At the end of May myself and my co-workers all found ourselves without a job. You see the preschool that we all taught at was closed unexpectantly for reasons we still do not truly know. We were given two days to have our belongings out of the school. This is not a lot of time to pack up four classes, one office, two storage rooms, and one activity room. We ended up losing most of the items because we could not get them out in two days. What do we do now??? We had 70 families registered to attend the school, all five classes were full and some had waiting lists. The families were in panic mode because now their children did not have a preschool to attend in the fall and most other preschools in the area had waiting lists.
We as a preschool staff knew that we needed to regroup and find another location for the school to operate in. Could this be done in time for the upcoming school year? Would our families stick with us during this transition and uncertain time? Would any of the other churches in our own welcome a preschool? So many questions to be answered and time is slowly ticking away.
The director of the preschool searched for a new location, which was not an easy task, and found one that she really liked. Would the church and the city officials agree that this location would be ideal? After months of negotiations, meetings, estimates for upgrades we were given the green light to open Grace Learning Academy of Oakwood. Now the hard work begins, can we get it all pulled together and open on time in September?
In a month and a half we needed to get four classrooms, one storage room, one office and one activity room set up and organized. Some of the classrooms needed to be painted and floors scrubbed and polished. Yikes, that is not much time at all! We were very lucky to have so many preschool parents willing to help get rooms painted, furniture moved, items built, toys washed, books organized, and to donate items to the preschool. Without these parents i do not think we could have gotten it all done on time.
This experience really showed me what a wonderful preschool community we have. the parents got to know the teachers even better, the teachers got to know the parents more and the teachers worked together and formed a stronger relationship. I think that everyone who helped out in some capacity has more love and pride in the school because it just isn't a preschool that their children attend or where you teach. It is a true testament to all the love, dedication and hard-work that went into making this preschool happen.
Here are some pictures of Grace Learning Academy during it's preparation phase. Many laughs were had during this process.
The transformation begins
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| Oops wrong yellow paint |
Artwork on the walls
