Overview:
In a communication to parents today, the Atlanta Girls’ School announced that it will close its doors at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
In a communication to parents today, the Atlanta Girls’ School announced that it will close its doors at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
The communication sent to parents cited “declining re-enrollment numbers”, “economic challenges,” and the “diminishing need for single-gender education” as reasons for the school’s closing.
“Despite exploring various options, implementing cost-cutting measures, and intensifying our fundraising efforts, like other small, independent schools, AGS continues to face many economic challenges. Those challenges coupled with a diminishing demand for single-gender education have created an unsustainable financial path forward into the 2024-25 school year.”
In addition, parents who have paid deposits for the 2024-2025 school year will have the funds refunded in the “next couple of days.”
Atlanta Girls School was established in 2000 by Emily Ellison and Brooke Weinmann, who brought the first all-girls’ schools to the metro area. According to the Atlanta Girls’ School website, 280 girls have graduated from the school.
There are two town halls scheduled on March 19: one at 8:30 a.m. and the other at 5:30 p.m.
The school will permanently close its doors on May 24, 2024.
Here is the letter sent to families.
Dear AGS families,
The Atlanta Girls’ School’s Board of Trustees has made the very difficult decision to close our school at the end of this academic year. We learned last week that our re-enrollment numbers for next year have drastically declined, and after careful analysis of the financial data, the Board determined there is no sustainable financial path forward.
This decision is not one the Board wanted to make. We care deeply about the school, its mission, its dedicated professionals, and most of all the students and families that AGS serves. Many of our trustees are parents of current AGS students or alumnae. We know firsthand the positive impact AGS has had on the young women it has served.
Similarly, this decision is not one that the school’s leadership team wanted. Our dedicated Head of School, Kimbrell Smith, and her AGS leadership team worked tirelessly to explore various options to continue the operations of our school. With the Board’s support, the team implemented cost-cutting measures and intensified our fundraising efforts in the face of severe economic challenges faced by small, independent schools. Kimbrell and her team deserve our praise and thanks for their hard work to sustain the mission of our school.
AGS will continue operating until the end of this academic year, and our focus remains on our students and preparing them for their lives ahead. At the same time, the administration is fully committed to helping families find the right school for their students next year. For those families who have already provided a deposit for the 2024-25 school year or payments to next year’s tuition balance, you will receive a refund in the coming days. Kimbrell will be in close communication with admissions departments at other independent schools in the area, and she is committed to being a resource to our families about options for next year and beyond. Detailed information on that will follow.
Students are receiving a separate email today with information about the closure decision, and we encourage you to have a family conversation to process the news together. Knowing this information will be difficult for our students to absorb, the school will have a modified class schedule tomorrow, Tuesday, March 19. School will begin at the normal time, and the school will provide space and time for students to gather in their respective divisions with teachers and school administrators.
The Board of Trustees tried to anticipate some of the questions you may have, and we asked the team to prepare the attached FAQ document. We are holding a parent/guardian town hall meeting tomorrow at two different times in an effort to accommodate busy schedules:
Option 1 – town hall meeting at AGS on Tuesday, March 19 at 8 a.m.
Option 2 – town hall meeting at AGS on Tuesday, March 19 at 5:30 p.m.
On behalf of the full Board, I want to express my deepest gratitude to our entire AGS community for your dedication, passion, and support of this truly incredible school and community that we have built. In particular, I want to thank our school’s talented leadership team and our hardworking and dedicated faculty for their professionalism and all the efforts they have invested in our students for many years – and for the professionalism they will continue to show for the remainder of the academic year. While the time has come to bring a close to Atlanta Girls’ School in a physical sense, the spirit of our mission, “Inspiring Girls to Lead Lives of Purpose,” will remain. I am confident that all who have benefitted from this mission over the last nearly quarter of a century will ensure that it continues to resonate well into the future.
Sincerely,
Chris Marquardt
Chair, Board of Trustees