Lawrence Woodmere Academy (LWA), a cherished and well-respected private school in Woodmere, NY, is in imminent danger of closing due to lack of funds.  Over the last century, members of the Five Towns community and surrounding areas have sent their children to LWA - an outstanding, affordable, private school that has a very high percentage of students who are accepted to, and graduate from, the finest colleges and universities in the country. These include Cornell, Princeton, Harvard, SUNY-Binghamton and NYU, to name a few. The school encountered severe financial difficulties over the last few years as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a major drop-off in the number of students in attendance. While the pandemic may be subsiding, the financial hardships caused by the pandemic continue to impact the school. The people who would be most affected by the potential closure of the school would be the current students, as well as parents who live in or near the Five Towns area of Nassau County, who do not want their children to attend either a public or a religious school. LWA is the only competitively priced school in the area that fills this crucial niche, an important niche that needs to continue to be filled. 

LWA is one of very few schools in the country that had “in-person” instruction at the height of the pandemic. They achieved this by creating a safe environment for all students – whereas instruction would have been around a single experiment in a science class, LWA facilitated individual instances of the experiment for each student to maintain the required social distancing. In the event this school does not continue to operate, current students will find themselves without a place to further their education. In addition, valued teachers, administrators and school personnel who ensured the school remained open during one of the most difficult times in recent world history, will lose their jobs. It will also negatively impact the local economy if the school ceased operations.

COVID-19 wreaked havoc on LWA’s financial plans, forcing the school to borrow money from private lenders to pay teachers, and to stay open for the students. These loans are now coming due. If the school doesn’t raise $6 million to pay off its debt by June 2023, it cannot commit to reopening for the Fall semester of this year. It will then be forced to close its doors after an illustrious and storied 111 year history. As a result of these pressures, the time to act to prevent the school from being forced to close is now, before a historic and valuable icon of the community goes away. This school has been an important educational institution on Long Island for over a century, attracting international as well as local students to its diverse math, science and STEM curriculum. It is essential that LWA continue to be an ongoing educational concern, both for the young minds that it nourishes as well as for the benefit of the surrounding community who benefit from it economically. Schools of this caliber are a treasure that must be preserved, so they can continue to perform their vital educational missions.