UPDATE: Looks like it was just a typo. Trinity remove the errant post and replaced it with the text of their press release. So, looks like there will be a 6th grade next year. According to Hoffman's comments to local media, this will be only be for one year after which TB will revert to 7-12.
Greetings all,
Trinity has added a new header to their website where they say TB will be 7th through 12th grades. None of their text or forms mention 6th at all. Was this dropped due to lack of interest? Other conflicts? Just a typo?
http://tcstitans.org/index.php
If you know anything, hit me up in the comments or by email at byrnesbk@hotmail.com.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
10,000 views: A Look Back
In honor of BSBS crossing 10,000 views, here's a sampling of things that were said leading up to the school closing its doors. From our very first post, we stood firm in our belief that the board and administration were not telling the truth, and those who chose to believe them are now paying the price. Thankfully, whether of their own volition or heeding our warnings here, families found other schools for their children a year ago and we saw Byrnes' enrollment drop by more than 50 students.
So without further ado, a look back at some memorable quotes:
"We will not close down. We have a viable business plan. We're going to continue to educate the children of the Pee Dee for the next 50 years,"
---John Isgett, former board president
Feb 2011
[apparently "viable" meant using future year's tuition to fund current year operations. Court documents showed us that this is why FC would not extend any more credit. Looks like they were right all along.]
"I think we hung tough for a year without losing enrollment."
--former Byrnes headmaster John Colby
March 8, 2012
*Enrollment before bk = 241
*Enrollment last year = 190
“John [Colby] brought years of experience to the school and he leaves Byrnes in a good situation."
--Tom Goodson
President of the Board for Byrnes School
March 8, 2012, ~90 days before announcing the school's closure
"words like “school closing” and “bankruptcy” are now flying through the Florence community, alighting amongst friends and neighbors and croaking out their message like birds of ill omen. Never mind that the words are not true. Never mind that Byrnes has not closed, will not close, and is enrolling for next year even as those birds croak out that sensational word “closed”....Byrnes is here to stay."
--Kevin M. Ferguson
The Byrnes Schools
Upper School English Department Chair
Printed in the Morning News Feb 7, 2011 a week after officially filing for bankruptcy
“We’re definitely on track for a more financially stable school, long-term. This bankruptcy was an unfortunate thing, but it did financially assist us to becoming bigger and better in the future.”
--John Isgett, former board president
August 2011
"Nobody’s going to buy this school.”
--John Colby
Jan 2011
[he may be right, there might be a 'for sale' sign there for years]
“It hasn’t affected the school one bit"
--John Colby on the Byrnes bankruptcy
Summer 2011
So without further ado, a look back at some memorable quotes:
"We will not close down. We have a viable business plan. We're going to continue to educate the children of the Pee Dee for the next 50 years,"
---John Isgett, former board president
Feb 2011
[apparently "viable" meant using future year's tuition to fund current year operations. Court documents showed us that this is why FC would not extend any more credit. Looks like they were right all along.]
"I think we hung tough for a year without losing enrollment."
--former Byrnes headmaster John Colby
March 8, 2012
*Enrollment before bk = 241
*Enrollment last year = 190
“John [Colby] brought years of experience to the school and he leaves Byrnes in a good situation."
--Tom Goodson
President of the Board for Byrnes School
March 8, 2012, ~90 days before announcing the school's closure
"words like “school closing” and “bankruptcy” are now flying through the Florence community, alighting amongst friends and neighbors and croaking out their message like birds of ill omen. Never mind that the words are not true. Never mind that Byrnes has not closed, will not close, and is enrolling for next year even as those birds croak out that sensational word “closed”....Byrnes is here to stay."
--Kevin M. Ferguson
The Byrnes Schools
Upper School English Department Chair
Printed in the Morning News Feb 7, 2011 a week after officially filing for bankruptcy
“We’re definitely on track for a more financially stable school, long-term. This bankruptcy was an unfortunate thing, but it did financially assist us to becoming bigger and better in the future.”
--John Isgett, former board president
August 2011
"Nobody’s going to buy this school.”
--John Colby
Jan 2011
[he may be right, there might be a 'for sale' sign there for years]
“It hasn’t affected the school one bit"
--John Colby on the Byrnes bankruptcy
Summer 2011
"I feel that the current board that the school has right now has everything under control," "I'm not really worried about it because Byrnes is not going to close. My kids are going to graduate from it."
--Meg Ryan, an alumna of The Byrnes Schools and parent of kids at the former school
Jan 2011
"[Dear John,]
As admirable as the plan is to raise $800,000 to see the school through the remainder of the school year, the fact remains that the bank does not feel over the long term additional debt alone will place the school on the solid financial footing it seeks.
