The Frazer School in Gainesville is undergoing a leadership change as owner James Schrader stepped down on Thursday and transferred control to a three-person board consisting of the school’s founder, principal and a UF finance professor. 

Schrader’s resignation was announced Thursday night during a meeting with parents at North Central Baptist Church in Gainesville. 

The meeting came on the heels of a recent Facebook post by Will Frazer, founder of The Frazer School, in which he announced his decision to “break connections with the school” over various financial management problems.  

In the post, Frazer provided several reasons for his decision, including delayed teacher paychecks, roughly $4 million in unpaid renovation expenses, misuse of funds, unpaid taxes and an increase in tuition.  

In a separate Facebook post, Frazer outlined what it would take for him to stay at the school, noting he and Schrader had discussed this for months. 

“We thought we had an agreement, but Mr. Schrader wouldn’t sign,” Frazer wrote.  

The agreement called for Schrader to “resign immediately,” turn the school over to an unpaid board consisting of Olanrewaju Fayiga, a UF finance professor and principal of The Frazer School, and Frazer, and to file the required paperwork to turn the school into a nonprofit. 

In an interview with Mainstreet this week, Schrader said he was working with his attorney “to walk away” from The Frazer School and sell it for $1.  

“That way nobody made money,” he said, adding that a vendor report completed in September evaluated the school for $1 million. “I am willing to walk away so Will will come back. Somehow, I’ve been painted as the villain. And for me, education is more important than money. And I’m willing to walk away so that this school can continue on.” 

It was noted in the meeting that a deal had been signed and the disagreements between Frazer and Schrader had “essentially been resolved.” 

“I, and a lot of people, owe great thanks to Mr. Schrader,” Frazer said while speaking during the meeting. “The Frazer School wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t taken a risk to get it open.” 

The school is now turning its attention toward the future, guided by new leadership.  

Max Dolensky, also a finance professor at UF, will join Frazer and Fayiga on the three-person board.  A triple Gator, Dolensky said he received his undergraduate degree in industrial engineering. He also holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree and a doctorate in finance. 

“As a part of being on the board, it’s going to be my priority that we keep developing very strong placements,” he said. “We have the talent, we have the commitment of parents, we have the teachers. And so now, we just make sure that we tell our story.” 

Frazer said they’ll start with three people on the board, but more will likely be added. 

Additionally, Ethan Fieldman has joined The Frazer School as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  

According to his LinkedIn profile, Fieldman is based in Gainesville and serves as an instructor at UF. He is also the executive director of Curio XR and is a board member of the UF Lastinger Center for Learning, Take Stock in Children of Florida and CareerSource North Central Florida. 

“He’s all [in] the educational world,” Frazer said of Fieldman. 

Frazer said Fieldman will not be paid as the CFO, noting he is doing it as a volunteer. 

“He cares about the school,” Frazer said.  

While speaking, Fieldman explained that The Frazer School currently has a “cash crunch,” noting this is due to the Hudson Building, or Frazer Building, located within Santa Fe Village Health Park at 4700 NW 89^th Blvd. in Gainesville.  

Schrader purchased the 60,000-square-foot building in November 2024. At that time, Frazer had told Mainstreet that the school’s enrollment had increased throughout its first year of operation, increasing by 50% heading into its second year of operation from 300 to 450 students.  

Fieldman said it cost $8.5 million to buy the Hudson, with $4.5 million down. In the Facebook post, Frazer said the other $4 million was financed with Capital City Bank.  

Fieldman explained the problem with the purchase. 

“Think about a $400,000 house where you put down half of it [the cost],” he said. “You put down $200,000 in cash. Now, you have no money to pay the light bill. You have no money to pay for anything, but you still have the money. It’s just in the house. It’s in the equity of the home.” 

Fieldman said this made it hard to make payroll, pay teachers and pay for other necessities because the money was all in the building. 

He also noted the nearly $5 million renovation being done on the Hudson without a construction loan. 

In his Facebook post, Frazer said payments are behind on the building’s renovation of the upstairs and downstairs.  

 Fieldman said roughly $1.6 to $1.7 million of those renovation costs have been paid.  

“Joyner Construction has been incredibly nice about not asking for as much cash as they should be on it…” he said of the company doing the work. 

Fieldman said they will be working to raise money to get a construction loan.  

“Typically, people raise the money and then they go build the buildings,” he said. “In this situation, we got the buildings, and now we’re going to raise the money. Things were done very quickly. The school opened incredibly fast. So, it caused a lot of issues. And now we’re kind of going back and fixing up a bunch of those issues.” 

In an interview with Mainstreet after the meeting, Frazer said the upstairs of the Hudson will eventually become the new home of the Frazer Elementary School. The elementary school is currently housed in the Peddie Building, located around the corner from the Hudson, which Frazer said they would “ideally” like to purchase down the road.  

The Frazer School owners signed a contract to lease the Peddie in January. Frazer said they’re currently paying a little over $37,000 a month to rent the building. 

He said they’re in the process of becoming a nonprofit, noting it’s roughly a two-month period due to the Florida Department of State being backlogged. 

Frazer said becoming a nonprofit is a dream he and others have shared for a long time. 

“We kind of wanted to be a public-school kind of feel, but, you know, this seems to be the best of both worlds,” Frazer said. “We can have freedom that you get in the private world, but also feel like…people know we’re not sitting here trying to make a profit. (We’re) doing it for the good of the community.” 

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.        

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.