The Union Congregational Church has been the home of Maynard's Community School for over forty years, and they are in a bit of trouble. The church is for sale, and the beloved preschool will have to leave by June 30th of this year.
It seemed that they might have a solution, but the deal fell through. Now they find they're back to the drawing board.
Here's the letter that I got:"The Board of the Community School is reaching out to the Maynard community to get everyone to put on their thinking caps on how we can maintain this critical community service for the families in our community. We have been located in downtown Maynard for over 40 years but we are going to lose our space as of June 30, 2017. We thought we had a new space secured but it just fell through. We are now asking everyone to spread the word and be creative in thinking about a new space for us. We would love to stay in Maynard but are open to moving to a neighboring community if it is still very close to Maynard.
If you don't know about the Community School, we are a non-profit half-day preschool program that is dedicated to providing high quality child care for all children. My daughter attended and it transformed her from a very shy 3 year old to a confident and caring 5 year old. This is our website if you want to find out more. http://www.communityschoolmaynard.com/drupal2/
Ideas should be sent to the school director, Sally Jackson, communityschool@verizon.net, or 978.897.9708"
My daughter also attended the Community School. She loved it there. They weren't trying to do too much—it was just right. We really loved that it was right here in downtown Maynard, and after picking my girl at noon, we'd often go over to one of the cafés, get some lunch, and talk about how to make our community even better.
Obviously, any space would have to be ready to use by September, so timing is essential. Is there something we're not thinking of?
I am so saddened by this. The BOS did approve them checking out Coolidge School, but as you know, that building is in rough shape so I don't know that there is much of a chance there.
ReplyDeleteAlannah, are you aware of the recent work at Coolidge?
DeleteI don't mean to suggest the building is ready for The Community School, but important and effective repairs have been made to preserve this grand community asset. It is not untrue to say the building is in "rough shape", but the whole truth has additional facets - some of them quite positive!