By Carol Tannenhauser
Sarah Najarian currently has two children at The Day School at Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, a private preschool on West 69th Street, between Columbus Avenue and Broadway. She calls it “a rare gem in early childhood education on the Upper West Side,” which has been “wonderful for both my kids.” It has also been wonderful for Sarah and her husband, Mark, who have “really valued the school’s close-knit parent community,” she says.
Now, the Najarians feel “devastated” and “blindsided” after learning in a letter from the church, dated April 27, that the 12-year-old Day School will be closing for good at the end of the 2022-23 school year, on June 9. Furthermore, the three-week summer camp that many of the 25-30 Day School families have enrolled their children in is cancelled.
“Now all the families are going in different directions,” Sarah said in a telephone interview with West Side Rag. “The little friends are going in different directions, and it’s sad….people have used words like ‘heartbreaking.'”
Rev. Canon K. Jeanne Person, interim rector of Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, which is the oldest church structure on the UWS, responded to WSR’s inquiry about the reason for the closure by forwarding the letter that the parents had received, noting, “Beyond this, I cannot comment further. If and as further news about the closing of the school is made public, we can be in touch.”
The letter cites three reasons for the church’s decision to close the school. The first is economic, “a recognition, early this year, that the parish needed to pursue… a mission-aligned financial restructuring that if not undertaken, purposefully and quickly, would soon threaten the parish’s viability.” The second was “an acknowledgement that enrollments in the Day School were not, post-pandemic, going to rise to needed levels.” This was attributed to the development of free Universal Pre-K, the opening of competing preschools in the neighborhood, and the general movement of families away from New York City. The third reason given was the condition of the church’s building and grounds, which “are in need of remediation. For safety reasons, the Vestry [the authoritative body that governs the church and school] deemed it best not to have children in the building as this work begins,” the letter read.
The Najarians responded with a letter of their own, calling the church’s decision to close the school “without any advance communication — when you have clearly been considering this for many months — both irresponsible and unreasonable. You have left families scrambling to find preschool options for the fall, with universal 3-K and 4-K placements full and many private preschools fully enrolled for 3’s and 4’s,” the Najarians wrote. “This is egregiously inconsiderate.” They also expressed hope that the church will “do right by” the seven administrators and teachers who will be unemployed.
Sarah’s son is headed for kindergarten in the fall and she has managed to find a preschool placement for her two-year-old daughter, but she remains “deeply disappointed and disheartened. It’s about our kids and our family at the start of their education,” she said. “We feel like we’ve had the rug pulled out from under us.”
This is so heart breaking to here- I passed this everyday on the walk with my dog and it is the small places like this that make the upper westside a community.
My daughter goes to Stephen wise- an equally small and charming school, that I would love to recommend if anyone is looking for placement. They also have a camp and location is on 68th- so wouldn’t change much in terms of commute for anyone.
I hope this church gets what it needs to survive this post pandemic world!
Agree, Stephen Wise is a warm and loving community with the most incredible teachers. We love it there!
The timing of this is gross, waiting to share with families until after the private school admission deadline is long gone and public school admission for UPK also passed. I’m sure that lack of care is an additional sting to families who believed they were part of a special school community.
I’m sure they struggled with this decision for a long time–and once you announce the school is facing closure, you then have the problem of people deciding to go elsewhere in advance, basically sealing its fate–but they handled the timing very poorly.
I’m wondering if the general decrease in church attendance, for so many places of worship, is having an impact as well. Sad.
They could have increased attendance by attracting families with Sunday School. I know many Day School families would have loved to join the church, but there is no Children’s Program.
We welcome you to come check out St. Bart’s Kids! http://www.kidschurch.nyc
Hopefully they don’t tear down this cute little church and build luxury condos. After all, that’s what a large portion of WSR readers were clamoring for when it came to the red West-Park church on 86th St.
