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Grace Holistic Center for Education in Yorkville shuts its doors right before the new school year · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Grace Holistic Center for Education in Yorkville shuts its doors
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  Speaker 1: right before the new school year. Written by Joey Weslow,
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  Speaker 1: this article is being read by an automated voice brought
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  Speaker 1: to you by Everlett. Just a few days before the
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  Speaker 1: new school year was expected to start, Grace Holistic Center
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  Speaker 1: for Education in Yorkville abruptly announced that the school is closed.
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  Speaker 1: The pre k through twelfth grade school opened in August
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  Speaker 1: twenty sixteen by founder and executive director Terry Grace, a
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  Speaker 1: licensed clinical social worker who runs a counseling and yoga
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  Speaker 1: based clinic in Yorkville. The school, located at two zero
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  Speaker 1: one Garden Street, had around fifty seven students with around
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  Speaker 1: nine classroom teachers, according to US News and World Report.
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  Speaker 1: According to Ashley English, who served on the school board,
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  Speaker 1: the decision to close was a last minute decision, and
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  Speaker 1: the first day of the new school year was scheduled
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  Speaker 1: for next week. English said the school was a nonprofit,
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  Speaker 1: self funded private school that relied solely on donations and grants.
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  Speaker 1: We had a donor that backed out last night. English posted,
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  Speaker 1: no one has been scammed, no one was bait and switched,
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  Speaker 1: no one was taken advantage of English was responding to
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  Speaker 1: several parents who allegedly said they felt scammed that the
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  Speaker 1: school abruptly closed so close to the start of the
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  Speaker 1: school year, limiting parents' options for enrolling their kids in
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  Speaker 1: another school. Yorkville Public School District one hundred and fifteen
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  Speaker 1: began its twenty twenty six to twenty seven school year
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  Speaker 1: on Wednesday. Shaw Local News has reached out to Terry
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  Speaker 1: Grace for comment and to see if the school has
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  Speaker 1: any future plans to reopen. The school has not released
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  Speaker 1: a public statement regarding the school closing or if reimbursements
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  Speaker 1: will be made to parents or donors who have already
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  Speaker 1: contributed to the school. Educator at the school, Steele Custer,
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  Speaker 1: expressed his sadness at the school closing. The teachers I
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  Speaker 1: work beside have become far more than just coworkers. They
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  Speaker 1: are my family, and I haven't quite decided just yet
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  Speaker 1: how I will fare without seeing them each and every day,
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  Speaker 1: Custer posted. Custer thanked Tyrie Grace for her work in
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  Speaker 1: creating what he described as a special environment for children
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  Speaker 1: to learn and thrive. On the Yorkville Area Chamber of
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  Speaker 1: Commerce's website, the school is described as a curriculum consisting
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  Speaker 1: of academics, gardening, physical education, art therapy, yoga, mindfulness, life skills,
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  Speaker 1: Spanish immersion, organic and die free lunch, breakfast, and so
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  Speaker 1: much more. The private school was non sectarian, associated with
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  Speaker 1: the yoga studio rather than a church affiliation. On the
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  Speaker 1: school's Facebook page, someone identifying themselves as a parent thanked
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  Speaker 1: Grace Holistic for normalcy during the COVID nineteen pandemic when
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  Speaker 1: no one else would listen. The Yorkville one hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifteen school district was fully remote during the outbreak of
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  Speaker 1: the pandemic, while Grace Holistic remained open. Around forty thousand
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  Speaker 1: people died in Illinois from the respiratory coronavirus, according to
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  Speaker 1: the Illinois Department of Public Health. In twenty twenty one,
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  Speaker 1: the Kendall County Board unanimously approved a one hundred thousand
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  Speaker 1: dollars loan from its revolving fund. As a nonprofit entity,
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  Speaker 1: the school did not pay property taxes to the county.
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  Speaker 1: The seven year loan carried a three point five percent
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  Speaker 1: interest rate, and the school's recently purchased building served as collateral.
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  Speaker 1: According to previous Shaw Local reporting. At the time of
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  Speaker 1: the loan approval. Scott Koppel, former Kendall County administrator and
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  Speaker 1: current Sugar Grove Village administrator, said even though the school
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  Speaker 1: does not pay its share of tax revenues for the county,
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  Speaker 1: they do bring additional benefit to the community being a
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  Speaker 1: school and having different options available to parents in Kendall County.
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  Speaker 1: Staff previously said students for the school came from as
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  Speaker 1: far as Chicago