news-record.com

Skip to the site menu
Skip to search

NEWS

Advertisement | Advertise with Us

Oak Ridge Military Academy to continue with new board

Saturday, July 11, 2009

(Updated 6:58 am)

Staff Reports

OAK RIDGE — Oak Ridge Military Academy plans to operate in 2009-10 and begin classes Aug. 24.

Speaking Friday outside of Alumni Hall, President Roy Berwick also said the school has elected a new board of trustees — the Friends of Oak Ridge Military Academy— but wouldn’t disclose the names of the new members.

Oak Ridge officials have been searching for an investor to rescue the 158-year-old cash-strapped school.

Last month, Berwick talked about a proposed “long-term fix” for the school’s financial problems. If the deal went through, Berwick said then, the investor would absorb most of the academy’s $4.8 million debt and provide additional funds to keep the school open.

Earlier this month, the school canceled its five-week summer programs because of a lack of enrollment.

Enrollment at the private military boarding school in Oak Ridge fell during the past academic year to about 130 students, a drop of 12 percent over the previous year, and well below the peak of about 300 in the 1990s.

In addition, the school faced a significant decline in giving and struggled with how to pay off the $4.8 million debt on an academic building that opened in 2001.

To help keep the school open, about 45 faculty and staff agreed in April to relinquish about five weeks of salary. That decision came after Berwick told employees he could not make payroll. In May, the school ended the academic year a week early and laid off 11 employees.

Accompanying Photos

File photo (News & Record)

Photo Caption: Oak Ridge Military Academy

What do you think?

15 comment(s)

Read other visitors' comments.

Comments

This article has been closed to new comments. Comments are generally closed after 14 days. However, comments may be closed earlier at the discretion of the News & Record.

Inappropriate content? Please notify us.

get the facts straight

July 10, 2009 - 9:42 pm EDT

News and Record- you need to really look into this. My understanding is that this new board is the OLD Academy School Board that was forced out some years ago and has been trying to take back over for some time. No investor yet, half of faculty and staff gone elsewhere and maybe more. Supposedly Admissions Department or at least person who is head of it had to stop coming to work weeks ago due to lack of pay which is understandable. How will they have any students? They were massively short of students last year. They will lose about 35-45 to graduation from last year that have to be replaced...some more to natural boarding school causes, lose some to finances because of the economy, and will lose a lot due to the uncertainty, and recently they had to cancel summer programs. How will they open with more than 40-50 students? How will they pay the back pay to employees which is required for them to open and pay new people in August? I understand that the employees who donated 5 weeks pay are still owed about nine weeks, and the ones who did not donate will be owed 14 weeks at the end of July since even the teachers had their pay spread out over 12 months, so most of them are supposed to be paid through the end of July. Is the Academy going to try and open and pay new people illegally without paying back pay to those they owe? My aquaintance told me the majority of them will file suit, many of them together, if the school attempts to do this. Again, how will they operate past October with as few students as they are going to have? Is this new/old board taking over and just saying that they will stay open even though there is realistically no way to do so? If this investor had come through, they would have announced that. This will be an interesting story to follow. I hope for the best for the Academy, but after the information I received, I don't see how this is doable.

