Parents organized fundraisers. Board members appealed to alumni for donations. School administrators searched for benefactors willing to keep the respected 111-year-old institution alive.
But after weighing those efforts against the legacy school’s substantial drop in enrollment following a tumultuous period of financial instability, the private Evanston preK-12 school will close, Roycemore’s Board of Trustees wrote in a message to community members July 15.
“After carefully reviewing our enrollment data and financial projections, the Board of Trustees has made the heartbreaking decision to suspend Roycemore School’s operations,” the Board wrote to families on Wednesday.
“As a result, Roycemore will not open for the 2026-27 academic year.”
This comes nearly a month after administrators told parents Roycemore would remain open for the upcoming school year following fundraising progress, according to administrators.
“We believed there was a viable path forward, provided we could achieve the enrollment necessary to support the school’s academic program and financial sustainability,” trustees wrote in their July 15 message.
“In the weeks that followed, we experienced a significant and unexpected decline in confirmed student enrollment. Despite the extraordinary efforts of our faculty, staff, leadership, and many members of our community to retain current families and welcome new ones, enrollment fell well below the level required to operate the school responsibly,” the Board wrote.
While an eleventh hour financial reprieve from an unidentified donor allowed Roycemore to finish out the 2025-26 academic year in June, it did not cover operating costs beyond the year’s end.
In order for additional grant funds to be processed, the donor clarified certain “criteria must be met,” Roycemore Board member Kevin Foote told parents on a Zoom call in May.
This included the possibility of a sale of the building, a potential school merger and other stipulations for parents, including providing at least half of their July 1 tuition bill for the upcoming school year on or before May 25 to ensure families were “all in” on saving the long-standing institution, Foote said.
At least 165 of the 177 tuition contracts already signed by families as of April 27 also needed to be retained, Foote added, for the donor to agree to future funding.
However, the Board’s July 15 message to families confirmed a decline in enrollment, seemingly below the numbers that were likely required for the grant donation.
“This decision was made only after every reasonable alternative had been explored,” the Board wrote in its message.
“Ultimately, we could not responsibly open the school without the resources necessary to provide the high-quality educational experience our students deserve.”
Trustees confirmed that administrators are working to establish a “dedicated process” to ensure student transcripts, report cards and other official records are transferred to students’ new schools.
Families who have already submitted tuition and other payments for the upcoming school year can expect future communications from Roycemore’s financial and legal advisors addressing the reimbursement of funds, leadership said.
“We will communicate additional information as soon as it becomes available,” trustees wrote.
Interim Head of School Paul Druzinsky told Pioneer Press the decision to close Roycemore is “profoundly sad” for many of its community members.
“I believe with all my heart that the current trustees and school leadership did everything humanly possible to keep the school open,” Druzinsky said.
“The sad reality is that there just was not enough time or resources remaining to secure a better outcome. The community rallied beyond what anyone expected and they can hold their heads high.”
Druzinsky was brought in by trustees as interim head July 1, having relocated from Wichita, Kansas to lead the school given his previous experience managing schools facing “similar situations,” he said.
“I was brought in to see if there’s any advice, wisdom, things that I [could] share because of those experiences,” Druzinsky added.
Druzinsky’s appointment as head of school directly succeeded Interim Head Morgan Busbey, who stepped in after former head of school Christopher English was removed from his leadership position by Board members in April. He had served in the position since 2022, according to school leadership.
English’s removal also followed a broader leadership shakeup, with former Board Chair Anthony Chambers’ decision to step down in May, along with Director of Finance & Operations Michael Youkim, per previous reports.
“I feel [the Board] did everything they possibly could…they weren’t going to make decisions just to try and stay open. That would be detrimental to children and to the faculty and staff who are on the front lines,” Druzinsky said.
“They just came to realize that they couldn’t offer the Roycemore that everybody knows and guarantee that we could complete a school year.”
While the school’s closure was due to a “combination of things,” enrollment was a “pivotal part of the equation,” Druzinsky added.
“The level of uncertainty from when the school was in really bad shape at the end of April, when it was announced that they might not even finish this past school year, I think that creates uncertainty with everybody…[parents] were worried that they would come back but there wouldn’t be a school. They wouldn’t be able to complete the school year.”
But for the families that chose to return, Druzinsky said, it may be even more difficult.
For Roycemore parent Jessica Risker, the school’s closure is incredibly sad.
“We are heartbroken. Roycemore was extraordinary — a school that saw and supported our child in ways that are genuinely hard to find,” Risker, whose child attended Roycemore this past year, told Pioneer Press.
“The Board and leadership who fought to save it in these final months deserve enormous credit for everything they tried.”
“It was the best of what Evanston can be,” said Tilden Katz, a longtime Evanston resident and neighbor of the school’s campus who volunteered to help with its communications.
Druzinsky said for the families that haven’t yet found another institution to enroll their child for the upcoming school year, administrators are offering their help.
“Area schools have been incredibly kind, offering support and possible pathways to go to their school, and we’re communicating with families who need guidance… it is late, but we’re trying to do all we can to support the current families who need new schools.”
Druzinsky added that he will continue to help in the shutting down of Roycemore, because there’s still “a lot of things to be done.”
As for the possibility of reopening the school after the 2026-27 academic year, that remains unlikely, he said.
“I know from my own experience that reopening a school that’s been closed is an extremely difficult process because there’s so many steps you have to take to close the school that are unreversible,” Druzinsky said.
“I have seen where different iterations emerge, but when you close a school, it’s just, it’s harder…but I’m a firm believer in hope.”
