Hamden Nursery School Facing Tough Times

The following was posted on the Hamden Patch Facebook Page:

Whitneyville Church Nursery School is at risk of closing! Please help the parents and teachers keep this institution open! There is a meeting at the school (adjacent to the church in Whitneyville) on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. to explore options. We need the community to help in any way possible. 

After 45 years as a much-loved institution in the Hamden community, Whitneyville Church Nursery School is at risk of having to close its doors. The nursery school has been in a fixture in the Hamden community, particular the Whitneyville and Spring Glen neighborhoods since 1967. Its director and teachers, many of whom have been with the school for more than 10 years and have sent their own children through its doors, were brought to tears on Monday night, May 13th, as the Board of the nursery school revealed to parents that it was at the brink of having to shut down. 

Whitneyville Church Nursery School is located on the premise of UCC Whitneyville Church, though not affiliated with the church. However, many of the church’s costs directly impact the school – utilities, insurance, inspections – which are shared as a result of the shared premises. With a dwindling congregation, UCC Whitneyville has found itself in financial hardship. The Board of the nursery school fears students and parents are at risk of showing up one day in the coming school year to a lapsed insurance payment or no hot water. These are risks the Board feels it cannot in good conscience ask parents to accept. 

The Monday meeting proved that parents and teachers are not willing to let go of the school so easily. Like parents of years past, this year’s parents have fallen in love with the space and even more, with an indispensable group of teachers – a welcome dose of loving and nurturing not always found in the competitive and over-programmed world of preschool today. Parents are looking for alternatives to make the nursery school viable – at the very least hold on to the teachers. 

Parents are hoping to bring some community attention to this situation and, in turn, bring support to the nursery school and church, from former parents, grandparents and community members who will be shocked to hear of the imminent crisis. We are looking into all alternatives.