Sweet signs of success at Aurora Christian

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

While the brutal recession’s been a bitter pill for lots of folks, Aurora Christian School discovered a sweet way to start climbing out of a deep financial hole.

Candy bars.

Nestle’s 100 Grand, to be exact.

No, the staff and students didn’t sell a football field of chocolate-covered caramel to come up with some serious cash. But what they did do was convince the CEO of the California-based Nestle USA to let the school use the popular candy bar’s name and image in its “$100,000 Challenge” — the amount needed to match the pledge of an anonymous donor.

After a slew of phone calls to its 553 families — and one rowdy candy-bar-eating contest among the staff — the total amount ACS will have raised by the end of the year is $450,000.

While it’s not going to pay off the $18.2 million line of credit that’s owed to Fifth Third Bank, it’s more than enough to continue paying interest on that loan. And perhaps just as importantly, this successful campaign is reflective of a new philosophy at Aurora Christian, as the small private school seeks new and more creative ways to remain viable in a tough economy.

Like many other groups, Aurora Christian, founded 35 years ago by Paul House, is asset-rich but cash-poor. After selling off about half of the prime development land it owns off Orchard Road near Interstate 88 in 2003, Aurora Christian still has 68 acres worth an estimated $18 million. But when the bottom fell out of the real estate market and development stopped, the school could not pay off the line of credit it took out for the purchase and refurbishing of the Sullivan Road building it turned into its main campus in 2004.

Fifth Third stepped into the picture in 2009 when the line of credit came due. While the bank extended the loan, it raised the interest; and next year the school will have to start paying on the principal. Which “is not a good place to be,” admitted ACS Superintendent Collette House, daughter of the school’s founder, especially when overall enrollment last year dropped by an alarming 120 students.

But the silver lining is visible. The crisis made administrators realize “we needed a totally different approach to how we ran this school,” said House. Instead of concentrating on academics, the arts and sports, “we now had to focus on the business side.”

The result was a financial committee made up parents with financial savvy who began working closely with the school’s board of directors, as well as the bank. In addition to layoffs and other painful budget cuts, the school realized it had to “change the culture,” said House, “that fundraising does not have to be arduous.”

While they are far from out of the woods financially, the “$100,000 Challenge” campaign, as well as a successful Serve-a-Thon that brought in $150,000 last May, is “buying us time until the economy turns around.”

There are other decisions that have made economic sense. In January, ACS brought its 170 first- through fifth-graders over from the old school on Illinois Avenue and put that building on the market. And next month, another 100 preschoolers and kindergartners will move over to the Sullivan Road campus, which can house up to 1,000 students.

House said Aurora Christian is also offering more incentives to new and returning students. And they are bringing back the financial assistance program that was discontinued last year, after losing too many families who simply could not re-enroll without help.

Scott Oleson, community relations manager for ACS, said the school is putting more focus on enrollment while becoming increasingly aggressive with marketing, social networking and other forms of communication.

There are other positive signs. The high school never lost enrollment, and the freshman class is the second biggest in history. Also, the little kids seem to love their bright, spacious new school and its superb football field, gymnasium and auditorium. If you listen closely, you can even hear them chatting among themselves about how their new school is where they’ll spend the next 12 years.

Earlier this week, Latoya Williams, the high school’s popular principal, resigned, citing increased family demands as part of the reason. But House will lead what she describes as a reinvigorated administrative team. And while the superintendent admits it’s been “a financial struggle,” she adds that, “internally, we are strong.”

“We’ve been around for 35 years. And we plan to be around another 35,” she said.