I think it's fair to say we see additional borrowed funds as a temporary fix and not a lasting solution. The school's existing debt load has apparently been a heavy burden and more debt will not make that servicing problem any easier. This, coupled with the difficulty of the school to meet its payroll in the past couple of months and the suggestion that it may have to suspend operation in the near term, points to deep and profound issues that may involve some tough decisions for both of us."
--Michael Blakely of First Citizens Bank in an email to John Isgett
Sept 16, 2009
Monday, July 9, 2012
Byrnes Closing: More Updates
Just a short post with a few updates.
Looks like Brandis Winstead is taking an asst headmaster job at Trinity after all, so 6th will likely go to Clanton and Geddings for English and Math, respectively. Also, the 6th grade at Trinity will exist for only one year before being dissolved. For anyone who thinks this is odd, there are some Byrnes board members with children going into 6th grade so this was clearly worked out with them in mind. In 2013,-14, Trinity reverts to a 7-12 school like they've always been, so if you have a child starting 5th grade this fall, he/she will have to wait 2 years until 7th grade to start trinity.
Still no word on which upper school teachers will have jobs at TB aside from Amell for football. The Trinity faculty is very strong making it hard to figure out who they would need from Byrnes. If enrollment goes high enough they may have need, but Byrnes never had that many in high school to begin with and it's unlikely 100% will want to transfer considering that after next year they will be paying Trinity's full tuition.
Looks like Brandis Winstead is taking an asst headmaster job at Trinity after all, so 6th will likely go to Clanton and Geddings for English and Math, respectively. Also, the 6th grade at Trinity will exist for only one year before being dissolved. For anyone who thinks this is odd, there are some Byrnes board members with children going into 6th grade so this was clearly worked out with them in mind. In 2013,-14, Trinity reverts to a 7-12 school like they've always been, so if you have a child starting 5th grade this fall, he/she will have to wait 2 years until 7th grade to start trinity.
Still no word on which upper school teachers will have jobs at TB aside from Amell for football. The Trinity faculty is very strong making it hard to figure out who they would need from Byrnes. If enrollment goes high enough they may have need, but Byrnes never had that many in high school to begin with and it's unlikely 100% will want to transfer considering that after next year they will be paying Trinity's full tuition.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Byrnes Closing: Latest News
First for those who haven't read it, a slightly less flattering news story on Byrnes' closing.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=770337
Looks like they couldn't get a comment out of Byrnes as to why they were closing. Also, we get a better timeline here from Trinity who says they began integration talks 3 weeks ago (maybe when they ran out of money?). Summers have always been tough for Byrnes -- when they had spent all the prepaid tuition but hadn't started collecting fall tuition -- and they would even fail to make payroll or pay insurance premiums.
So what was different this time? The bankruptcy settlement clearly stated that any default in payment would result in FC taking over the property, and Byrnes waived their right to future bankruptcy protection. Clearly this is what happened and we warned of this possibility a year ago.
In other news, Byrnes' athletic director looks confirmed to be the new head of the athletic program and Trinity's current coach will remain on staff as well. No word on whether he keeps his same salary that was 2-3x what other teacher made.
So far we can't find any confirmation that any other Byrnes upper school teachers have been offered positions. We're still awaiting word on the 6th grade. It's almost certain that Clanton will stay since her husband is on the board. There will be at least one other slot and it's still unclear who will get it. Either Geddings or Winstead, the current Byrnes headmaster will get it (her husband is also a board member). There are no admin positions available at Trinity and they just announced a new outside hire for director of academics a few days ago, so if she is going to have a role in the new school it will have to be as one of the 6th grade teachers.
Anyone with updates is encouraged to post here in the comments.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=770337
Looks like they couldn't get a comment out of Byrnes as to why they were closing. Also, we get a better timeline here from Trinity who says they began integration talks 3 weeks ago (maybe when they ran out of money?). Summers have always been tough for Byrnes -- when they had spent all the prepaid tuition but hadn't started collecting fall tuition -- and they would even fail to make payroll or pay insurance premiums.
So what was different this time? The bankruptcy settlement clearly stated that any default in payment would result in FC taking over the property, and Byrnes waived their right to future bankruptcy protection. Clearly this is what happened and we warned of this possibility a year ago.
In other news, Byrnes' athletic director looks confirmed to be the new head of the athletic program and Trinity's current coach will remain on staff as well. No word on whether he keeps his same salary that was 2-3x what other teacher made.
So far we can't find any confirmation that any other Byrnes upper school teachers have been offered positions. We're still awaiting word on the 6th grade. It's almost certain that Clanton will stay since her husband is on the board. There will be at least one other slot and it's still unclear who will get it. Either Geddings or Winstead, the current Byrnes headmaster will get it (her husband is also a board member). There are no admin positions available at Trinity and they just announced a new outside hire for director of academics a few days ago, so if she is going to have a role in the new school it will have to be as one of the 6th grade teachers.
