Manlius Pebble Hill School in DeWitt has reached a deal with its bank and secured additional finances that will allow it to remain open for the next school year, school officials announced last week.
In December, MPH was faced with a $3.2 million debt that was owed immediately to the bank, and school officials feared the institution would be forced to close.
In a statement on MPH’s website, John Mezzalingua, president of the board of trustees, said the school has been negotiating with the bank on the issue, and an agreement has been reached to shift the $3.2 million owed to the bank into a mortgage that is payable over seven years.
“Spreading this debt over seven years provides us the ‘time and space’ that we will use to fundraise, boost enrollment, enhance our extracurricular community programs, aggressively target foundations to create new sources of financial aid, develop new strategic alliances with key institutions and programs and create a formalized and structured marketing program,” Mezzaninegua said.
In addition to the school’s refinancing, Manlius Pebble Hill students, staff and alumni have been fundraising to help pay off some of the debt. To date, about $1.8 million of the $3.2 million debt has been raised, including $82,000 garnered during a Feb. 11 and 12 phone-a-thon.
“I think everyone’s who has gone to Manlius Pebble Hill can speak to the value of an education here,” said Natalie Maffrici, a current MPH senior who participated in the phone-a-thon. “I know I’ve learned so many important things and being here has shaped who I am today. I felt an obligation to help out.”
Lyndsay Hollis, interim director of communications at MPH, said there has been a lot of encouragement and financial support from alumni of the school, which was formed as a merger between the Manlius Military Academy and Pebble Hill school in the 1970s.
A top priority of the board of trustees and school administration now is to create a budget that “does not borrow against the future of the school for immediate needs and incorporates plans to satisfy our past debt obligations,” according Mezzalingua’s statement.
Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin. She can be reached at [email protected].
