I have noticed that Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School continues to run advertising on local radio stations and I wonder what the purpose is.
The ads feature testimonials from parents who have sent their children to the private school, noting the school's strong educational tradition and its small class size.
Now I realize I didn't receive a Thomas Jefferson education, but if the ads are successful, wouldn't that take a toll on those small classes?
Some commenters on a previous post concerning the removal of former head of school Leonard Kupersmith have some ideas about the situation.
Some other comments were left on an earlier post.
2 comments:
Maybe it is because their tuition os so high they want to make sure everyone who can afford it will enroll. My kids are in private school and we looked at TJ but it was way too high for what you get. You can get a very high quality education at College Heights and St Marys and not pay nearly what you pay at TJ and you don't have to deal with the elitest wannabees.
Randy, I think you are correct in being perplexed. The ads may be an attempt to recruit people from outside the local pool from which TJ typically fishes. I know that TJ has been trying to get into this market for a couple of years now with some (small) success. In the past couple of years, TJ has had a handful of students who either do not even live with their parents or commute home on the weekends. Remember that if TJ even recruits 1 person/grade, that amounts to over $100,000 for the school. The marginal increase in manpower for such a small change and the cost of the advertising would be offset by this additional income.
OTOH, it could represent a more fundamental shift in business as usual at TJ. The new ads and the firing of Kupersmith makes one wonder what is going on. In the case of Kupersmith, the board apparently fired him because they wanted someone to take TJ to the "next level". Since TJ (self reports) it is doing so well acdemically, this new level must be referring to something else. Since this new level doesn't seem to be academic, it either involves money or a power struggle of some sort.
Wahtever the case, it will be interesting to watch.
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