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Morningside School Closes After 10 Years

Posted on: Friday, 19 May 2006, 00:15 CDT

By Janese Heavin, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

May 18--Mary Green's decade-long dream of providing an independent school for Columbia children comes to an end this month when the Morningside Community School closes its doors for good.

"We feel good about having survived for 10 years," Green said. "It's a big challenge, being a small independent school."

The school has been struggling since enrollment took a nosedive this school year. Ten fifth- through seventh-graders attend Morningside, down from a total enrollment of 31 the year before.

Green attributed some of the decline to a 20 percent tuition increase implemented before the school year.

"We cut way back to stay open, and there wasn't anything more to cut," Green said. "The tuition increase last year was needed to keep going."

There are also more schooling options in Columbia than when she opened Morningside.

"It's a positive thing, to have more choices," she said. "That's why we opened the school in the first place."

In its prime, Morningside Community School offered classes for kindergarten through seventh grades.

In addition to a homeroom teacher, students also had part-time Spanish and art instructors.

Former Spanish teacher and current board President David Baker said personal attention and subject integration made the school popular.

"There's a certain amount of flexibility and oversight and supervision required to allow a kid to tread out their own path," he said. "It's difficult for a large school to address individual needs. ... That's something that Morningside really offered."

The school's board of trustees called a special meeting Friday to vote on the closure, a decision Baker said had been a year in the making.

"We pretty much knew where it was going," he said. "Like any business, without demand, you can't do much. Without enrollment, you can't do much."

By the May 1 enrollment deadline, Morningside had about five students signed up for next year. Then the school's home, Unity Center, did not renew Morningside's lease, adding to the struggles.

"Having to move made the challenges too steep," Green said. "We didn't quite make it."

Unity Administrator Gary Smith said the school had been a good tenant but that the church was expanding and needed the space.

Morningside is not a religious school and has no affiliation with Unity.

Green, who opened Morningside in 1996 when her daughter started kindergarten, said she's pleased the school held on this year to give families time to make the transition. Parents are disappointed, she said, but not surprised.

"Anybody involved in the school knows we've been talking about it since last year."

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Copyright (c) 2006, Columbia Daily Tribune, Mo.

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Source: Columbia Daily Tribune

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