Acorn Cooperative Preschool Closes Its Doors On October 31
Acorn Cooperative Preschool -- a preschool effort started in Winter 2004/2005 by a dedicated and determined group of parents who recognized the need for more early educational opportunities in rural Mariposa County --- will be closing at the end of October.
The school made a decision to open in August while looking for a new home for our school, however a combination of factors contributed to the decision to close the preschool including low enrollment, not only in the preschool but in all of the preschools, high overhead in the school's current location, inability to find a suitable location to meet licensing requirements, and the preschool's future funding which does not appear very promising.
"The closure of Acorn is a terrible loss for our community," according to the Preschool's staff and the Board of Directors. "Acorn Cooperative Preschool has provided a quality, family friendly, unique play based preschool option to parents and their young children in Mariposa over the years."
Most of the current preschool families will be continuing the school year in the three preschools in Mariposa and
"We are all extremely sad as our kids have really had a great year so far and will have to experience a transition that is big for 3-5 year olds," added the Board of Directors.
When one of the preschool students was told by his Mom that the preschool had to close, the four year old asked if he could take his friends and his teachers to a new preschool.
After forming the first board of directors in Winter 2004/2005, Acorn Cooperative Preschool opened as a structured playgroup at the Darrah Playground in Spring 2005, where parents attended with the children, ages 0-5. Acorn was the only preschool in Mariposa targeting this age group. The school later moved to the
By summer 2009, Acorn moved to the White House, operating 5 days a week -- a three day a week licensed drop off "Sprouts" program for the older kids and also a two day a week program for parents and their kids ages 0-5 to attend together. Acorn grew to include morning, afternoon, and all day sessions -- the only preschool to have all day sessions to help prepare kids for Kindergarten -- a lunch bunch, and a summer session. The preschool also offered scholarships. In addition, Acorn has always had high parent involvement and provided a supportive community and network of parents with young children and early childhood educators.
Acorn Cooperative Preschool would like to thank the current staff, teacher Ann Harris and Director/teacher Monica Nelson, previous director/teacher Wendy McCully, who had the vision for the preschool, the founding members, the dedicated board of directors since 2004 and members who have donated time and effort to keep the preschool running over the years. In addition, the preschool would like to thank Larry Harris for everything he has done for Acorn, First 5 for partially funding the preschool since the beginning, and the many community members for supporting our preschool since it opened.
