Parents want closed Atlanta private school to refund tuition, complaint says

A parent is suing Midtown International School and its leaders after the school unexpectedly closed in the spring and said it wouldn’t be refunding already-paid tuition.

Filed in state court last month, the complaint asks a DeKalb County judge to allow the case to move forward as a class-action lawsuit and make a judgment that could affect at least 40 people who paid thousands of dollars in advance tuition to the Atlanta private school before it closed.

Parents were shocked in late March when school leaders announced on a Monday that the campus would be closing four days later, citing financial struggles. There were roughly seven weeks left in the school year.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reached out to the school’s attorney for comment, but did not get a response by the time of publication.

The school had accumulated more than $2 million in operating losses in recent years, according to the complaint.

In late 2025, the school announced it would no longer serve high schoolers and sold its building. In January 2026, it asked families to sign re-enrollment contracts for the next school year. But the retention rate and tuition revenue were too low to continue operating, the board said at the time.

Matthias Dalkner, the plaintiff in the case, paid about $16,600 toward the 2026-2027 school year for his two children, his attorney, Shimshon Wexler, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The school owed approximately $370,000 to parents for deposits and tuition payments at the time the school closed, according to a final report issued by the board in June. The board said it did not intend to issue refunds to parents who had paid tuition for schooling that did not occur.

“No funds will be available for repayment to parents or other unsecured creditors,” the report stated.

Between cash on hand at closure and the sale of assets, the school had $76,000, according to the final report. It was used to pay creditors, utilities, counsel appointed by insurance and accounting fees.

Icesis Salguero, an Atlanta parent whose son attended the school, said she just learned about the lawsuit but is eager to join. Salguero paid roughly $8,000 as a down payment for the next school year, she said.

“For them to take money for a school year that they knew wasn’t going to open and then not refund it?” she said. “You’re a thief. You stole money.”

The situation has been difficult for her family, she said. The abrupt closure in the spring meant she had to homeschool her son for the remainder of the year, while working full time and going to school herself. Her son, who is now in seventh grade and has special needs, had to begin going to therapy to help handle the unexpected changes. She paid almost $1,000 in application fees before she found another school for him to attend this year.