Please see below a letter sent today to current Nardin parents announcing the launching of the Nardin Together website. Please sign up and join the community. This will be the best way for us to communicate with everyone – parents, alumni, and community members. We want you to know we are working to move the school on a path forward and thank everybody for their continued support and encouragement. 

 

Nardin Together Update:

Dear Nardin Parent, 

On behalf of Nardin Together, we are once again asking our community to unite to make impactful changes that will help grow Nardin in a positive direction. 

Who is Nardin Together? Nardin Together 

As current parents, we know you are deeply invested in the success of your child(en) and, more broadly, the success of Nardin Academy. 

Nardin Together shares this same passion. For months, this grassroot effort of volunteer parents and alumni have been advocating for greater transparency and accountability from Nardin’s leadership. We are dedicated to providing the Nardin community with information and getting answers as we are able to get them from the Board of Trustees. We are committed to assisting with the healing and rebuilding process.

On May 3, 2023, the Board of Trustees announced the departure of Sandra Betters as President of Nardin Academy, effective June 30, 2023.  Although a necessary step, Nardin Together is deeply concerned about the resignation of the nine board members who advocated for the removal of Sandra Betters and the effect it will have on future decisions made by the Board of Trustees. 

Nardin Together is also concerned about actions that Dr. Betters continues to make that are unsettling and unnecessary in light of her imminent departure. On Friday, May 5, 2023, we learned that Greg Altman, Nardin's Vice President of Finance and Operations, had been escorted from the building, his employment apparently terminated, although Nardin provided a statement that he had "departed" his role. This ongoing conflict between Nardin's leadership and its long-serving staff is not providing our community with the confidence we need to know that Nardin is moving in a sound direction. Given Mr. Altman's responsibilities, for example, we have additional questions about financial stewardship at the school. In addition, although the Nardin Board of Trustees says it wants to heal the divisions within the community, these actions undermine that stated goal and create further anxiety and distrust among Nardin's stakeholders.

Unfortunately, the entire Nardin community has been left without answers, and the Board of Trustees remains silent about a path forward.  

In order to ensure the future of Nardin Academy for generations to come, it is necessary for the entire Nardin community to work together to advocate for transparency and accountability of leadership. Time is of the essence, and urgent action is needed now.

Over the next two weeks, we know that Nardin's parents will decide whether they will re-enroll their children in the school. Our efforts are directed to obtaining the information and rebuilding the trust that our parent community especially expects. 

As such, we have requested that the Board provide answers to a short list of reasonable and necessary questions.

You can view this letter and the questions here.

To date, the Board of Trustees has been silent and continues to refrain from providing any clarity to the community.  

We will continue to seek answers to our reasonable inquiries from the Board. 

Alongside other concerned parents, Nardin Together has repeatedly asked to meet with members of the Board, and we will continue to make our voices heard.  

While we honor the intentions of the healing process outlined by Board of Trustees Chairwoman Tish Van Dyke, the failure to disclose a clear timeline is unacceptable. 

In the absence of positive action by the Board in the next few days, we intend to address the entire Nardin community, including parents, with an agenda of next steps for a constructive transition. 

Nardin Together will continue to bring updates and share news of what is occurring at Nardin Academy. We seek to be a source of truthful communication to help provide the Nardin community with an accurate sense of what is taking place.

Nardin Together is centrally focused on the students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and other stakeholders so that the legacy of Nardin Academy will be shared for generations to come. 

Please take a moment to share this email with any other concerned parents, alumni and community members and visit our website, Nardin Together for additional updates and details.

 

Nardin Together