St. Margaret’s Rejects Parents’ Proposal to Take Over School

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church officials dashed the hopes of a determined group of parents Wednesday when it rejected the group’s proposal to take the reins of the church’s school after it closes its doors in June.

In March, the church stunned parents when officials made the announcement it would be closing its school for grades 1-8, citing financial concerns and declining enrollment.

According to group spokesman Roman Whittaker, whose child is part of the school’s second grade class, the church’s explanation for the rejection was short on details.

“When I got the call from (Church rector the Rev. Lane) Hensley and asked him why, he gave me a cursory response to the effect that we didn’t have a viable business plan,” he said. “When I asked about their concerns, I couldn’t get any specifics out of him.”

Hensley told MyDesert.com that the church listened closely to what the parents proposed.

“The reason we agreed to listen to them is because we believe in the mission of the school and if there was a sustainable way to continue that mission, we wanted to hear it,” he told the website.

Whittaker said the core component of his group’s plan had been to lease the school facilities from St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church at “a nominal rate” and fully indemnify the church with respect to its operation of the school beginning next term.

Faced with the church’s rejection of that plan, Whittaker said he tried sweetening the group’s offer.

“I asked Hensley about the possibility of our paying regular rent to use the school … I asked him, ‘can we negotiate something?’” he said. “His response was that the vestry had already anticipated that sort of offer … that they’d already discussed it and weren’t open to any further discussion or negotiation of any sort.”

Prior to Wednesday’s announcement, Whittaker said his group had 73 parents committed to re-enrolling their children in the fall under what they assumed would be a reformed school at the existing St. Margaret’s facility. At this point, however, he is not sure how many are still on board now that the group is forced to consider alternative strategies.

“Right now we’re exploring other options at other locations,” he said. “We’re looking for a new campus somewhere with existing facilities and also soliciting donations to finance building something from scratch.

“We’re trying to leave no stone unturned.”