Zach Perrier
Viewpoints Editor
Members of the campus community alongside children and parents gathered at the Scot Center last Thursday afternoon to protest the unexpected closure of the College of Wooster Nursery School for the 2023-2024 year. The protest began at the main entrance of the Scot Center, moving to outside the Governance Room, where the board of trustees were gathered for a closed meeting.
Protestors held signs, sang songs and gave speeches while some trustees and administrators were in the room. One community member stated, “You guys could be leaders for continuing to offer [the nursery school], or you could be the opposite in shutting it down to save some money… I really hope that my youngest one will be able to go next year, and I’ll appreciate you all being leaders on that.”
A petition to the board of trustees titled “From Pause to Promise” for the reopening of the nursery school was signed by over 300 people, including alumni and former teachers and attendees of the nursery school. A letter to the trustees was attached to the petition, signed by professor of French and Francophone Studies Laura Burch, former nursery school teacher Margaret Meeker-Bourne and Master of Social Work and parent of nursery school students Chelsea Churpek.
The letter argued for the reopening of the school for its experiential learning and the continuation of fostering a better campus-community relationship. The letter also expressed concerns for the future state of the nursery school and asked for an explanation on why the school was “paused indefinitely.” The petition asks that enrollment begin February 2024 for incoming students in the fall, and if that timeline is not met, an explanation as to why the nursery school was closed.
Originally opened in 1946, the nursery school became a part of the College in 1974 and integrated as part of the psychology department, as well as in education and communication sciences and disorders. This fall, the nursery school was put on hold for the year “with no advance notice to staff or enrolled families,” according to the petition.
“I only found out about the closure of the nursery school on Facebook… and the administration only addressed it after faculty asked them to,” Burch said. “And [administration] refused, President Anne McCall refused, to give us a detailed explanation on why the nursery school was paused.”
Burch sent an email last Thursday morning in response to provost and professor of French and Francophone Studies Lisa Perfetti with the entire campus community copied. Burch criticized the lack of transparency in the closure and ongoing evaluation of the nursery school, citing the lack of identification of the “working group” currently assessing the school’s future. Burch also inquired about the claim that nursery school teachers signed non-disclosure agreements.
Churpek voiced concerns for the administration’s handling of the nursery school, especially that President McCall and Provost Perfetti were unaware of the ways in which the nursery school is integrated into the college curriculum. “These newer folks don’t understand the history… they were treating it as a daycare,” Churpek said, referring to the newer administration. Meeker-Bourne reiterated, “[the nursery school] is not a daycare. It is part of the psychology department.”
Churpek and Meeker-Bourne additionally argued that the nursery school’s closure could make experiential learning for the same departments more costly, as the College would have to transport students to programs elsewhere. The closure would also have ramifications on town-gown relationships, Burch noted.
“The nursery school is a unique and priceless opportunity for children to grow, learn and heal in a nurture based, nature based, play based program. I don’t know if that exists in Wayne County, or anywhere,” Burch said. “It would be a huge loss to the community.”