Consider This

July 11, 2009 - 9:55 am EDT

WOW! I offer my congratulations and thanks to the "Friends" of the academy for stepping up and assuming responsibility of the school. The past board had no choice but to cover the school's debts or close the school. The new board has obviously stepped in by directing the old one to quit to make way for change and improvement in doing business. The new board must be responsible for all legal debts for the school to continue. They have no choice but to pay the old bills and subsidize the next year. Too much time has been lost and the problem is compounded by the cancellation of summer school. They need to know what exactly they are responsible for paying. This will require a careful audit and will take some time. Immediate and aggressive effort will be needed to regain parent and alumni confidence. It is now mid-July and the school has about 5 weeks until opening. Hard, expensive and quick marketing and recruiting efforts are needed. I would consider offering discounts to anyone who lost deposits to other schools if they return to Oak Ridge. Trust and confidence are needed to succeed. The school needs a new face of leadership and confidence . Unfortunately the past is riddled with indecision and bad news. Who thinks it is fine to tell employees that they won't get paid, but waits until payday to do so. Someone saw this problem early, but didn't have the fortitude to confront it early. I blame the old board for letting this situation get out of control. Poor press and indecision have clearly hurt the academy. Fresh ideas and a new face of competence is needed fast. As a long time Oak ridge resident and board member to other non-profits, I understand the importance of this school to our community and state. To ensure its long term survivability, maybe the school needs to consider becoming a charter school. As such, they can help more needy students in Guilford and surrounding counties with the quality of education they are noted for. I'm sure that some creative thinking will allow for boarding as long as the base tuition is free. All NC kids can enjoy this benefit as those funds can follow them within the state. Out of state boarders can be accommodated as long as the tuition is free. There are likely creative ways to charge tuition, but scholarship the academics. Despite all, no laws must be broken. A public-private operating plan will truly make the school the "official military academy" of NC. Finally, I must thank the faculty and staff who have endured nearly five months without pay. They have been caused a burden for simply doing their jobs. They did not have financial responsibility for the school. They have been caused to to likewise not pay their own creditors, to seek food stamps and unemployment benefits. The school owes them much more than just back pay. They have done without, so that a decision could be reached yesterday to save the school. They could have been greedy and demanded payment earlier or stopped working. To do so would have surely closed this fine school and not have allowed for the opportunity for the "Friend" to step up and courageously save the school. If I were a parent, I would enroll my child at the academy without reservation. I would trust the "Friends" to do the right thing.

ccook

July 11, 2009 - 12:21 pm EDT

Consider This: Will have to wait and see what happens. I think the new board will pay back the teachers and other employees, and also absorb the costs for the debts the school has incurred. I also think you are right, ORMA should consider becoming a charter school. That would make the school affordable to attend, as well guarantee tuition costs for each student. That would be a big plus. I say give the board a chance and see what they do. I am just glad the school will continue. I also say give some credit to the board that just resigned and Colonel Berwick for doing the right things to keep ORMA going.

get the facts straight

July 11, 2009 - 1:31 pm EDT

You are dreaming. First, this new group is the old group that got these financial problems started some years ago. Also, nothing has changed. This new/old group took over and made a statement that they are staying open. I can be about to lose my house and then suddenly declare that I am keeping my house. That means nothing. They have no investor still, no donor, no teachers for next year, nobody to hire new teachers, no money to backpay or hire new teachers, nobody working in admissions due to no money to pay, lawsuits about to be filed for all the back pay, very few students enrolled for next year-perhaps as few as 20 or 30...on WFMY last night the president said he had no idea how many students were enrolled for fall, no summer programs to recruit students and the list goes on. On wfmy site, the president said he couldn't name the new board members because some of the new board members did not yet know they were on the new board. Wfmy article also said that there was not a plan for saving the school formulated yet. I want to see the school make it, but someone explain to me how this is going to work.

ORMA93

July 11, 2009 - 3:31 pm EDT

“Get the facts straight” I sense a great deal of conjecture and guesswork coming from you, despite your username. What do you have to back up your claim of 20-30 students? Anything but a guess? I will engage in some guesswork here, but will be sure to label it as such.

I strongly suspect this new “Friends of Oak Ridge” is one and the same with the “Oak Ridge Society” or a legal spinoff thereof.

If so, and I will not state that as fact, a search of public records for Guilford County shows several things. One is that they have real estate holdings between $500,000-$1,000,000. Another is that they own the Oak Ridge Post Office and have a 20 year lease to the USPS- a nice stable source of money.

Furthermore, the names involved in that organization are ones long known to be large donors to the school, and ones likely capable of carrying the schools load through a lean year or years. I know that because they were there for the 90-91 school year, when the student body dropped under 80. The school was able to survive that, and will be able to survive this as well if all involved work hard to that end.

Now, I am not saying these two groups are one and the same. I haven't seen proof of that yet. But some names I have heard are involved in both, and I highly doubt two totally separate groups with similar goals, and some of the same people, both came to exist.

