A New Private School Doesn't Take Rejection Easily

Jenny Anderson:

When it comes to applying to private schools, New Yorkers often have to learn to live with rejection. Some who were accepted early at Avenues, the new for-profit school set to open in Chelsea in 2012, face a different problem: They are being actively pursued.

In a letter to one family whose children were accepted but declined to enroll, the school's president, Alan Greenberg, explained in great detail -- three single-spaced pages -- why they were making a big mistake.

"This is going to be the most important new school ever opened," Mr. Greenberg wrote, "anywhere in the world." He called the administration of the school, to serve kindergarten to grade 12, "the most talented leadership team ever," and said there was little comparison between Avenues and the schools the children were currently attending, which he described as "fine."

"I don't in any way mean this to be demeaning," he wrote. "But I would not be forthcoming or truthful if I did not say there is absolutely no comparison."

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 24, 2011 2:39 AM
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