Parents, teachers bail out of private school

Martin Kuz

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 12:23 p.m.

Karina and Kirk Kennedy were excited to enroll their young son in Merryhill Elementary School last fall. The couple, underwhelmed by Clark County's public schools, saw the for-profit private institution as the best choice for his academic future. They liked the small class sizes, energetic teachers and upbeat atmosphere.

Ten months later, their optimism long gone, the Kennedys have pulled their son out of the school they now refer to as "Merryhell."

"The year of problems with this school, that's enough," Karina Kennedy said. "We didn't spend all of this money to become nervous wrecks. We're done."

A number of other parents echo the exasperation. They estimate that as many as half of the 160 students who started the 1998-99 school year at Merryhill will go elsewhere this fall. In addition, 10 of the 13 teachers on staff last year will not return, according to parents and two former Merryhill instructors.

Merryhill Executive Director Rick Royal disputed the figures, saying that five teachers have agreed to come back. Royal said he did not have exact numbers on student turnover. Valerie Bernstein, vice president of Merryhill's parent-teacher organization and a vocal supporter of the school, said 30 to 40 students from last year have left.

Despite the conflicting estimates, Royal conceded that the school, opened in 1997, endured its share of "growing pains" last year. But, he added, "the turmoil wasn't going on all year long. It was going on for a couple of months, not the whole year."

Critics of Merryhill contend otherwise, asserting that problems persisted from late last year until school let out in May. They tick off a litany of accusations -- from obstinate administrators to broken promises for a school expansion -- for why they will not send their children back to Merryhill this fall.

The apparent student and teacher exodus, along with a lawsuit alleging wrongful expulsion of one student, have dented the reputation of the school at 5055 S. Durango Dr. The controversy also has touched off pointed questions about the involvement of for-profit companies in education, with some parents portraying Merryhill as more interested in revenues than academics.

"It's a business," Loretta Forman said of Merryhill. Her two sons went there last year, but will attend Shiloh Christian School this fall. "They (Merryhill officials) don't care about the children. They care about the bottom line."

Firouzeh Taghdir feels likewise. The mother of two said the sole reason she kept her children at Merryhill through the end of the school year was because they liked their teachers.

"Here we're paying all this money, and there's a lot missing," Taghdir said.

The school on Durango is one of six Merryhill facilities in Clark County owned by Nobel Learning Communities, a Pennsylvania-based corporation that operates 139 schools in 13 states. The company runs another elementary school in Summerlin and four preschools in Las Vegas and Henderson, none of which has attracted similar criticism.

There are 65 parochial, nonprofit and for-profit private schools in Clark County registered with the state. The number includes preschools as well as elementary and high schools.

Nobel, one of a handful of for-profit companies nationwide that has plunged into the education business, has positioned its facilities as a middle-class alternative to overcrowded public schools and more expensive parochial and nonprofit private institutions. The corporation has won kudos from parents for its small class sizes -- Merryhill, for instance, allows no more than 18 students per classroom -- and rigorous curriculum.

At the same time, a Teacher Magazine profile of the company earlier this year noted that detractors of Nobel schools "dismiss them as 'McSchools,' cookie-cutter institutions where profits come before pupils." In that vein, parents upset with Merryhill grouse that the school offers too little building for the buck.

Last year Merryhill charged tuition of $6,500 per student, a figure that has jumped another $500 for the 1999-2000 school year. That puts Merryhill in the upper quarter of Clark County private schools in terms of cost, according to Holly Walton-Buchanan, who oversees private schools for the Nevada Department of Education. The state does not keep data on student turnover at private schools, she added.

Several parents interviewed for this story insisted that Merryhill administrators led them to believe that the school eventually would add a cafeteria, gymnasium and library. Dozens of parents signed a petition in February asking officials to remove the school's outdoor pool in favor of a gym.

Royal responded with a letter to parents that said there were plans to build a multi-purpose room, but that it wouldn't happen during the 1999-2000 school year.

The absence of building amenities common to most schools -- including Merryhill's Summerlin campus -- and the sense that none would be added anytime soon proved too much for some parents. Yukiki Zembayashi has opted to send her son, who attended seventh grade at Merryhill, to Shiloh for the upcoming school year.

"The tuition is quite high, but the facility is quite poor," she said of Merryhill. "There was no library, no cafeteria. It's not fair to us."

Monica Taylor will transfer her three oldest children, ages 5 to 8, to Merryhill's Summerlin elementary school this fall in part because the facility has a cafeteria and library.

Taylor, who praised the quality of teachers hired by Merryhill, resigned as vice president of the school's PTO board in January over frustration with what she described as the muted response of administrators to parents' demands. Three months later she wrote a letter to Nobel executives in Pennsylvania to ask, "Is the only concern how much money you make from us?"

"I had four kids in school -- I was paying a lot of money -- and we deserved to be heard," Taylor said last week.

As the year wore on, Royal and former Principal Edie London served as twin lightning rods for disenchanted parents and teachers, who decried what they perceived as weak leadership and a lack of discipline within the school. Two parents told the Sun they each contemplated suing the school because of safety concerns they had for their children. Others have talked of filing a class-action suit.

Janis and Robin Powell have done more than consider legal action. Last month the couple sued Merryhill and Nobel for what they claim was the unjustified expulsion of their 7-year-old son from the school in April. Royal and London are named as co-defendants in the suit.

