Belly-Up Carden West School Dodges Eviction Temporarily; Parents Lawyer-Up

Troubled Carden West School, once a shining star of private education where preschoolers learned four languages and tuition rivaled college costs, made a hefty rent payment this week that will enable it to operate through May.

"I can confirm that Carden West has paid rent in full through the end of
the school year," said Basil Besh, president of Carden West's volunteer board of trustees, which has dropped to a reported four members. 

A lump-sum $150,000 — rent for March, April and May — was due the landlords of the Willow Road campus by March 15 to keep doors open at the 35-year-old school, which filed bankruptcy in November, according to court filings.

An eviction would have left Carden's 100 or so remaining students — and their parents — in a lurch, unable to finish out the school year. And even with that reprieve, the school will close forever in two months' time.

Saratoga-based Stratford School, meanwhile, is eyeing the Pleasanton locale for a possible fall 2012 school start-up. 

Though Carden West may be open through May, the school's slow death plods on with possible legal ramifications for many former parents, who feel they are being used as financial targets to "close out the school year" for remaining families.

Parents, once tightly bonded in their close-knit school, are now bitterly divided into two groups: "the stays" and "the gones."

Some of "the gones" — parents who pulled their children from Carden when the school began to unravel in December — have hired attorneys to stave off legal threats over disputed back tuition, which they feel was a last-ditch effort by Carden to raise cash to pay the rent bill. 

"They're trying to squeeze 60 days of tuition out of us," said one parent, who pulled her preschooler in January.

"It's a soap opera," said a Carden dad, who withdrew his son in January, as well.

The accredited, not-for-profit Carden West filed Chapter 11 reorganization in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Nov. 3, listing debts of $1.8 million and assets of $6,000, including roughly $3,000 of furnishings and $3,000 in the bank, court records state.

Gone from the campus in recent weeks are the , the longtime deputy director, the art teacher, music teacher, several board members and many teachers — all of whom were either laid off or resigned.

The annual fundraising dinner and silent auction gala, scheduled for March 3, was scrapped.

And the onetime enrollment of 200 or so, from preschool to fifth grade, has dropped by half. 

In its heyday, Carden West, which opened in Pleasanton in the mid-1970s, was consistently voted tops by Bay Area Parent Magazine readers for its preschool, elementary and after-school programs, and hailed as a thriving operation in the Hacienda Business Park.  

The school's agenda was globally progressive, with small class sizes, a rich curriculum, and a push for character-building and civic involvement.

Preschoolers could learn four languages: American Sign Language and Spanish were standard for two-year-olds; French could be added by age three; Mandarin at four.

In 2009, Carden West third-graders made national news when their letter-writing campaign to President Obama was featured on CNN's Campbell Brown show.

The top-notch education, however, came with a big price tag: approximately $19,000 a year for fulltime, preschool tuition and $12,000 a year for elementary-grade levels.

Admission contracts called for a 60-day notice by the school if tuition fees changed, and a 60-day notice by parents who were withdrawng their children — and therein lies the rub of much chaos created by the school's demise.

The November reorganization-bankruptcy news was absorbed by most parents, who were appeased with the explanation that it stemmed from a landlord-tenant dispute and costly building repairs. But it was a Dec. 23 letter that sent them reeling.

Two days before Christmas, parents were informed that a 25-percent tuition increase would be effective Feb. 1 — a sizable hike with only a 39-day notification.

Parents, who said they were not getting clear explanations to the tuition boost or bankruptcy details, began to withdraw their children.

"We didn't know what to believe," a parent said. "And we didn't know they were $2 million in debt."

For one parent, leaving Carden was a safety issue.

"When they cut the staff, they had the door wide open and no one was manning it anymore," the parent said. "It seemed like (Carden) was teetering on closing on a weekly basis."

And the exodus began. Yet, apparently, no one was really happy to go.

"Parents are freaking out. ... To think of pulling our very happy children out of our very happy community," said one mother. "Even til the last day, our hearts were breaking to leave. Everybody was sad."

But "the gones'" heavy hearts soon turned to stone when they received mailings from the school board contending that their withdrawls breached the required 60-days' notice, and the departed families still owed from one to two months of tuition — pronto.

Non-payers would be turned over to collection agencies, the missive said.

"It was a shake-down letter," said one parent, who has hired a lawyer to, in short, protect his credit.

"None of my clients owe anything to the school," San Francisco-based attorney William Abbott wrote in a Feb. 29 letter to Carden directors, noting that it was Carden West who first breached the school-parent contract with its abrupt, less-than-60-day-notice tuition hike.

The parents further argue that their withdrawls were accepted by the staff.

"When they withdrew, my clients were told it was perfectly OK by the principal," said Abbott, collectively hired by 25 former Carden parents to fight the back-tuition dispute.

But now, he added, that principal is gone.

Staff and board turnover, shifting stories and general uncertainty borne from Carden's dire financial straits fueled frantic emails among parents, former parents and board members, along with rumors, innuendo, threats, fears, speculation, suspicion, a Facebook group — and a boatload of misinformation,  including a supposed "merger" of Carden West with the Stratford School.

Stratford is a for-profit, private school that operates 14 campuses throughout the San Francisco area, with enrollment of roughly 4,000 students from preschool through eighth grade.

That school is in negotiations with the Willow Drive landlords to move into the locale June 1, Kathleen Hawkins, Stratford head of communications, said last week.

But it is not a merger.

If Stratford does move to Pleasanton, the school would shoot for a fall 2012 opening with enrollment of preschool through grade five, she said.

"It's not finalized at this point," Hawkins said.

Local buzz is that Stratford signed the lease deal this week, but that could not be confirmed.

Given the ongoing legal disputes, and the fact that children are involved, parents on both sides are reluctant to speak on the record for fear of repercussions.

Current and former administrators, teachers, board members and an auditor declined to be interviewed.

Even board president Besh, aside from confirming the paid rent, declined to comment further, citing ongoing legal issues.

"It is inappropriate for us to give further comment," Besh said. 

An attorney for the landlords said that, as of last week, he did not know if the rent funds were yet deposited, but said his clients offered Carden significant concessions on unpaid rent.

Court filings show Carden's rent was unpaid since August.

The deal proposed by the landlords was a $50,000 February payment — which was made — and an advance of the next three months, the $150,000 lump sum, to allow Carden to remain on the premises through May 31, which several parents note is still two weeks shy of the scheduled school-year end.

Much of that needed $200,000 was raised hastily last month through family contributions of $750 to $1,000 per child, according to Carden sources. 

Even some of "the stays" reportedly weren't thrilled with that request, but stepped up to finish the school year.

The root cause of Carden's bankruptcy remains mere speculation for former parents, who say they never saw lavish spending or blatant mismanagement during their time at the school. 

A reported 11 percent drop in enrollment at the start of fall 2011, coupled with the $50,000 monthly rent and the general economic downturn were contributors, they say.

The "gones" have been warned that their supposed contract breach will land them in collections, small-claims court or tacked onto Carden's bankruptcy filings.  

But despite those legal uncertainties, even they speak fondly of their once-lively, nationally recognized, tiny Carden West. 

One said: "It's a school we absolutely loved."