GREENFIELD — Members of The Center School’s board of directors are weighing the potential sale of the 30-acre campus on Bernardston Road at the end of the school year.
Board members shared with parents and families this week that while the school successfully raised more than $1 million last year to keep the doors open for another academic year, with declining enrollment, rising costs and a $5.5 million mortgage in default, continuing operation of the independent day school for students in preschool through eighth grade at 739 Bernardston Road seems unlikely.
“Our school continues to face financial instability,” the board of directors wrote in a letter to families. “The successful campaign we led last year, along with the sale of assets, raised $1,091,970 and allowed us to keep the school open for the 2025-26 school year and guarantee a 2026-27 school year. However, our $5.5 million building debt, declining enrollment and increased costs continue to present enormous challenges.
“In August, our lender, Greenfield Savings Bank, put our building into forbearance, effectively giving us a deadline to sell the building or move out by the end of this school year,” the letter continued. “That new pressure, in the face of our persistent budget crisis, is forcing us to consider closure as an outcome.”
The Center School opened in 1981 under the nonprofit Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC). The school previously operated on Montague City Road and, in 2020, began construction of its 23,678-square-foot building on Bernardston Road. Board Chair Ashlee Haslett shared with families Thursday night that while the school had raised some money ahead of construction, the majority of the cost was funded by a $7.9 million bond-backed mortgage through Greenfield Savings Bank.
The bond has been paid down to $5.5 million, as Haslett explained. The terms of the bond called for large amounts to be paid down quickly before the bond could transition into a traditional mortgage; however, that never happened. In 2023, the school was supposed to pay another $3.5 million, which it did not have. The board was able to renew the bond with the bank when it went into default, but come 2024, the school was again unable to pay, and the bond went into default again.
Haslett said when she and other new members of the board of directors joined in 2024, they were surprised to learn about the school’s financial instability, and that the bond was not renewed again in 2024.
“The bank was very patient with us while we tried to work through this,” she said, “but their confidence in our ability to pay and our ability to work with them was very shaken.”
Haslett said that since then, the school has been making interest-only payments while board members have been working to rebuild the relationship with the bank and determine next steps.
In August, the bank sent the school forbearance terms, which would allow the school to remain open throughout the rest of the academic year, after which it would have to vacate and sell the property. Haslett said the board has not signed the agreement yet, but she would like to do so if they can renegotiate some terms with the bank, as signing the document would prevent a more immediate foreclosure.
Board Treasurer KC Ceccarossi added that the bank had wanted the school to put $200,000 in an escrow account with the signing of the forbearance agreement, but doing so would drain the school’s checking account and put the operating budget in jeopardy.
Ceccarossi explained the school’s operating budget was $2.1 million before any payments on the principal debt, and the school brings in $1.6 million in annual revenue.
“The cost of running our school has always been greater than the revenue that comes in from tuition,” Ceccarossi said.
While tuition listed on the school’s website is $23,170 per year for the elementary program, and ranges from $12,779 to $19,169 for the early childhood program, Ceccarossi said 64% of families receive tuition assistance, and the average tuition received is $14,334.
“I don’t know how that is a sustainable model,” Ceccarossi said.
When the Bernardston Road building opened, the school had 128 students. This year, there are 102 students, 42 of whom are enrolled in the preschool program. Haslett said declining enrollment is a challenge not unique to The Center School, but it has impacted revenue.
Ceccarossi said the school has almost always operated on a deficit, with fundraising bridging the gap, but this year’s deficit is $450,000, and the school anticipates having just enough money in its account to close out the school year.
Board members said they have begun the process of interviewing commercial real estate brokers and are working to explore what options they have, noting that the priority is to prevent interruption to the current academic year.
“Our highest priority is guaranteeing the stability of the school year and fulfilling our contracts to teachers and to families,” Haslett said. “We have to acknowledge capacity. We don’t also have the capacity to brainstorm how to bring this school back from the dead in a new location.”
Haslett said the board would also look at transition plans and finding ways to support parents, staff and students if the decision is made to close the school.
Parents and community members in the room on Thursday expressed dismay and frustration. They said they appreciated the board and its efforts, but they were not ready to give up on the school yet.
Chris Sanborn, the school’s facilities director, said they could talk about how much they love the school for hours, but it wouldn’t be enough. He suggested that a group of parents get together to do further research and outreach, and see if they can find a donor willing to support the school.
“I’m willing to give it a shot,” Sanborn said.
Vanessa Zaehring, a parent and former board member, said the school is more than a building, and that a focus moving forward should be on the legacy of The Center School.
“It doesn’t have to end here. It doesn’t mean it’s a school, maybe it is,” Zaehring said. “What this place was supposed to represent, what it was supposed to do, was innovate.”
Board members said no final decisions have been made yet, and they will keep families updated as more information becomes available.
