PORT TOWNSEND — Jefferson Community School, an alternative private school for local middle school and high school students since 2005, could close if more students aren’t recruited for the next school year.
“There has been a lot of effort to keep this gem of a school open, but it is a business that needs to be run economically,” said Lisa Iverson, who has worked as head of the school for a year.
“The school needs to be a viable business, and we need to have some idea about where our income is coming from.”
Base tuition for the private school is $10,300 per year, with some scholarships available for the school, which offers a “smaller, more intimate learning community,” according to the website, www.jeffersoncommunityschool.com/13.
Currently, 19 students in the seventh through 12th grades attend the school.
So far, parents have committed 22 students to attend the school next year, Iverson said.
The school needs about 32 students to survive, she added.
The board for the private nonprofit will consider closure when it meets Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., Iverson said.
The meeting will take place at the school at 280 Quincy St.
Anchor Jennison, a 14-year-old sophomore, has attended the school for four years and said he would be “heartbroken” if it were to close.
“You really get to know the teachers and the other students here. It’s like family,” he said.
If the school closes, Anchor said he would cobble together coursework from Port Townsend High School, tutoring and independent study to get the credits to graduate.
In past years, the school has been able to take registration up to the beginning of the school year, but that option won’t be available this year, Iverson said.
“The school has always gotten people to sign up at the last minute, but we can’t afford to wait for that,” Iverson said.
“We need commitments so we can sign teacher contracts and support the building.”
The idea that the school could close was discussed earlier in the school year but only recently has become a possibility, said Richard Berg, board president.
“We all felt pretty optimistic until the last few weeks, when we determined that our enrollment wasn’t going to meet our projections,” Berg said.
“So we need to get the word out, which is why we are now talking to the newspapers.”
Berg said Iverson, who was hired because of her business background, anticipated a shortfall and started a series of measures designed to attract students.
She redesigned the website, developed a newsletter, ran a direct-mail campaign and held several small events in which the school appealed to supporters for contributions and ideas.
The message that the school would close if the numbers didn’t improve was not stated directly to most people, “but we said it privately,” Iverson said.
“Most private schools get 85 percent of their funds from tuition and the rest from donations, but we have been getting only 45 [percent] or 55 percent from tuition,” Berg said.
“Some of the donors are understandably starting to step back, so we need to decrease that gap by increasing the student population; otherwise, we won’t meet our budget.”
Even though the student body is small, Iverson said, it is a diverse group.
“The school was designed for this community, to serve the kids who want this kind of education,” she said.
“It’s for kids who really want the small setting and have increased contact with their teachers and don’t need the large social scene present in a standard high school.”
Iverson said students are eligible to try out for team sports at Port Townsend High School, though participation in programs such as the orchestra that occur during school hours is harder to manage.
This school year will end June 6.
No date has been set for the first day of school in the fall.
Said Berg: “We need to get the word out now.
“In past years, people have waited until the last minute before signing up for the next school year. They need to know this year, they might not have that choice.”
For more information, visit the website, phone 360-385-0622 or email jcs@jeffersoncommunityschool.com.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
