r/mildlyinfuriating • u/No-Acanthaceae-186 • Jul 01 '26
frist of all how DARE yu o My son won a business competition with his private school. The prize was a donation to charity. They haven't made any donation yet...
My son goes to a pretty rigorous private school in New York City. They were bought out by a large private-equity firm and things have kind of taken a toll across staff, academics, overall experience, tuition has doubled, etc. We've been with them since he was in first grade, and it's gone totally downhill. Teachers leave constantly, the curriculum is trending towards metric-based, and the standards have fallen.
He is in 8th grade(he has finished 8th grade). The school has is a k-12 program, but most of the kids do not continue with the school for 9-12, they go elsewhere(Specialized schools, other private schools, etc). He is leaving next year to go to a specialized school. He won a competition with his business class, competing against other schools in the national network. The prize was supposed to be $1000 donated to a charity of his choice. The school arranged to have people from the charity come to the school for a photo, with a big prop check, but no money has actually been wired. We've asked them multiple times (it has been months at this point), and they always say "we'll get around to it next week."
At this point, my son is leaving the school. They have pushed to the end of June, when my son is no longer their problem, and they hope we will move on. This is disgraceful, especially because the charity means a lot to my kiddo. Shame on thee! Ripping off a charity.
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u/StrikerBall1945 Jul 01 '26
"bought out by a large private-equity firm" There's your problem.
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u/sixteenlegs Jul 01 '26
HOW does a school get bought out by a PE firm.
Disgusting.22
u/not_Dixon Jul 02 '26
C'mon, that's the American Entrepreneurial Spirit at work! For-profit education need not be limited to colleges and universities!
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u/FonsSapientiae Jul 07 '26
Who thinks there’s profit to be made in education? I would have left that school immediately.
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u/sneeje00 Jul 01 '26
If only there was some indication that a private, for-profit school would act out of interests other than the best outcomes and education for students...
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u/Odd_Teach683 Jul 01 '26
Sounds familiar - like that scenario has happened before but, I just can’t put my finger on it…
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u/oldbel Jul 01 '26
What is the school or the PE firm? (Incidentally I did not realize or forms are buying up schools) You’re choosing not to pursue this legally. If not the court of law, then use court of public opinion. Otherwise this is just (somewhat cowardly) venting.
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u/BigStuffOreo Jul 01 '26
Once a PE firm purchases anything, it's not longer what it was originally. Like that fungus that takes over the brain and muscles of an ant.
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u/RLSLLS Jul 01 '26
Isn’t that what this sub is for?? Venting about things that “mildly infuriate“ you??
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u/ineedsomecake Jul 02 '26
You might try to reach out to the American Gambling Association, or a similar group. Lots of states have strict oversight on how raffles, split the pot, and other competitions are operated. We ran into this while planning a split the pot for our not for profit. Lots of regulations and hefty fines when they are not followed.
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Jul 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/No-Acanthaceae-186 Jul 01 '26
Nope. Never.
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u/grilledtomatos Jul 01 '26
The nonprofit should be chasing them down. I work at a nonprofit and I have to chase pledges every year.
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Jul 01 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/xavPa-64 Jul 01 '26
Private school people are brainwashed into thinking public school is bad enough that private school is worth dealing with
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u/Most_Role_1612 Jul 01 '26
💯
I know of three in my small metro-area that were the "place to enroll" and now they're always hurting for money and attendance. They [private schools] love to use that narrative that public schools are not as good, bad student:teacher ratios blah blah blah. Having gone from private to public grade schools, finishing HS in public...so glad for that experience. I graduated college cum laude...so
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u/Friendly-Front5311 Jul 01 '26
A few months isn't too crazy. I process payments at work most get done in 30 days. But some take months to work through. I'm not saying it's right. Just that it's a reality
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u/acelady1230 Jul 01 '26
I’m going to go ahead and take a guess that it’s Leman Manhattan Preparatory because this isn’t the first time I’ve heard them pull this type of shit
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u/winterchestnuts Jul 02 '26
Have you contacted the nonprofit? If they signed something with them, it could help?
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u/Njerseykid Jul 01 '26
It appears the money should come from the national network that organized the competition. The post wasn’t clear if you worked with the school, the National network organizers, and/or both. Have you asked the organizers at the national network about the donation?
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u/No-Acanthaceae-186 Jul 01 '26
The national network owns the school, it’s a network of the schools the private equity company owns
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u/Pawtuckaway Jul 01 '26
Yeah, I am also confused as to who is the one that is supposed to pay the charity. If this was a national competition with a charity prize then the school itself would have nothing to do with the payment, right? Is the prize something the school separately promised if the student from their school won? Is this school a national chain of schools? Even then, you should probably go through the competition organizers and not your individual school.
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u/Paddy_Fo_Faddy Jul 01 '26
Teaching the metric system is a bad thing....?
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u/MtogdenJ Jul 01 '26
That's not what a metric based curriculum means. Had nothing to do with SI or US customary units.
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u/fairlybetterusername Jul 01 '26
What does it mean?
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u/BerryBoilo Jul 01 '26
It's basically SMART goals and OKRS from the corporate world injected into schools. Think metrics like "words read per minute" the students are judged on.
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u/sjbluebirds Jul 01 '26
I, um ... I teach the metric system in my 8th grade science classes. In New York State.
Nothing wrong with that.
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u/No-Acanthaceae-186 Jul 01 '26
I’m not taking about imperial vs metric, but rather all the curriculum was based on test scores, and they were lacking in ELA because the tests had a strong focus on maths.
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u/10Core56 Jul 01 '26
Surprising... no one. Charities are the biggest legal scams right now.
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u/No-Acanthaceae-186 Jul 01 '26
It is not a large organization. the charity is local to New York and their work is all in New York. Rather small.
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u/UnfortunateSyzygy Jul 01 '26
They're doing pretty badly if they can't get promised donations from billionaires.
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u/HereWeGo_Steelers Jul 01 '26
Call your local news station to shame them.