The last thing the school needs now is people running around casting a whole bunch of negatives that are nothing but guesswork. They have taken a step, and the friends of the school need to jump in and back them up in whatever plan they put forth. Engaging in a whole lot of negative speculation is worthless, and if anything just going to hamper the schools efforts to recover.

dp643

July 11, 2009 - 7:13 pm EDT

To: ORMA93
Can you not guess who "Getthefactsstraight" is? Think about a former AD @ the school and a current, maybe former, employee. I think he feels that afew years of employment and subsequent tidbits of gossip from employees give him the right to try to discredit the school and those who will do what they can to help it survive. I hope we can "pull it off". Let's build the student population back up, give them a good year and work on the fluff next year. We owe it to those who are trying to make this work.
Thanks to all of you!

get the facts straight

July 11, 2009 - 7:30 pm EDT

I don't really have any incentive to be positive or negative. Annoyed by claim from person I know at the academy and the other faculty member who posted in prior article about being lied to regarding pay, but would be happy to see it survive if it is feasible for that to happen. Regarding the details I listed, all but one are absolute fact from now two people at the academy. The only thing that was conjecture was the enrollment guess for fall. Since the school leader doesn't know the enrollment which is troubling in and of itself, how would I? I was using hyperbole in my guestimate, but let us look at the math. According to an earlier article, the school ended with 130 students which was not enough to run the school. I understand they had 130 paid but closer to 120-125 actually there at the end due to dismissals. They lose about 35 to graduation, so that is about 87 eligible to return. Most boarding schools retain about 50-60 percent of eligible returnees as is the nature of boarding schools and military schools in particular which often retain closer to half. Let's give the benefit of the doubt and say above half would return bringing it to 48 eligible to return. Then let's throw in the economy and the uncertainty of the academy survival after this past year. A friend of mine at another Triad school claims they already got about six ORMA students for next year. Cut it to 30 at best. Now the summer programs used to recruit new students are cancelled last week? The admissions person has been there very part-time and could not afford to continue and had to stop coming a couple of weeks ago. Add this + cancelling summer programs + all the same issues I listed that will affect retention...now consider that 130 was not nearly enough to run the school. Conjecture about the enrollment? Just common sense and middle school math. Now if the new board wants to sink half their assets into paying off just last school year's debts, then great. However, they won't be able to fund next year's massive shortfall. If they pay their employees, then I will route for them to succeed. If not, then they should sell it off and pay their debts.

get the facts straight

July 11, 2009 - 8:02 pm EDT

I work in Guilford County Schools and live in Guilford County and have worked in several schools and consider myself knowlegable about schools. I know someone at the Academy who I have talked to twice in the past two days. I promise you that I have not and do not work at the academy. However, I will root for the academy if it actually begins to operate in a smart manner and takes care of its teachers. I understand the historical importance.

ccook

July 11, 2009 - 10:04 pm EDT

ORMA 93 and I lived through another period when times were tough at Oak Ridge. We only had 80 cadets or so to start off 1990-91, and the new administration (which was three weeks old) had about a month before the August start to get things together. Now, the school was not in significant debt at the time, but the situation was similar in many ways to today. But we made it through that year, and I think this time, ORMA will do it again.

This is all pure conjecture, but I believe the board will absorb the debt, then hire teachers back or get new ones pretty quickly (especially in this economy).

As far as costs, $5 million is a chunk of change for many people, but there are folks in this world who have that money. I think the new board has the money or will find ways to get the money quickly.

You are mistaken on the summer camp impact with students. Summer camp does help some with recruitment, but not like it use to. It's more problematic for the school to run the summer camps and then prepare for the next school year from what I understand.

ORMA is going to make it. The board would not have replaced itself if they did not believe the school could continue. ORMA did not make it through the Civil War, the Great Depression, and aftermath of the Vietnam War, just to get "punked" by this (extreme) downturn and debt. You watch, ORMA will make it for another 157 years!

An dp643, before you start rumors and accusations of folks (which does not help the school), come out and say your real name. BTW - my name is Sam "Chip" Cook, Class of 1994.

get the facts straight

July 11, 2009 - 10:05 pm EDT

As I stated before, the person I know at the Academy who I spoke to the last couple of days never said anything negative about anyone in the current administration and did not seem to blame anyone specifically. In fact nothing positive or negative. I am a pro labor person. I get agitated when I feel employees at any institution, but especially teachers, get the short end of the stick. That having been said, if this new board or old board or whatever can pay off the employees and get things back on track, than that is outstanding. Hopefully it will happen and the Academy will thrive. When I saw the news that made it seem like all was solved, I was somewhat flabbergasted, hence my reaction. The years you describe sound pretty rough and it sounds like some people there must have done an unbelievable job getting it pulled together, and if they made it then, then perhaps they can pull it off again. Just based on what I was told recently and with my understanding of how both private and public schools work, I was unsure how they could do this with the current enrollment situation, and my opinion on that has not changed much. That having been said, I wish them all the best. I know the school has a wonderful history and I admire the aesthetic beauty of it on the occasions I have driven by it. Will wish you the best.