If I remember correctly, no developer could build up because of an air-rights agreement with the Copley condo on Broadway when it was built. My guess is that the application and admissions dates might not have been known to the group that runs the business of the parish and possibly a harsh decision had to be made very quickly. For children, parents and teachers this is a wrenching debacle. For many decades the church has had daily and weekly outreach community programs to help the homeless and the hungry, and so many others, and it does provide an excellent venue for concerts. It has had a commitment to being a good neighbor. It is heartening to see people here provide links to other programs that could be of help to the parents. Let us hope that the financial situation will be resolved over time.
These situations are very different – the West-Park church building is in a state of disrepair with almost no parishioners and most importantly the church itself was asking to be redeveloped. Unclear what’s happening with the day school but hopefully St. Stephens is in much better shape.
The Day School is a rare gem where community, kindness, caring and supporting our children and each other are not virtues that are just talked about but things that are actually practiced every day. Instead of closing it one should look to expand and add additional grade levels! We all wish that the predicament of the church was communicated and brought to everyone’s attention in a timely manner, the community could have help to take action throughout the year to save this special place.
That is so stressful for the families, unbelievable. The Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan might have some spots available in their preschool, The Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School. It’s a lovely, progressive school on 76th and Amsterdam! Families should admissions@mmjccm.org for more information on their spots for next year.
I don’t get it. There are still not enough UPK programs in the area. Furthermore, the church was advertising the day school in their church bulletin a few weeks ago.
Anyhow, it’s very sad for the church and the current families at the school.
“an acknowledgement that enrollments in the Day School were not, post-pandemic, going to rise to needed levels.”. Sounds like they just didn’t get enough kids to sign up. They advertised in their bulletin to find more bit didn’t get the numbers they needed
This had never been communicated to the Day School families. If there was actually low enrollment, that is news to us.
What a shame! Wonder what will happen to the church. As for the families looking for camp options, they should look into Camp Settoga or Day Camp at the JCC on 76th. My son loves it.
Thanks so much! I am the director of the camps at the JCC and Camp Settoga and appreciate the kind words. I am happy to talk with any families who might be interested.
Most unfortunately, the parents of The Day School have not participated in parish life beyond their children’s enrollment in the school. Had they been involved, they would have been highly aware of the financial pressures the Church faced that ultimately forced the closing of the Day School.
The church offered zero engagement for children so why would families attend a church that doesn’t accommodate children.
Your comment makes it sound like the closure of the school was in some way a justified punishment – that the families somehow failed an unspoken expectation to be a “part of parish life.” Some Church and Synagogue schools insist on student families becoming members of their institution – neither the Day School nor the Church ever made such an expectation known. On the contrary, rather than feeling an expectation to join the Church, many families of the Day School felt unwelcome by Church administration, as several other commenters have stated. Even the manner in which the closure is being communicated is indicative of the distance the Church has placed between themselves and the school – by letter and email. No one from the Church has spoken to any of the families in person – we have had to beg for a face to face meeting, and were told we could have a Zoom session, to last no longer than an hour. That’s all they are willing to offer to a school and community that they claim to value. It is so sad that the relationship between school and church became so cold, when there could have been harmony and mutual support.
Saddest of all to me is the situation of the faculty and teachers. Even if the Church felt that the families were somehow not holding up to unspoken standards, it still does not explain how they can justify putting these wonderful educators so abruptly and inhumanely out of work. All that was needed here was more time – with better communication and more time, anything was possible. This is truly tragic.
Did it ever occur to you that not all families had the same religious beliefs as the church, and therefore would not be “participating in parish life” for those reasons? So are you saying that these families are at fault for not sharing your religious beliefs? Or that only people who share your faith should be privy to this information?
That is a incredibly uninformed comment- shame on you for making assumptions and placing blame on the families. Did the CHURCH ever invite the families to a single mass or service? Did the rector or any vestry/parishioners spend time w/ the children or families or did they ever lead the “chapel” time that we were told was part of the school curriculum? NO. Were you privy to some bulletin or invitation the rest of us were not? Did they ever attend a single school event (of which they were invited to many times over the years? NO. In fact, the only time we ever saw the interim rector was 1x this school year, at the children’s holiday performance – I couldn’t pick her face out of a crowd b/c that’s how brief the interaction was.