Anyone with updates is encouraged to post here in the comments.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Byrnes Schools Closing
Well, it happened.
We wrote extensively here about the mismanagement and financial problems at the Byrnes Schools. We chronicled their bankruptcy case and used the opportunity to peer into their records and see just how poorly managed it had been. Despite the deal worked out with First Citizens, nothing was done to change the underlying issues.
Like many others, we were not suprised to read the story of Byrnes closing and working out an arrangement with Trinity to take its upper school students, a few faculty, and a few board members. The article in the local paper was kind in its wording, but Trinty's headmaster made it clear in his statement that this is no merger.
We continued to follow Byrnes' financial records until they were no longer required to file them with the court. It was unclear how they were going to remain solvent in the spring. They would certainly get an influx of capital from families that prepay, but it would not be enough to pay expenses through the summer and into the fall. There were probably attempts to find a bank willing to loan them the payoff value on their note with FC, but apparently none were willing.
So what now? Byrnes faculty and staff are SOL save for the well-connected few. Coincidence that the new Trinity-Byrnes school will be adding only 6th grade, the grade taught by the wife of a board member who will undoubtedly get a position at T-B? The athletic director will have a position too, though maybe not at the outsized salary he commanded at Byrnes. The paper reported that some board members from Byrnes would join the new school -- our guess is that it will be the same people who wrote those $100,000 checks to prop of Byrnes right before the bankruptcy. Look for Isgett, Goodman, Clanton, and maybe one more to be a part of T-B. The Byrnes headmaster will probably find some sort of position, although Trinity has no need of more administrative staff. She is well connected, however, and a kind a charming person; she will certainly land well. The other faculty who jumped ship last year must be thankful to have found jobs before all this happend.
And what of the families who prepaid for the next year? Especially the lower school families? This is hard to say. The prepaid amount is usually pretty substantial and will not be easy to simply pay back. Remember, they've spent it all already so they can't just cut everyone a check. They may have worked out an agreement with Trinity to finance a repayment, but Trinity had the clear upper hand in any negotiation and probably didn't agree to this unless it won them something else. Odds are good that they will simply not pay at all and those families will be left to eat the cost. They would possibly have a case of negligence against the board if they took the money while knowing they were insolvent and would be shutting down over the summer.
Sadly, they're probably just going to lose their money.
Of course, if they had read this blog they would have known better...
We wrote extensively here about the mismanagement and financial problems at the Byrnes Schools. We chronicled their bankruptcy case and used the opportunity to peer into their records and see just how poorly managed it had been. Despite the deal worked out with First Citizens, nothing was done to change the underlying issues.
Like many others, we were not suprised to read the story of Byrnes closing and working out an arrangement with Trinity to take its upper school students, a few faculty, and a few board members. The article in the local paper was kind in its wording, but Trinty's headmaster made it clear in his statement that this is no merger.
We continued to follow Byrnes' financial records until they were no longer required to file them with the court. It was unclear how they were going to remain solvent in the spring. They would certainly get an influx of capital from families that prepay, but it would not be enough to pay expenses through the summer and into the fall. There were probably attempts to find a bank willing to loan them the payoff value on their note with FC, but apparently none were willing.
So what now? Byrnes faculty and staff are SOL save for the well-connected few. Coincidence that the new Trinity-Byrnes school will be adding only 6th grade, the grade taught by the wife of a board member who will undoubtedly get a position at T-B? The athletic director will have a position too, though maybe not at the outsized salary he commanded at Byrnes. The paper reported that some board members from Byrnes would join the new school -- our guess is that it will be the same people who wrote those $100,000 checks to prop of Byrnes right before the bankruptcy. Look for Isgett, Goodman, Clanton, and maybe one more to be a part of T-B. The Byrnes headmaster will probably find some sort of position, although Trinity has no need of more administrative staff. She is well connected, however, and a kind a charming person; she will certainly land well. The other faculty who jumped ship last year must be thankful to have found jobs before all this happend.
And what of the families who prepaid for the next year? Especially the lower school families? This is hard to say. The prepaid amount is usually pretty substantial and will not be easy to simply pay back. Remember, they've spent it all already so they can't just cut everyone a check. They may have worked out an agreement with Trinity to finance a repayment, but Trinity had the clear upper hand in any negotiation and probably didn't agree to this unless it won them something else. Odds are good that they will simply not pay at all and those families will be left to eat the cost. They would possibly have a case of negligence against the board if they took the money while knowing they were insolvent and would be shutting down over the summer.
Sadly, they're probably just going to lose their money.
Of course, if they had read this blog they would have known better...
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