Hetz6

July 11, 2009 - 11:39 pm EDT

I am an alumnus of Oak Ridge and have a close connection to the school and its ongoing financial problems. I am surprised that all of these comments are about every unimportant aspect of the school's current crisis. I can assure all that the school will survive and the current "politics" involved are an internal matter. I would also proffer that this Arab goat grope reflected in some of the above comments are way wide of the mark. It's the students, sports fans, that are the important issue.
Every year since the early 1990's 100% of the graduating classes are accepted into four-year colleges and that includes the class that just graduated. Is there any other local high school that can make that claim?
Graduates have automatic appointments to West Point and the other service academies if they so choose and do not have to bother with their local congressman. The Citadel and VMI fight over the graduates. In 2009 an ORMA graduate finished 2nd in his class at The Citadel. The year before another graduate finished 3rd or 4th in his class. Still, most of the graduating ORMA seniors opt for civilian schools and most do very well. Over the past few years, during this terrible financial crisis, the SAT scores of the ORMA seniors help pull North Carolina's over all averages up.
Education is the name of the game at ORMA and while there has been a lot of noise about their financial woes, the administration and faculty have done their jobs very well. Everything else you may say about the school is just commentary.
My name is William Northrop, Class of 1962

sherrythomas

July 16, 2009 - 12:44 pm EDT

I have personally sent two of my four children to Oak Ridge. We live in southeast Greensboro and most likely have a bigger sense of pride about this academy than most people who live and work in the Oak Ridge area. Our drive was 52 miles round trip per day as a day student. Both boys had the leadership of Colonel Berwick, and Colonel Lloyd. Both learned how to be a better person with their help and guidance through structure and education. I find it hard to believe that the Community of Oak Ridge does not do more to help this school. The thought of this beautiful campus, being vacant concerns me. I believe in the mission of Oak Ridge Military Academy. My youngest will hopefully graduate from Oak Ridge in the 2010 school year. I am looking forward to a statement from the new board, that I can believe and plan for my child's future, instead of all the guessing.

Persevering 1

July 12, 2009 - 2:45 pm EDT

For the sake of all the ORMA employees and cadets, I hope that this works out. Oak Ridge plays an important and unique role, and many students would be lost without it. But the administration's first priority will have to be back pay. If they can get over the hurdle of last year's bills, then they can turn the corner and look at next year. And at some point, they might want to consider communicating with their staff other than by just having us read about it in the newspaper.

mommieof3

July 12, 2009 - 7:57 pm EDT

I agree. I also think that communicating to the parents that pay the tuition would be a bold plus. I have still yet to be contacted. We want the opening of ORMA to happen more than the next person. The kids are in full text mode about what the media is saying and have their hopes up. I would just love to give my senior a REAL yes or no.

ClarenceYork

July 20, 2009 - 9:27 am EDT

My name is Clarence York, ORMI class of 1963 and proud of it.

What a shame that this has happened. ORMI is a fine school that has done a lot for thousands of us. ORMI was not just a school that I attended. ORMI taught me more about self-reliance and personal responsibility during my formative years than everything/everyone else combined.

I received the special fund raising letter in April/May and knew the problems had worsened, but had no idea that it was this bad. I sent some money to ORMI in response to the special appeal -- just as I have always done, every time that I heard from ORMI -- I never sent a lot, I should have done better.

I hope that everyone commenting in these postings has also done their part -- I certainly know that Bill Northrop (I noticed his name in the postings) has done so on many-many occasions.

Some people appear to have focused on the "Friends of Oak Ridge", and are questioning their motives. Let me tell everyone, I am a friend of Oak Ridge. I do not think I am part of any organization, at least no one has told me about being a member, but I am a friend of Oak Ridge.

I hope that the new board and administration can provide some good leadership at a time when we need it the most, even if they are the "Friends of Oak Ridge". Perhaps part of solving this problem is to focus all future postings on positive and constructive ways that we can help ORMI.

Clarence York, a friend of Oak Ridge