Had any of the families known that the Church was even contemplating this decision or struggling, they would have done anything to help. We didn’t know because the CHURCH never shared any of this with us. We are not privy to their financials, we were not even privy to any decisions they have ever made or contemplated. To not even be given an opportunity to fundraise or help alleviate the financial instability any meaningful way, especially if they were considering closing the school , is disgraceful. You’re willingness to point the finger and revel in the misfortunes of the unemployed staff & displaced families is disgusting.
How can a Church claim to serve the community when it completely ices out a part of it’s community? Yes, that was a big mistake. Had they rallied everyone together, maybe both Church and school could have been saved. To say it’s “unfortunate” is right. It is a sad situation all around.
The school families were not invited to participate in the church. The church got rid of the children’s program a long time ago. The parents were also excluded from the governing board that makes decisions about the school. In fact, since Mother Liles left, the church has completely ignored the school. The church leadership has made no effort to meet the children, families, teachers, or learn more about this wonderful school.
Did the church not think to inform the school of the problems they were facing, instead of deciding to kick them out? According to this article, it doesn’t sound like they did. I thought churches were supposed to be family oriented, yet this church doesn’t offer programs for families anymore and kicked out a school… I would think twice before bringing my family to this church.
Ironically, the church and vestry missed an opportunity to utilize one of its greatest assets — 20-25 young, local families — to help with fundraising and/or other community outreach, and instead chose only to see the school as a liability. Unclear why it decided to be more insular and cut off ties with the local community rather than try to grow those relationships.
This is terribly sad. Many community institutions like small churches and small schools are still reeling post pandemic. If the above comment is correct and the church no longer has a children’s /families program, that is a very sad sign. If it is also looking at major building issues, and wasn’t seeing school enrollments….what an impossible challenge for everyone involved. And this after a careful and successful first decade that covered starting up with less than “break even” years. Good luck to the families and to everyone.
Clarification: I checked the online church bulletin for this week, and the nursery/day care, Sunday school for children, and a new children’s choir are all scheduled. In addition there is a contact for a Director of Children and Family programs. So I was not correct in my comment about a lack of children and family programs. I can not speak to changes due to the pandemic or the retirement of the longtime rector. Other commenters express some bitterness about church and school communications. Double governance (e.g. of church and a school) can be very tricky in small institutions with small financial margins. I just recall the optimism, investment in re-configuration of space, and careful fiscal planning that went in to the start up years of the school, so this latest comes both as sad news and a sign of hard times.
How cruel to the teachers and staff! The school hiring season is over. How are they supposed to find jobs for next year?
Exactly, especially the administration whose jobs are even harder to get. What a slap in the face! Not surprisingly, the news was given via a zoom call.
Similarly, they are offering a town hall to the parents also via zoom b/c they don’t want to face them. Cowards…
The people running this church are either intentionally cruel or epically incomplete. There really is no other option. Any attempt to monitize this space in other ways, in this economic environment, will fail. Especially under the current leadership. This great little school was the best option for the chuch to remain and with a purpose.
If they proceed in this manner with the closure they will lose all their parishioners and board up the church forever. That will be self-inflicted and unfortunately well deserved.
Interesting to note that the church still is advertising the day school on their website.
Stay home with your children before they are five, they need you, they want you and they deserve to have you and the ONE ON ONE attention that only a mother can give. Read John Bowlby and research the latest neuroscience concerning attachment and bonding.
Hi. This holier-than-thou comment is really insensitive. You know some people work, right? This piece is about a church that has left families and teachers in the lurch; it’s not an appropriate place for your ill-informed mom shaming.
St Bartholomew’s Community Preschool at 925 Park Ave is a beautiful school, small in size but large in learning. They have a rooftop playground, a gym and the 3 oldest classes have swim lessons in the pool as part of the curriculum! A great option for anyone looking for a school.
325 Park Ave!!!
I walk this block often and was surprised to see it on the news last night. How disgraceful to fire teachers over a zoom call as one comment stated. This school has given so much to the community and it’s always such a joy to see those children running around the front, filling the neighbor with their laughs. How dare a church treat people that way. Despicable!!!!!