The Pre-K through 8th grade Park City Day School received an anonymous $1 million donation this week. They have about 140 students in the school and have the capacity to accommodate up to about 210.
Park City Day School is a private, independent, non-profit school located in the Pine Brook area of Park City. The Head of School, Ian Crossland says he does not know who made the donation. He says no one does.
“You know, we are always trying to ensure our viability and to really maximize what we can offer by looking for donors and contributions. But this one really took us by surprise both the timing of it and the size of it.
Crossland says they have a broader fund-raising effort starting next year but the campaign is not yet defined.
“A core foundational piece of that will be securing our financial future. You know building up our reserves to be sure we’re well positioned to fend off, you know, any changes in enrollment, dips in student population and to also ensure we are able to build the programs we think will be embraced here in Park City and that we think are best practices in education.”
Crossland says they’ll be able to keep costs down of existing programs like the Round Square and their efforts to bring IB (International Baccalaureate) to the whole school.
“About 35 percent of our families receive some sort of tuition assistance. And, that’s really unheard of in the independent school market. And, that’s something that this donation will also help us continue to sustain.”
Crossland says they’ve talked about expanding Park City Day to include high school.
“Usually about this time of the year when we have families graduating out or are rising 8th graders and parents are starting to think about what comes next. And, we have a lot of families who aren’t ready to leave Park City Day School. We have to analyze that as part of our upcoming strategic plan. You know, there’s been a lot of talk about it for a number of years."
He says they won’t do an expansion at the expense of the existing pre-k through 8th grade school. When pressed to divulge the anonymous donor, Crossland reiterated he just doesn’t know who it was that donated $1 million to the Park City DAY School.