Co-Op Preschool to take a year off

After many high hopes, the Manchester Co-op Preschool will not be able to open at its planned location this fall.

For more than 50 years, the Manchester Co-op Preschool has been a fixture in its young students’ lives. Hundreds of Manchester families have sent their children, grandchildren, and possibly even a few great-grandchildren to this learning center.

Earlier this year, it was learned that the preschool’s home for the past decade, the Ackerson building, would be closing at the end of the school year. The board, parents, and staff immediately began searching for a new  location for this long-standing tradition to continue its work. The spot at 327 W. Main Street seemed ideally suited to their purpose and work commenced to prepare the building to be the co-op’s permanent home.

“April to July was a whirlwind of activity, inspections, and HARD work by everyone involved,” said property owner Rhonda Ash, who was thrilled to have a new occupant at their rental property.

The process was not without its ups and downs. Early on, a long list of suggested repairs and improvements were suggested by the village’s planning consultant, to assure the building would be suitable for occupancy. An early fire inspection resulted in an even longer to-do list. A re-zoning hearing through the village to allow a preschool or day care in the building was also required. New paint, carpet, and more improvements would be essential to make the space comfortable and welcoming to children. And the co-op pressed on.

In the past month, however, even more complications ensued. “It was a lot of small things that didn’t pass fire code and environmental safety,” said Preschool Director Brandi Bennett. “Things like proper fire doors, one motion handles and lock mechanisms; properly covered plumbing fixtures and electrical boxes … just to name a couple examples. The building owners as well as the co-op gave all the time and money that they could.”

So it was with a heavy heart that Bennett announced two weeks ago that the co-op would be unable to run its program this year.

“The building was unable to be brought up to state code,” she said. “The co-op will continue looking for a home in the community and will use this year to fund-raise towards re-opening.”

Since the building has been in use for many years as a food service establishment, everyone–from the owners to the co-op to the rest of the community–assumed that there would be minimal issues in making upgrades to meet any special requirements for a preschool or day care. So the surprising development of learning that the building actually didn’t meet standard fire code, and would need to meet higher standards for just about any business, was a shock and disappointment to everyone.

In mid-August, said Rhonda Ash, the co-op gave its notice that they would be moving out. “There are many inspections needed to get licensed and we ran out of time,” Ash said. “Since we were so close, I was hoping that we could work something out until all inspections and licensing was passed.”

But, as it stands now, the co-op will be moving its school materials into a storage unit provided by Kleinschmidt. And this fall, there will be no co-op preschool for 3, 4, and young 5-year-olds within the Manchester community. The Manchester Early Childhood Center and various small private preschool/day care centers will remain as options for families.

The co-op is not giving up, however.

“In regards to finding another building to house our school, we are interested in joining other nonprofit organizations in the community to try and look for a solution,” Bennett said. “We have not yet looked into any formal options as we are just focusing on completing the current transition.”

The board plans to stay involved in the community as much as possible this year by participating in community events such as the chili cook off, holiday parades and golf outings. The current board decided to take this route in order to raise money be prepared to re-open when an opportunity arose.

“We have many parents who are still committed to the co-op and have assured me they want to stay active in the program,” Bennett continued. “These families have young children and expecting mothers who are eager to revive the school as soon as possible. This school has changed my life for the better in so many ways; it will always hold a very dear place in my heart and in my family’s journey.”

Rhonda Ash said, “I am VERY sad that the Co-op will not be opening in 327 W. Main this school year. I am hoping in the future that we can still work something out.”

Co-op Preschool Float in the 2014 Fair Parade.

Manchester Co-op Preschool’s 2018 graduates. Photo courtesy of Brandi Bennett.

The co-op plans to remain active in the community with fund-raisers during the coming year.

The chili cookoff is another fun fund-raiser for the co-op.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.