Cloverleaf School closes suddenly

School, Officials founded at The for Cloverleaf students with “neurological processing differences,” told par- ents in a letter on March 11 that the school would close

March 30 because of financial troubles.

Instead, students spent their last day at the school Friday.

“I’m upset,” parent Kimberly Wallace-Sanders said Monday.

“When I brought (my son) Joshua to the school in August, I felt like I won the lottery.

“He’s devastated.” Board member Shari Bayer said Tuesday morning via email that the Cumberland Academy was able to take students a week earlier than expected, which resulted in Cloverleaf ’s earlier closing.

Parents said they were forced to rethink their sched- ules a week ahead of time, preparing new carpools to take students to Sandy Springs instead of Decatur.

Some of the school’s teach- ers left almost immediately after the closing announce- ment was made. Students spent much of the past two weeks out of the classroom on field trips.

According to the school’s website, it was founded in January 2012 by four par- ents who bonded over the shared experience of rais- ing children with processing deficiencies and wanted to create an environment that wasn’t being offered for their children and others. Most students there have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disor- der, autism, Asperger’s syn- drome, and anxiety.

Jen Owen, one of those founders who took a prom- inent role in shaping the school’s vision and programming, departed last March. It opened the floodgates as other personnel followed.

A letter from Cloverleaf ’s board of directors said financial challenges forced them to close the school before the school year ended, saying cash-flow trouble would have made staying open impossible.