Issue link: https://trevordayschool.uberflip.com/i/1529130
82 / TREVOR MAGAZINE FALL 2024–25 Cynthia, with her deep knowledge of the institution, its staff, and its philosophy, was able to envision and promote the idea of a bigger and better school effectively enough that the board bought into at least seriously considering the idea. After that meeting, work could begin in earnest on implementing the plan. By the next board meeting on November 26, much had been done to flesh out the vision. The TDS educational staff was highly enthusiastic about the benefits of the expansion and had created detailed plans for how it would be implemented. The three existing divisions could continue and grow under their current leadership, and Josie Holford was eager to take on the challenge of creating a new high school from scratch. In a single, long meeting, the board raised many questions, but in general they accepted that, if the transition were successful, the school would be greatly improved. But success was hardly guaranteed. Cynthia noted at the beginning of the meeting that the underlying financial aspects of the plan were "not outstandingly strong." There were many unknowns about the process, and there wasn't much time to determine if the numbers could be made to work. An announcement about the change had to be made soon; we agreed that waiting too long to tell the various school constituencies might be potentially disastrous in terms of our own admissions and keeping as many students as possible from both schools. The board met again a week later, on December 3. It was another long and complex meeting. Things had taken a turn for the worse as the NWL Board had offered a proposed agreement that was not in accordance with what the TDS Board had expected. There was, for example, a major issue just about what to call the deal. TDS felt it had to be a "dissolution" of NWL, where TDS would simply be acquiring their assets, while the NWL Board had used the term "consolidation." There were major concerns about how the NWL faculty would be treated, which the NWL Board had not fully addressed. But there was one light at the end of the tunnel—Treasurer Jeff Miller reported on the possibility that Trevor could obtain $5 million or more by selling triple tax-exempt bonds with a very favorable interest rate. If this bond could be secured, the school would be in a much stronger position and could absorb possible deficits for the first few years. After a long on-the-record discussion, the board went into recess. When it reconvened, a decision had been made: In effect, Cynthia and Jeff were given more time to try to get a workable proposal. Things got dicey when the board reconvened on December 7. In the interim, it had been revealed that the NWL teachers' union had a severance clause in their contract that could add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of the acquisition, on top of the previous uncertainties. Word of the deal had already gotten out to the public and the resulting speculation and uncertainty had begun to affect the hoped-for enrollment for the next academic next year. These facts had many of the trustees contemplating dropping the deal. But there were also positive things happening. The NWL Board had agreed to the TDS' proposed terms: NWL would dissolve and give its assets to TDS. In return, TDS would accept all NWL students who wanted to continue and allow NWL staff and faculty to apply for jobs at the new school. The deal might still have gone down in defeat but for one other major piece of information. Jeff Miller reported that he and his finance team had received solid positive responses from the banks the concerns set forth in the minutes of our meeting of December 3, 1990. It was resolved that the Board of Trustees of The Day School hereby authorize the President and Treasurer to negotiate, prepare and submit to the Board for approval an agreement in principle to acquire the assets of the Walden Lincoln School under terms and conditions reflecting