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Saudi Arabian International School to Close
Roger Harrison, Arab News Staff
Saudi Arabian International School, known as the American School in Jeddah, has been in existence for 52 years.
JEDDAH, 17 December 2003 — The Saudi Arabian International School (SAIS) is to close. Saudi Arabian Airlines, the school sponsor, has decided that the school is redundant and will cease to function at the end of the 2003/04 school year.
A fax sent by Saudia to the school, dated Oct. 12, said the airline’s human resources department had issued a circular stating that the school “will be closed by the end of the school year 2003/2004.” The school had to “take all necessary steps to implement this directive” and to inform staff and parents of the decision.
“The school has become redundant,” the public relations office of Saudia told Arab News.
Known as the American School, it has been in existence for 52 years, is fully accredited by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools and has 717 pupils.
Saudia has not informed the parents directly. It has also refused to divulge the fate of the considerable assets of the school.
With the airline nearly 100 percent Saudized, Saudia believes that the school — which was set up for children of its expatriate staff — “has become redundant.” It says its “core business is to run an airline” — all the more important with its pending privatization.
According to Saudia, all assets “belong 100 percent to the airline and will be dealt with in accordance with the airline’s established policies and procedures.” It declined to detail those procedures or explain who paid for the assets.
The school has a good reputation, high-quality teaching staff and comprehensive physical infrastructure, which makes a tempting package to sell to private investors as a going concern. Some parents believe this is an asset-stripping move by Saudia prior to privatization.
The parents are attempting to reorganize as a not-for-profit school under the name of the American International School of Jeddah, to provide continuity of education for their children.
Despite repeated attempts by school administrators and an approach by US Consul General Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley to contact Saudia officials, there has been no reply. “I have a meeting request pending,” said the consul general. “We expect a response, and I’m waiting for a date.”
“For individuals who attend the school, it would be devastating if it closed,” she said. “It would be heartbreaking to have such a fine tradition of American education end in Jeddah.”
One official at the school who preferred not to be named was “devastated” by the news. “The closure is a blow; securing the considerable assets built up by the school community is entirely another matter,” a member of the school administration commented. “The future of the huge resources for teaching and providing a full school environment for the pupils are now uncertain.”
One parent, Hisham Ibrahim, said that his first reaction was shock, then anger. “It’s a fine institution and provides the education that hundreds of parents have chosen for their children,” he said. “We have heard of the closure through the school, but Saudia has offered us no reason for it. If it does close, then many parents will reconsider their careers in the Kingdom. The effect on the local economy would be considerable.”
“The school board has been looking at a variety of other avenues to keep the school open,” Abercrombie-Winstanley said. “Consulate sponsorship is one of the things they have looked at.”
Offers of financial assistance and help have come from the US business community and families of Saudi students. “It’s quite clear that there is huge support for the continuance of the school as it is,” said a senior member of the parents school board.
“They have to decide which way they want to go,” said Abercrombie-Winstanley. “We are willing to assist in any way possible. We support, without any reservations whatever the continuation of the American school in Jeddah.”
One of my former employers had a "great" little program like this...
On the last day before every major holiday, they announced that "all non-essential employees" could leave at early...
No one left early!
It's our last show of the year,
and we're going out with a bang...
Special Guest
Kenneth Timmerman
will be discussing his latest book!
Radio FreeRepublic is sponsored by the FreeRepublic Network.