Windrush Nears Two-Thirds of Funds Needed, Friday Deadline Looms

Donation pledges poured in over the weekend and Monday for threatened Windrush School, bringing the total at the end of the school day Monday to $575,650, nearly two thirds of the amount needed by Friday to prevent imminent closure of the school, the school reported.

"It's been an amazing day," Windrush's development director, Ann Root, said Monday afternoon. "If we continue at this rate, I think we'll get there. I'm really optimistic at this point that we're going to make it."

If $900,000 is not raised by Oct. 7, the school will have to close down on Oct. 28, the . Parents and staff were stunned Tuesday night, Sept. 27, when they learned from the board of trustees that the school cannot make debt payments on a $13 million bond secured in 2007 to build the new library/middle school building and refurbish the gym.

After prolonged but unsuccessful negotiations on restructuring the debt, the bondholders informed the school the week before last that they will move to foreclose on the school property, which is collateral for the bond, the trustees told the school community.

To protect Windrush for being seized immediately, the school Friday. Also on Friday, the school received an  for every dollar raised after the first $300,000.

The $575,650 pledged by the end of the school day Monday includes the first $300,000, which was not matched, plus an additional $275,650, half of which is the dollar-for-dollar match from the $250,000 pledge, Root said. This means that almost half of the available matching funds are still waiting for a match.

The K-8 school, housed on a prominent four-acre campus that once was home the orphanage for Chinese boys, was founded 35 years ago on progressive education principles.

Editor's note: We are keeping our original story about Windrush's predicament, "," in the top section of our homepage because the reader comments section has become an ongoing community forum for discussion and information about many issues involved.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly said the Windrush development director's name is Ann Wood. It is Ann Root. The story has been corrected.