The Elon School, an independent high school adjacent to the university, is searching for a new home for the 2012-2013 academic year. Elon Homes and Schools for Children will give the school, in name, to a local parent group that intends to operate the school after the senior class graduates in June, said Fred Grosse, president of the Elon Homes and Schools for Children.
The Elon Homes and Schools for Children operates foster care programs in 12 counties in the state, in addition to the Kennedy Charter Public School in Charlotte. Economic struggles motivated Grosse to lease the Elon campus’ facilities, but he said he is confident the local parent group will find a new location.
“We opened in 2007, which is exactly when the economy bottled out, so it’s been a challenge to operate everything that we do,” Grosse said.
The facility originated as a Christian orphanage in 1907, but after a piece of legislature mandated children only be placed in orphanages in their respective county, the number of children the Elon orphanage could serve diminished, prompting the Elon Homes and Schools for Children to examine other functions for the building.
“The best thing we can offer this county is an independent school,” Grosse said.
Grosse relies on tuition dollars and fund development to maintain the operations of the school.
“What we found here is this is something we cannot do long term, and there was a group of local parents that said they were interested in taking over and running the school,” he said.
Although Grosse and a local parent group have discussed transferring the school, no plans have been confirmed. Grosse predicts an agreement will be finalized in two weeks.
“We think it’s best, and the local group thinks it’s best, that local families run the school,” he said.
The governance body belonging to the Elon Homes and Schools for Children is comprised of individuals throughout the state.
“The economy is a certain part of (the transition), but it also gives them a chance to be hands-on and run the school,” Grosse said.
The change in ownership challenges the new governing board to find a new physical location for the school. Elon Homes and Schools for Children will lease the property where the Elon School is currently located. Various companies have expressed interest, but no agreement has been confirmed, according to Grosse. He expects to use the revenue generated from leasing the facility to offset expenses needed to operate the organization’s other operations, he said.
“We want our organization to have a solid financial future, and we believe this is a very prime location and we will find people to lease this,” Grosse said.
Although Gerry Francis, executive vice president of Elon University, said the university is interested in purchasing the land contiguous with the intramural playing fields, which previously belonged to Elon Homes and Schools for Children, the university has no intention of leasing the facility from the organization.
“If we were to lease it from them in a minimum amount of years, we would have spent as much as it would have cost to buy, so it is not a good investment,” Francis said.