The Powells allege that Merryhill officials violated the American With Disabilities Act when they expelled their son, who has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. School officials acted under pressure from other parents who said the child -- despite receiving good grades -- was a disruptive presence in the classroom, the lawsuit states.

The Powells' attorney, Suvinder Ahluwalia, said the couple is seeking unspecified monetary damages for the distress caused their son. "His reputation has been impaired, and they're seeking through this lawsuit compensation to which they're entitled," Ahluwalia said.

London resigned from Merryhill two months ago. She declined comment on the lawsuit or her tenure at the school, saying only, "I'm still alive and well in Las Vegas."

Royal also declined comment on the lawsuit. As for other allegations of unrest at the school, he said, "I don't know of any incident that happened where there was a fight or weapon or anything like that. We don't have discipline problems like that here."

Whatever the exact nature of the upheaval at Merryhill, the mounting tensions may have prompted London's resignation in April. But by then parents such as Danielle Thomas, whose two children attended Merryhill last year, had already decided to move on to another school.

"We just said, 'We're not going to fall for this again,' " Thomas said.

Royal and supporters of the school downplay claims that internal strife at Merryhill triggered student turnover. They attribute most of the departures to the tuition increase and natural attrition brought on by the loss of kindergartners to public schools and the graduation of eighth graders.

Although parents said they repeatedly sought out Royal to discuss their displeasure with London -- in addition to sending him letters and informal complaint reports -- he said he could not pinpoint their concerns.

"Primarily there were issues with leadership from an administrative standpoint. I could never get a concrete answer as to what those (issues) were specifically. There was just an unhappiness," he said.

When pressed for details on the circumstances surrounding London's departure, Royal replied, "I want to talk about Merryhill Schools, not about people personally."

Backers of Merryhill take a less diplomatic stance about the friction that developed last year. They brand those who were dissatisfied with Merryhill as whiners interested in bickering rather than working toward solutions, and engaging in what PTO vice-president Bernstein dubbed a smear campaign.

"Basically, it was a handful of angry parents. I just thought it was silly," she said. "Take your child and go to another school."

Rich Bernstein, president of the PTO and Valerie Bernstein's husband, is even more blunt. Of the school's critics, he said, "They're pissed and they're gone. And that happens."

Royal, who oversees all six of Merryhill's facilities, denied that promises were made to add a cafeteria, gymnasium or library to the Durango school. He noted that comparisons to the Summerlin campus, which has those features, were misguided because that school was built and run by another entity before Nobel bought it. The smaller, no-frills Durango school hews closer to a typical Nobel facility, he said.

"None of those things were ever" mentioned for the Durango campus, Royal said, referring to the building expansion. "I don't know where that comes from. It didn't come from us. It might've come from other parents. I don't know where that comes from."

School supporters corroborated Royal's assertion. Sydney Knott, whose two children attended Merryhill last year, said administrators "never promised all these other bells and whistles."

Knott speculated that some parents may have set their sights too high by measuring Merryhill against Shiloh, The Meadows School and other, more established private institutions. They should have done better research, Knott said.

"This is not Meadows where you have families all over the valley sending their kids there. These are small schools that serve a particular neighborhood," she said.

The owner of PR Group, a public relations firm, Knott is moving her kids to Merryhill's Summerlin campus this fall -- but only, she insisted, because it's closer to her home.

"Give the school a break," Knott said of the Durango facility. "It's only been open two years. People thought it would be a smooth operation from the first day they walked in, and that's an unrealistic expectation."

Merryhill has signed up 135 students for the coming school year. Royal admitted the past year's turbulence hurt retention, but he anticipates that enrollment by the first day of school will hit 160, the same total as last fall.

Asked if the past year's woes would deter parents from sending their kids to Merryhill, Rich Bernstein responded, "I think people are a little more intelligent than that. It's not going to be a public relations problem."

But one former Merryhill instructor who asked not to be identified said that if last year's enrollment is matched or surpassed, it will have less to do with the school's quality than the ignorance of residents who have recently relocated to Las Vegas.

"They'll say, 'Enrollment's great," the teacher said, referring to school officials. "But the new people in town don't know the school. They don't know the history."

Royal said of the eight teachers who have departed the school, five left because of spouses taking jobs in other states, and three accepted better-paying positions with the county. Another former Merryhill instructor who asked not to be identified countered that a tense working environment hastened their exit.

"Administrators would say, 'We will provide this kind of support,' and then it didn't happen...," the teacher said. "It was a very befuddled place."

If so, Royal wants to avoid repeating the mistakes that troubled Merryhill last year. To that end, the school has hired a new principal, Don Parker, a longtime administrator who most recently headed up a private school in Phoenix.

"I can guarantee that the turmoil that went on last year will not be allowed at this campus in the future," Royal said.

Walton-Buchanan of the state education department visited Merryhill earlier this week as part of the biannual licensing process that private schools must go through. The state has received no complaints about the Durango campus from parents and has been relicensed for the next two years, she said.

Walton-Buchanan had yet to hear of the lawsuit pending against Merryhill until contacted by the Sun. Nonetheless, after touring Merryhill's six facilities, she said, "They look like very good schools."

Yet even as school officials and boosters speak eagerly of Merryhill's future, it's a case of too little, too late for parents like Margaret Weston. Her son attended first grade at Merryhill last year. He won't be back in the fall.

"We we were very unhappy," Weston said. "We're leaving the school -- that's all there is to say. It wasn't any one thing. It was the way the school was run."

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