semester programs out there. Here's an old article about them from the NYT
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/education/edlife/farmm.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/E/Education%20and%20Schools%5B/url%5D">http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/05/education/edlife/farmm.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/E/Education%20and%20Schools</a></p>
<p>And some examples of existing programs:
Ocean</a> Classroom - Home</p>
<p>any students, alumni, parents or interested parties should mail their concerns to Board member Ron Kazmar at</p>
<p><a href="mailto:ron_kazmar@centralsteel.com">ron_kazmar@centralsteel.com</a></p>
<p>I'm not sure if there is etiquette here against quoting oneself, but if so I apologize. I just wanted to add a school to this list...</p>
<p>Feb 15 enrollment deadline:
Colorado Rocky Mountain School
Orme School of AZ
Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School
MacDuffie School
George School</p>
<p>Feb 20:
Miller School</p>
<p>Mar 1:
St Andrews - Sewanee
Hyde - Woodstock & Bath</p>
<p>Mar 15:
West Nottingham Academy</p>
<p>Apr 1:
Oakwood Friends School</p>
<p>Apr 15:
Midland School</p>
<p>Rolling:
Darrow School
Northwood School
Oliverian School
Southwestern Academy
Squaw Valley Academy
St John's Preparatory (MN)
Verde Valley School
Wasatch Academy</p>
<p>also The Mountain School in Vermont is a semester school for juniors but you have to already be at a participating private day/boarding/public school. they accept about 30 (I think per semester)</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about Conserve. Good luck to all affected by this.</p>