UPDATE: Thank you all so much for supporting this petition. While we have still not heard from the SSFS Board of Trustees, there has been an incredible development from a dedicated group of Friends. In 72 hours, the Friends of SSFS have gathered over 1000 coalition members and raised over $15 million!!! Please join this group at https://www.friendsofssfs.com to help focus all of the efforts of this amazing community! 

If you would like to donate to help save SSFS, you can do so through the Friends of SSFS.

 

Please read first: 

We have just learned there is a call for donations after signing this petition. This WAS NOT an intention for this campaign, as we are not soliciting money for SSFS. Furthermore, we have learned that change.org uses donated money "to support the Change.org platform and its mission of empowering citizen-led campaigning. This includes technology costs, operations, and expert campaign support, as well as promoting petitions. Donations do not directly benefit the petition organizer or the cause."

If you would like to support change.org for all the good work that they do, please feel free to, but we want to be clear that this money is NOT going to SSFS in any way. I apologize for any confusion, as this was not something we were aware of upon creating the campaign.

YOU ARE STILL ABLE TO SIGN THE PETITION AND SUPPORT THE CAUSE WITHOUT MAKING A DONATION, SO PLEASE DO, AS THE PETITION IS THE TARGET. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SKIP THE CALL FOR FUNDS PAGE.

📢 Petition to Reconsider the Closure of Sandy Spring Friends School — Let OUR Lives Speak 

We, the undersigned members of the Sandy Spring Friends School (SSFS) community—parents, students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends—are writing to express our deep shock, sorrow, and frustration over the decision to close SSFS.

It is inconceivable to us that the school has reached this point without transparent communication regarding the severity of the situation. The abrupt announcement has left the community reeling, and many of us feel blindsided. There has been no reasonable explanation for the lack of engagement with the very people who have supported and loved this school for decades.

As a community, we are especially concerned about the impact this closure will have on our students, particularly the current juniors who are now facing their senior year without the school they’ve called home. The emotional and academic repercussions of this decision are profound, and it is heartbreaking to witness the anxiety and uncertainty now facing these students and their families.

We are also deeply concerned about the dedicated faculty and staff who now face sudden unemployment. These individuals have not only shaped our children's academic experiences but have also nurtured them emotionally and spiritually. Their abrupt dismissal—without prior warning or time to prepare—is both unjust and heartbreaking. They deserve time, support, and transparency to transition to new opportunities, and we as a community want to advocate for their well-being just as we do for our students.

We also feel deeply disheartened by the way this decision contradicts the very values SSFS claims to instill in its students. The school’s motto, “Let Your Lives Speak,” encourages students to find and express their voice—to lead with integrity, compassion, and courage. Yet in this moment of crisis, that very voice has been silenced. Students have not been given the chance to speak, to be heard, or to participate in shaping the outcome of a decision that directly impacts their futures. This contradiction cuts to the heart of our disappointment and sense of betrayal.

We implore the Board and SSFS leadership to consider what it would take to keep the school open for one additional year. This extra time would allow students, families, faculty, and staff to make thoughtful transitions and to process this difficult change with dignity and care—rather than under the pressure of sudden displacement.

We also ask that the school uphold the Quaker values it was founded on—community, integrity, equality, stewardship, and peace—by engaging with us in open dialogue. The SSFS community was not given the opportunity to come together and problem-solve, to collaborate, or to explore solutions. We believe that, together, we may find a path forward.

In honor of the 60+ year tradition of Sandy Spring Friends School and the countless lives it has shaped, we urge you to reconsider this decision and allow us the chance to act, together, in the spirit of community.

Please do not shut the doors on us without giving us the opportunity to try to save our school.

_________________________________

—The official announcement of the closure can be seen on the SSFS website

—For more information from press coverage, see articles from Bethesda Magazine or The MoCo Show.