Parents file class action lawsuit against Midtown International School over unexpected closure

A group of families are suing Atlanta's Midtown International School and its board of trustees after the school unexpectedly closed earlier this year.

The Midtown International School's board told parents on Monday, March 30 that it would be shutting down for good at the end of the week, leaving many families scrambling to figure out where they'd send their children to school.

H.D. Shah and Ankita Patel told CBS News Atlanta at the time that they were paying nearly $30,000 each year to send their daughter to Midtown International School.

In an email to parents, the board said that the school's enrollment had dropped by more than 20 students across kindergarten through seventh grade, and that the school was not positioned to absorb the funding gap.

The lawsuit was filed in September by a parent who said that they paid over $16,000 toward 2026-2027 tuition as well as tuition for part of the 2025-2026 academic year and never received a refund.

The lawsuit claims that the school knew that it was dealing with poor financial conditions when it asked families in January to enter contracts for the next school year.

"MIS closed on April 3, 2026. The Final Report states that only approximately $18,000 remained in cash, approximately $370,000 was owed to parents, and the remaining funds would be used for secured creditors and professional expenses rather than refunds," the lawsuit reads.

It claims that Midtown International School breached its enrollment agreements with all class members, entitling them to damages. The board members are included in the lawsuit because they allegedly supplied, authorized, or endorsed misleading information about the school's finances before closure, the lawsuit said.

If approved by a judge, the case could possibly go before a jury.