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Laura Stout (left), the Tahoe City Nursery School for 14 years, will be leaving the area and her position at the school's helm. She will still assist the school from her new home in Colorado. Photo by Court Leve |
CommentsIconic Tahoe City School Fights for Its Survival
By Melissa SiigPublished: March 11, 2010
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For a school that’s been open for 45 years, the thought of closing its doors is a painful one. But that’s the decision that Tahoe Community Nursery School, founded in 1965, is facing today. The reason? The school is running out of money.
TCNS, a nonprofit, depends on two sources of revenue for its operating budget: tuition and fundraising. Both were down this school year, a reflection of tough economic times and the controversy over last year’s public school reconfiguration, which drove some families away from the area. But teachers and parents are committed to keeping TCNS going, and are looking at changes they hope will attract enough students to ensure the school’s survival.
The Tahoe City school’s declining enrollment started in 2008, with 45 students compared to 64 in 2007 (TCNS can take up to 66 kids split between 3- and 4-year-old classes). This school year saw an even bigger drop. TCNS lost 16 families, down to a total of 33 students. With 60 percent of the school’s budget coming from tuition, that’s a big hit.
“We need to have 20 kids in each class to keep the school going,” said TCNS Director Laura Stout.
Stout attributed the decline in enrollment to a combination of factors. Some TCNS families who disagreed with the public school reconfiguration moved to Incline Village or left the area entirely; one family moved to Marin County for that reason. Others, Stout surmised, left Tahoe for economic reasons or searched out a preschool or daycare with longer hours so both parents could work. (TCNS is currently a morning-only program.)
Less students impacted fundraising. This past January, the school had fewer parents to sell raffle tickets for its annual fundraiser, which raffled off a new snowmobile and other prizes. Coupled with the struggling economy, the raffle only raised $11,000, $9,000 short of what TCNS needs to start the 2010–2011 school year. By contrast, last year the fundraiser and a letter sent out to present and former students and parents asking for support generated $20,000.
“The fundraising is not happening in Tahoe — it’s hard times,” Stout said. “I feel we can very tightly make it to the end of the year.”
The local economy and the school’s uncertain future have personally impacted Stout. Her husband, who had trouble finding work in Tahoe, has been working in Colorado on and off since last August and was offered a permanent job in January. With the fate of the school up in the air, Stout, who has been at TCNS for 14 years, reluctantly decided last month that she will join him in Colorado after the end of the school year.
“It was a very hard decision,” Stout said. “I cried the whole time. I don’t want to leave here; this is my home.”
Although Angela Bruno, a teacher at TCNS, will take over the director position next year, Stout said she will stay involved by serving as the “behind-the-scenes” director, assisting Bruno by continuing to do the newsletter and other reminders.
At a board meeting on March 2, the TCNS board discussed ways to keep the school open. Stout said they will probably have to raise tuition, although that will depend on enrollment. Tuition is $160 per month for the Tuesday and Thursday class and $180 for the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday class.
“We really, really don’t want to raise tuition; we understand that it’s hard times for everyone,” she said. “But we don’t want the school to go under either.”
TCNS will also change its hours. Currently, it runs from 9:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. This will probably change to 8:45 a.m. to 1:45 p.m., with the last hour and a half being enrichment programs such as yoga, science, music, or Spanish. Stout said this solution was based on a request from parents, who said they wanted longer hours and more academics.
“We want to meet the needs of the community, we want to see the school continue,” Stout said. “If this is what it takes, that’s what we’ll do.”
The school is also asking its landlord, Christ the King Lutheran Church on Dollar Hill, to lower its rent. (TCNS is not affiliated with the church.)
Stout is staying positive that the school will remain afloat. To think otherwise breaks her heart.
“It would be such a loss for the community,” she said. “TCNS is a benchmark — talk to anyone at the high school and they all say they went to TCNS.”
The school’s closure would impact the community not just because it’s an iconic institution that has nurtured two generations of Tahoe children, Stout said, but also because it would leave North Shore parents with less preschool options. TCNS is one of only three major preschools in Tahoe City; the others are the Tahoe Lake State Preschool and the First Baptist Church’s A+ Preschool, which is affiliated with the church. Stout believes that parents need the option of a school like TCNS that is secular and based on learning through fun.
“TCNS is a wonderful place where kids can be kids,” Stout said. “They are 3- and 4-year-olds, they need to learn how to play with each other, socialize, and develop the basic building blocks of life.”
TCNS enrollment begins mid-April. Info: (530) 583-3331
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