Christmas may have come a bit early this year for the Villa Augustina school, thanks to anonymous donors that pledged up to $310,000 for capital improvements.

About 200 hopeful parents gathered at Villa Augustina Dec. 18 to brainstorm the next steps to respond to the Dec. 12 announcement by the Religious of Jesus and Mary, the order of nuns that had founded and directed the school for nearly nine decades, that the school would close at the end of the academic year unless another group could come up with at least $1.2 million for capital improvements.

The RJMs planned to sell the school, worth an estimated $2 million, to that group for the symbolic amount of $1.

At the emotion-filled Dec. 12 meeting with Villa parents, the RJM trustees agreed to work with the parents in finding a way to keep the school open.

The goal of the Dec. 18 parents’ meeting, outlined by moderator Kevin Winship, had been to lay out the legal, physical and financial situation of the school and to form a group that would represent the larger Villa community, including parents and staff, before the RJMs.

By the end of the night, a transition leadership team of five people had been selected, including John Turner, Carol Barrett and Meoghan Cronin. Two nominees wanted to consult with their families before making a final decision.

The parents also heard several unexpected, and this time welcome, announcements that earned an enthusiastic standing ovation: an anonymous donor, identified only as a “concerned family known to you,” pledged $100,000 toward capital improvements with an additional matching funds raised in 2007-08 up to $200,000, contingent upon having a written agreement in place for transfer of the school. Another anonymous donor, a family currently at the school, made the commitment to donate $10,000.

This means the school could reach $500,000, or almost half of the $1.2 million mark, within the first year if it’s able to raise another $180,000 by the end of the academic year. Before the announcements, several community experts gave their assessment of the financial, legal and physical state of the school.

Attorney Todd Fahey was hired by two families to look into the status of the school as a charitable trust. He found that the Villa, as a corporate body, had been administratively dissolved in 1938. When it was attempted to be revived in 1984, it was not retitled, and a petition to quiet title was pending in Hillsborough Probate Court.

Also in 1984, a dissolution clause was added that read “After payment of liabilities, any assets shall be the sole property of the Religious Order of Jesus and Mary.” Fahey refrained from commenting on this, saying he needed more time to consult on its meaning.

Randy Benthien, author of the recently released capital feasibility report commissioned by the board, had brutally honest but hopeful words for the parents. “You are unsophisticated as a school in raising money,” he said, to which many parents nodded in agreement. “But you have a dream, and a huge amount of soul and spirit. You can raise more money than you thought you could raise if you do it systematically.”

Among his suggestions were to start an escrow account, to reassure donors they could get their money back if things didn’t work out, and to start reaching out to former parents and alumni, especially visible ones such as college presidents and Supreme Court justices.

Finance committee member Carol Barrett doubted some of the figures presented by the RJM at the Dec. 12 meeting. She said the school had made a net income of $23,000 in 2004 and had an operating deficits mostly in the tens of thousands for 2005-07 – far less than the $250,000 in deficits she heard quoted at the RJM meeting. “We’re not great, but we’re doing OK,” she said. “I think this institution is financially viable.”

Plant committee member John Turner said the $1.2 million improvements were things that would be eventually needed, but were not immediately critical and that they had worked with local municipal authorities over the past several years to maintain the facilities at a safe standard.

The school board announced its own unprecedented break with the trustees. School board member Denise Jobe read a letter addressed to the trustees, which was also mailed to parents, stating the board would “change focus from its previous role … of advisory board that answers to the Board of Trustees to one which enjoins the Villa community in its determination for the continuation of the school.”

The letter went on to say the board would make information available to the new transition team on the “numerous counterproposals for alternative financial support made to the Board of Trustees over the past two years that were deemed unacceptable.”

Parent Eileen Bergeron said she didn’t expect the meeting to be so organized, professional and focused.

“I think the big difference is that we didn’t feel we needed to take charge,” said Jen Curran, who has two children attending Villa. “Now we need to grab this with everything we can.”