After five years of patient waiting and meticulous planning, First Presbyterian Church Covington (FPC) has reopened its preschool doors, transforming once-quiet halls into a vibrant space of wonder, laughter and little smiling faces.
In 2020, FPC Early Learning Center closed due to the COVID pandemic. With help from church staff, a preschool task force, a newly instated preschool board and others from the community, FPC was able to reopen its preschool and rebrand as First Presbyterian Community Preschool.
The school had a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Newton County Chamber of Commerce on July 24 to celebrate this great accomplishment.
“It was fabulous,” said Senior Pastor Neeley Lane. “Its been a long awaited answer to prayers, and I like to say, we’ve been dancing with the Spirit for five years, so the ribbon cutting with the chamber was a high holy day for our church, for the preschool, and our community because there’s energy, there’s excitement, and there’s a love for children and wanting to extend our hands and our hearts to love on the children and walk along side the families of the community.”
Although they initially closed in 2020, the church slowly but surely got the ball rolling on preparing for the school’s reopening. They raised funds for scholarship opportunities, created a preschool task force, as well as a preschool board made up of members from the community and then hired teachers and a preschool director.
“When we closed the preschool, we always had the hopes of reopening,” Lane said.
Lane explained that FPC began its preschool reopening journey almost immediately after closing. They wanted the whole school to be reanimated.
FPC now had a fresh slate with its facility. Lane expressed that the preschool task force spent several months in discernment, asking questions of the community: What does our community need? What do our parents need?
“When we went to reopen, we realized we had some speed bumps in the way with our facility, and we did a lot of discerning on how to best use our facility to serve the community,” Lane said. “In that process, we installed a brand new security system, a brand new fire system, and with that, a sprinkler system, so that we were outfitted to host outside groups as well as the preschool with the safety features we felt were a necessity.”
Even with a few setbacks during the decision-making process, the church continued to support the preschool’s development.
The church spent the five years between the school’s closing and reopening working relentlessly to make its new vision come to life.
“We are just grateful that the church said ‘yes’ to being an outreach to the community, so it truly is a ministry of the church,” Lane said. “And, our hope is that we can provide a loving and safe place for all children of all abilities here.”
The school is open to all children, ages three months to four years old. They have a total of eight teachers, with two teachers per class.
Although the school itself is small, its dedication to the students and heart for the community is big.
Preschool Director Denise Gabriel expressed that the school is happy to accept any child with open arms, regardless of abilities, religious background, socioeconomic status or if they face developmental delays.
“We just want parents to know that their children are welcome,” Gabriel said. “If we have kids that have special needs, we will do what we need to do to get the training and the people in here to help with what they need.”
According to Gabriel, First Presbyterian Church began its involvement in children’s care with a Mother’s Morning Out program that started around 25 years ago. With this program, moms could leave their kids in volunteers’ hands at the church for a morning out to run errands while the kids enjoyed a time of play and fellowship. A few years later, that program developed into the FPC Early Learning Center.
The hope for the future of First Presbyterian Community Preschool, according to Lane, is looking towards licensing. This would allow them to extend their hours to offer a longer school day or to provide an afterschool care program.
But, for now, FPC is excited to move into a new chapter for children’s early education with First Presbyterian Community Preschool.
Those who wuld like to learn more about First Presbyterian Community Preschool can go to First Presbyterian Church’s website under Community Preschool. The preschool also has an Instagram and Facebook @fpccpreschool, where they make announcements on upcoming events and preschool updates.
Enrollment is open enrollment, so parents and guardians can still register their children as long as spots remain available for incoming students. Teachers, church staff and community members could not be more thrilled with the reopening.
“I am ecstatic,” Lane said. “I walk in those halls with tears of joy and gratitude for donors and community sponsors and our teachers and Denise [Gabriel], our director, and our church staff. It’s just an overwhelming outpouring of love and support, and it’s beautiful.”
The first day of school begins on Monday, Aug. 11, and teachers and staff are ready to greet each and every student.
“I am just beyond excited to serve here alongside Pastor Neeley,” Gabriel said. “I’m looking forward to working with my staff and just building a relationship with all of them, and I want the community to know that our program is open to support children in all of the community, of all abilities, and [we] want them to feel welcomed, loved and safe.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
