Long-time Kindergarten to Close Program at Year's End

Coming on the heels of its 50th anniversary, the  will enter its 51^st year with a rather gaping hole: no kindergarten program.

The school sent a letter home to parents on Wednesday, Oct. 12, sharing the news it will “relinquish the kindergarten program for the fall of 2012.”

Patti Sexton, the director of the school, which takes under its wing 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds to educate and mold, says it was a decision that was not made lightly.

“This program is something we are incredibly passionate about here and it was certainly a very difficult decision,” Sexton says.

Patch reached a couple of parents Thursday who also shared their disappointment about the program closing.

Cinda Guagliumi says the news came as a complete surprise and she was saddened by it.

“Even though the school has been around for 50 years, it still feels like a best-kept secret,” she says.

Merrimack resident Gary Krupp says two of his four sons have attended school at PTA Kindergarten & Preschool since his family moved here, and he couldn't be happier with the choice he and his wife made to send them there.

“We felt it was accelerated from what we were going to get from a public kindergarten,” Krupp says.

Sexton says it was a decision that was made with the whole organization in mind and one that she hopes will help the school move forward in as positive a direction as it has since its 1961 inception.

“This program is no longer financially feasible,” the letter says. “With the letting go of kindergarten, we will say good bye to Doreen (Bateson) and Julie (Akers). As a team they have provided stellar kindergarten education for 12 years and their leaving will be with deep sadness and regret.”

The letter, signed by Sexton, and sent home to all the families of current students also announces Sexton's departure as director at the end of the year. She is looking forward to returning to the classroom herself.

Sexton said Thursday evening that it was another decision that came after a lot of careful thought. As a teacher at the school for four years and the last seven as its director, Sexton says she hopes to get back into the classroom at the early elementary level she is so fond of, be it here in Merrimack or elsewhere.

Sexton says the kindergarten program, started 50 years ago under the guidance of the Merrimack Parent Teacher Association at the time, has since become its own entity and is a private, nonprofit learning center. The pre-school program was implemented in 2006 and the pre-kindergarten program just a year before in 2005.

According to the letter, the school's initial class size of 24 in the kindergarten has dropped sharply. This year, the kindergarten has 10 students enrolled, the pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds has 14 and the pre-school for 3-year-olds has 11.

“In being fiscally responsible, we are continually assessing our financial landscape,” the letter tells parents. “With the knowledge that our kindergarten has not ever reclaimed its original class size of 24, we are in the position to relinquish the kindergarten for the fall of 2012.”

But not all change is bad, Sexton says. She said the staff and board are looking forward to re-examining the programs at the school to make them better than ever. How exactly the programs will change remains to be seen, Sexton says.

“Here is where change can be so exciting!” the letter says. “There are many people involved and we will keep you informed as we move forward from here.”

Additionally, the teachers in the pre-school and pre-kindergarten programs, Erica Christie and Margaret Bailey have made clear their intention of staying at the school and will provide “essential” continuity.

She couldn't rule it in or out whether there may be some sort of re-evaluation down the road to bring the program back, she said.

“That's a really good question...” she said. “ ...I don't have a crystal ball. That was the decision we made for next year and that's all I can really attest to.”

No matter what, Sexton says the quality of education students get in the kindergarten program will remain as high as it would be if the program was returning in the fall.

“There is a long time between now and June and I will look forward to greeting each of your children every morning until then,” Sexton says in the letter.

Guagliumi's youngest son is in the kindergarten program and went there for pre-kindergarten as well.

“It's absolutely been great,” Guagliumi says. “I feel really fortunate that my son is there.”

The smaller class sizes and longer hours are more conducive to what they were looking for, Krupp says. The schedule also matched their lives better.

He says he's curious to see if other private kindergarten's will decide to make this choice as well, given that public kindergarten does not strap a family with sometimes too much financial burden.

“It's also a sentimental thing,” Krupp says. “When I think of a small New England schoolhouse, that building is just what I think of. It will be sad to see the program go.”

Guagliumi says though she is disheartened that other children won't have the opportunity to attend kindergarten at the school the earlier programs are both "fantastic" and that the staff has been wonderful to her family over the past two years.

“I have no doubt it will continue to be a positive experience for my son throughout the rest of the year,” she says. “I remain optimistic that the school will continue to provide a quality preschool experience for the children of Merrimack for many years to come."