Wildwood Christian Academy Case Study

Wildwood Christian Academy announced its closing in an e-mail to parents August 1. The private school in Marble Hill that stressed strong academics was scheduled to open this year on August 17, but will close permanently due to a financial shortfall from a decline in enrollment. The school on Whitley Road South was founded in 2003 and had added a high school in 2013-2014. It was serving around 70 students at the time of the closing. The school’s website noted at one point it served 130 students, coming from six different counties. In the August 1 letter to parents, Larry Ruff, chairman of the school’s board and its founder, wrote, “Know that this is the darkest time in my life and in my career as a founder of a Christian school. I share your …show more content…
In a letter sent to parents prior to that meeting, the school reported their enrollment over the summer had dropped to the lowest enrollment in the past six to seven years with 69 confirmed students for this year and three to four others expected. “There appear to be many reasons for this low enrolment, including feelings by some that Wildwood is not the same school as originally founded, or that the economy remains depressed, or that families fear of the future for economic stability or that families are moving away or that new families are not coming to surrounding counties or that families want a ‘bigger experience’ for their students in middle and high school,” read the letter from Ruff. Ruff said Tuesday that it had been “ a perfect storm” of different events that caused the enrollment to drop. He said students, including his son, and parents had begged them to find a way to open, even if they didn’t have the money for the whole year. “We tried everything and we came close. But it’s not fair or ethical knowing we did not have enough funding to finish the school year to start and then get to March or April and announce we are out of