'Perfect' Private School Falls on Hard Times

By Jeff Archer

Most schools would have to sell a mountain of brownies before raking in the cash generated by a recent Phoenix Academy fund-raiser, where people bid on imported oriental rugs, a set of silver candlesticks, and two crystal chandeliers.

But the $62,000 raised at the event was barely enough to keep the brand-new private school in Nashville, Tenn., from financial straits. Now the parents of students at the school for gifted children, which opened this fall, are hocking a $700,000 house that belonged to the former headmistress.

In an unplanned and unwelcome twist on the idea of parent involvement in schools, Phoenix Academy parents have been working feverishly to keep the 188-student school afloat since mid-September, when accusations arose of misuse of school...