Five Acre School sees leadership changes

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Five Acre School, a 501(c)3 nonprofit independent school in Dungeness, has seen leadership changes in recent weeks, including its Program Director Sarah Bones being dismissed.

In emails obtained by the Gazette, Bones was allegedly dismissed on May 5 with no reason stated.

She had not responded to an email from the Gazette by the press deadline.

According to the school’s website, she has been involved in some capacity at Five Acre for 14-plus years. Bones’ position, program director, has been listed on the school’s website as an open position.

Other open positions include an operations coordinator, administrative coordinator, Explorer Class lead teacher, Bright Days Summer Care teacher, and a substitute teacher.

Julie Novak, secretary of the board, said in an interview that the school’s board of volunteer directors are not in a position to comment on any matters as they are in the process of interviewing and onboarding new members.

Five Acre has slots for up to nine board members and had three listed on its website as of the Gazette’s press deadline.

Earlier this year, the school announced plans to hire a development director, Merissa Koller of Mission Consulting, LLC. on an interim basis to oversee campaign strategy and long-term development efforts to purchase the school’s site at 515 Lotzgesell Road.

Bones said then the school was moving towards a dual-director model with the development director focused on tasks such as fundraising and strategic planning, and the program director focused on school culture continuity, curriculum, mentoring teachers, programming, and more.

A meeting with parents was reportedly held at the school last week, and it’s been indicated that the property sale may have been placed on hold.

Five Acre School was established in 1996 by William “Bill” Jevne and Juanita Ramsey-Jevne with a dedication to foster curiosity, resilience, and a love of learning in children through a whole-child approach. Bill died in 2017 after a long battle with prostate cancer.

Ramsey-Jevne and her son William Jevne decided in the summer of 2025 that they were ready to sell the property, Bones said earlier this year, and Five Acre’s then-school board began actively discussing and working towards the property purchase. They had set a goal to purchase it by the end of June 2026.

Will Jevne said via email that he and his mother were working on thorough responses to questions from the Gazette about the sale. Their responses had not been received at press time.

Five Acre School’s approximate 6,400-square-foot building sits on five acres of land next to the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge. It became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2019 and earlier this school year was said to serve 85-100 preschool-sixth grade students through the school year.

A regularly scheduled board meeting was set for Wednesday, May 13 with the beginning set for an open discussion just for parents, staff and board members.

For more about the school, visit fiveacreschool.org.