September 1, 2005
As you may already be aware, a recent column in The Boston Globe criticized Phillips Academy for pressuring a KIPP school in New Orleans into changing its name. Because a number of concerned people have contacted us upset by the way our school was portrayed in the article, we thought it important to provide this public response.
Unfortunately the article paints an unfair portrait of our interaction with this particular New Orleans school and completely ignores our long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship with the KIPP organization, an organization that has created a network of college prep public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the nation.
Following is a summary of the actual sequence of events that transpired between us and the KIPP New Orleans school:
In June, after learning that a new school in New Orleans had adopted the name KIPP: Phillips Academy, PA's Head of School Barbara Chase wrote to Principal Gary Robichaux on noting “our concern about the likelihood of confusion between the KIPP school and our institution.” Ms. Chase's letter went on to request that the new school’s name be changed before the start of that school’s first year of operation.
The request was the kind of standard request made by almost any business or organization that has an interest in protecting a valued trademark name. In making the request, Ms. Chase noted in her letter that “[Our] students come from across the United States, including New Orleans, and its alumni are likewise located nationwide. Prospective students and their parents, as well as others, are likely to believe that there is some connection or arrangement between the two schools.”
By July 15, when KIPP had not responded, Michele Whitham of PA's law firm Foley Hoag wrote to Mr. Robichaux to reiterate the academy’s need to protect its trademark. Soon after, Ms. Whitham and Mr. Robichaux spoke briefly on the phone to discuss the concerns. Regrettably, some misunderstandings arose during the course of that conversation and created some tension.
However, a week later, Ms. Chase and Mike Feinberg, co-founder of the KIPP Foundation, had a cordial phone call and came to a mutually satisfactory agreement. Recognizing that neither the academy nor KIPP would benefit from confusion between their quite distinct programs, and acknowledging the academy's legal right to the name, they quickly resolved the matter. The New Orleans school agreed to change its name to “KIPP: Phillips Preparatory,” and Andover agreed to contribute $2,000 to cover the costs incurred in making the change.
From that point, we were proceeding with the understanding that we had reached an amicable resolution with KIPP. Unfortunately, when a reporter from the New Orleans Times-Picayune found out about the name change, he wrote an article accusing Andover of bullying the New Orleans' school into the name change, and used an inaccurate representation of the phone call between our counsel and Mr. Robichaux to sensationalize the situation.
Within days, two other Times-Picayune writers ran separate editorial columns about the situation, each using the mischaracterizations of the initial story to further criticize Andover. Then, on Tuesday, August 30 The Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam wrote a column that retold the same story. Various versions of the story have also made their way around the Internet.
As you can see from the letter written by KIPP's Mike Feinberg, the KIPP people agree that the perceptions created by the articles inaccurately reflect the true nature of the interaction between our school and the New Orleans school and the true nature of the relationship between our school and the KIPP organization.
Mr. Feinberg's letter was submitted as a letter-to-the-editor to the Times-Picayune, and a copy of it was also forwarded to The Boston Globe’s Alex Beam prior to the publishing of his column. Unfortunately, he chose to ignore it.
We hope that by sharing this explanation and the letter written by Mike Feinberg we can put this matter to rest so that the KIPP organization and our school can move forward with a relationship that we both value.
Obviously, since this whole issue first developed, the New Orleans area has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It is a human tragedy on a monumental scale and, like people all around the country, we here at Andover are looking into ways that we can help those affected by this disaster. As those plans take shape, we will keep you informed via our Web site. In the meantime, our hearts and thoughts go out to all those who are enduring this terrible ordeal.
Sincerely, Stephen Porter
Public Information Office
Phillips Academy
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