“Although our educational outcomes and experiences are strong, Croft’s financial position is not as we all believed it to be,“ the Croft board of managers said in a statement to families Tuesday that was viewed by the Globe.
Now the private school is scrambling to raise $5 million to keep its doors open for the rest of the year and cover its payroll, as school administrators race to find a way to pay back creditors, the board told families.
Families said they are devastated that the school’s future is in question, and their trusted leader is facing blame. Parents described feelings of shock and disbelief Tuesday.
But they stood by their school, they said, because of the staff who ensure children thrive.
“Everything is focused on getting the teachers paid and keeping the school operating,” said Matt Donohue, whose 6-year-old daughter attends Croft. “We want to retain what we have and preserve the school.”
Rebecca Ullman, a parent of two Croft students, said families are worried about teachers and staff.
“They have so much at stake here, and I think there’s a big emphasis on making sure that they’re going to be OK,” Ullman said.
The disclosures came while students and staff are on spring break; they return to school next week. The board, in its email, also attempted to reassure families the school will remain open.
“Your children’s teachers and programs are in place, and the Board, alongside school management, are working diligently to ensure the day-to-day experience your child is accustomed to will not change when everyone comes back from spring break,” the board said.
Given is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School, and he also completed a Yale University training program for public education leaders. Before establishing Croft in 2017, he founded and led the UP Education Network.
Croft operates a location in Providence, as well as in Jamaica Plain and in the South End. It was trying to expand its space in the South End and also open a fourth campus in Cambridge before abandoning those plans earlier this year.
A statement from Given’s attorneys said he is cooperating with the school’s investigation.
“Scott has never used any school funds for his own personal benefit. At all times, he has used school funds solely for appropriate school-related purposes,” the statement said. “The well-being of the Croft School community has been and will remain one of Scott’s top priorities in life.”
Kate Mahoney, Croft’s chief operating officer, declined to comment Tuesday.
Croft enrolled nearly 200 students last year in Massachusetts, and about 160 in Providence. The school charges more than $30,000 in tuition for new students, according to its website.
In the email to families, the board said Given did not disclose the totality of Croft’s debt, which was about $13 million. Most of it was borrowed from Croft families, investors, friends, and business acquaintances, it said.
Given borrowed approximately $2 million from “short term, high-interest rate financing companies,” the board said.
“At this point we have no evidence that any money was diverted for others’ benefit, but we continue to investigate,” the board said.
It was unclear Tuesday how much of the school’s debt was connected with the sale of “Croft bonds,” which Given announced in 2024 as a way to help raise money for improvements to its Jamaica Plain campus.
Given had announced he would try to raise up to $1 million from the bonds; he promised a 12.5 percent annual rate of return over the four-year life of the bonds.
Given promised a lot: a $100,000 loan would earn $50,000 in interest by the bond’s maturity. If the school didn’t have the cash on hand to pay off the loan, it would tap a fund with at least $4 million in reserves, Given said at the time.
Financial experts who spoke to the Globe raised concerns about the high interest rate, and said families should do their due diligence first.
Edith Hotchkiss, a professor in Boston College’s Carroll School of Management, said Monday that if officials knew of financial irregularities at the time of the bonds’ sale, then it would be “the stuff litigation is made of.”
Barnet Sherman, a Boston University professor of multinational finance and trade, said the school had a duty to families to ensure its funds were used properly.
“The financial responsibility is not just because their money is important, but it’s a financial responsibility to use that money carefully and appropriately to provide education for their students,” Sherman said.
Given notified one member of the school’s board on March 6 that he had “mismanaged and misrepresented” the school’s finances for the past several years, according to the board’s statement.
Given told the board member he had fabricated a letter of credit to the school’s bank. Given had also been keeping two sets of books for years with several discrepancies, including overstated revenue amounts, and understated expenses, the board said in its message.
Given had also taken on debt that “far exceeded what was disclosed to the Board or, to our knowledge, anyone else employed by the school,” the board said.
The debts were not authorized by the board, it said, and were not reflected in the company’s official books and records.
Most of Croft’s cash was at its commercial bank, which had also extended two loans with an outstanding balance of $1.9 million. Collateral for the loan was nearly $2 million in cash Croft kept at the bank, and the bank seized most of those funds after the financial issues were brought to light, according to the board.
The school paid its employees using available cash on hand Monday, it said. Croft received a “capital contribution” of $400,000, bringing its cash total to $448,000 as of Tuesday.
The school’s next payroll cycle on March 31 is secured, it said.
The school’s board, on Tuesday, also said it’s in the process of providing a full accounting of its financials.
It is also in discussions with “prospective financing sources” to help restructure the school, it said, but provided few details.
The board said it would release another update on Friday.
Gustavo Quiroga, whose son is enrolled in Croft’s prekindergarten program, said he isn’t focused on what went wrong on the school’s business side.
Right now, he said, families want to save their school.
“We love the Croft School as a place for our son, and as a community to be a part of,” Quiroga said. “We see our kids thriving.”
John Hilliard can be reached at [email protected] or on Signal at john_hilliard.70. Follow him on Bluesky at iamjohnhilliard.bsky.social.
