Montgomery County’s Sandy Spring Friends School to close after 64 years

Sandy Spring Friends School, a Quaker establishment in Maryland serving students from preschool through 12th grade, is closing after more than six decades due to financial difficulties.

The  Montgomery County school, which has 155 pupils in the pre- and elementary school, 150 middle schoolers and 310 upper schoolers, including 30 boarding students, has been open since 1961. It’s closing at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.

The closure “comes only after a thoughtful and extensive assessment of the school’s untenable financial position, as well as thorough analysis of our enrollment and fundraising picture. Regrettably, despite an immense effort to shore up the school’s financial foundation, we simply do not have the financial wherewithal to meet our obligations next year,” the school’s board of trustees wrote in a letter to the wider SSFS community.

In an FAQ section of the announcement, the trustees explained that SSFS would need $14 million to $16 million over the next three years to repay a loan that will mature soon, service existing debt, cover operating losses and perform maintenance at the school.

Options like expanding enrollment, soliciting more donations, and a merger with or sale to another school were considered but found unfeasible. Families that enrolled at SSFS for the 2025-26 school year will have their deposits and enrollment refunded.

SSFS also closed ahead of a planned leadership transition. Former Head of School Rodney Glasgow, who led SSFS from 2020-21 through 2023-24, resigned ahead of this academic year. Sean Hamer was due to succeed him on July 1.

The trustees said in the announcement that they went ahead with hiring a new person for the position because “we had every expectation to continue school operations well into the future. Regrettably, after careful consideration of our financial realities and options, this was a decision we were called to make.”

The school’s assets will be looked at over the ensuing months to decide what will be done with them. Their fate will be determined by the institution’s financial obligations.

The Adventure Park at Sandy Spring, an outdoor climbing and ziplining area on school grounds, will remain open.

“Since opening in 2010, the Adventure Park at Sandy Spring has operated as a completely independent entity — separate in both ownership and management from SSFS. As such, the school’s closure will have no impact on the Adventure Park’s operations,” the park said in a release.