high school in county
Duo exploring possibility of creating new
high school in county
By jane waterhouse
Staff Writer
FARRAH MAFFAI Amanda Kennedy and Tammy Zacks are organizing a private high school in the area, a facility for which they see a definite need.
RUMSON — Pioneers traveled west 100 years ago. If Mandy Kennedy and Tammy Zacks have anything to say about it, they’ll soon be heading to Monmouth County.
The two women have partnered together to found a new organization they are calling PIONEERS — Parents Initiating Opportunities iN Exceptional Education for Regional Secondary Schooling — with the aim of establishing a private, nonsectarian, coeducational, secondary day school in our area.
"Mandy and I worked together on the gala fund-raiser at Rumson Country Day School in February, and we really hit it off," said Zacks. "Two days after it was over, she said, ‘Are you ready for our next project?’ When I asked her what she had in mind she said, ‘Let’s build a high school.’"
"As parents, particularly in these post-9/ll-times, we’d like nothing more than to have our children attend an outstanding secondary school close to home," Kennedy said. "But there’s a tremendous void in our community when it comes to choices in private education."
Once having identified the need, the two women rolled up their sleeves and got to work with the same spirit that characterized the early pioneer movement.
"The first thing we did was sit down with Skip Sykes," said Zacks.
Sykes, a former headmaster at RCDS, provided the partners with a wealth of helpful information and eventually put them in touch with Ted Lingenbeld, a principal and senior consultant for the Independent School Counsel Inc. in Atlanta, Ga.
"We’ve just retained ISC to conduct enrollment and financial feasibility studies over the next six to nine months," Kennedy said. "We’re hoping that this information will give us the factual and statistical support we need to move forward."
But while the studies are being conducted, the partners are busy forging new frontiers. They’re actively searching out potential sites for the school in Monmouth County and beginning to put strategies into place. They kicked things off with a June 28 benefit luncheon for 235 interested parents at the Rumson home of Diney and Barry Goldsmith.
Response to the idea has been "overwhelming but not surprising," Kennedy said.
She said parents have told them that if they can get the school up and running, they’d be willing to move to Monmouth County from other places around the state.
Both women emphasized that their project was in no way a reflection of the quality of the public school system, but rather a response to a community need for greater choice.
According to their mission statement, they hope "to attract bright, motivated students representative of the rich cultural diversity from the surrounding area…" To this end, they have already filed for 501 (c)3 nonprofit status.
"Even after the high school is opened, PIONEERS Inc. will continue to raise money for scholarships," said Zacks.
"There’s no reason that we can’t provide educational opportunities similar to what’s offered in the northern New Jersey and Princeton areas," said Kennedy. "We’re no less sophisticated or cosmopolitan in our lifestyles."
At the planning meeting on Tuesday, the new school’s mission and philosophy were the main topics for discussion.
Both Zacks and Kennedy hope that the school is up and running by the time their children are of high-school age. The oldest children in the two women’s families are 7 and 8.
"I’ve learned that if you take it one step at a time, one day at a time, and work really hard, you can accomplish almost anything," said Zacks.
Kennedy concurs.
"I can’t believe that a few months ago this whole thing existed only in our heads," she said.
"The idea of creating a private secondary day school in Monmouth County isn’t original to us, but we’re prepared to give it life and energy," she added. "And we feel that this is definitely the time to make it happen."