The Crescent School NOLA

It is, again, with a heavy heart that we are announcing our closure. Only this time, we must close The Crescent School doors for good.

An unjust story follows this.
As we stated in our last post to you all, we are committed to the lead remediation that needs to take place at our school. After committing to one of the most reputable lead remediation companies in Louisiana, we went forth to our landlords and stated that we would pay for this project with the commitment to a long term lease and rent reduction during the payback period of the personal loan.

This lead remediation project is a $30,000 project. My mom, Christine Drennon, committed to spending $30,000 from her retirement account in order to pay for this project to be done and for these families to have childcare again and teachers to have their jobs back.

Our landlords, the Catholic fraternal organization, The Knights of Columbus, took our terms for this to a vote. By a landslide, they voted against us. I then went back to them, still offered to pay for this remediation if they forgo rent for one year in order to pay this personal loan back. They, again, said no. There has been only an unwillingness to compromise or help.

This Catholic group - and Father John Talamo of Holy Name of Mary Church - is grounded in faith, charity, and service to others. This institution is turning a blind eye to children and the community.

What sort of person ignores the cries of a small school community pleading to keep children safe?

People are not only losing childcare and their jobs, but this is a moral failure. This organization and the Catholic Church have turned their back on their faith, their community, and children of Algiers Point and New Orleans.

The Crescent School has never been religiously affiliated with anyone. However, we trusted an organization that claims to be rooted in community values and service. Now they have left us no choice to make our school safe again and so we are closing our doors.

We love our community. We hope to see everyone again one day. Our fight is not over.

Peace and love.
Farewell,

-Liza Drennon

Our Crescent School family,

This is not an easy post to write, but it is an important one – and we at The Crescent School want you to hear it directly from us.

Out of deep care for our children, families, and staff, we made the decision to temporarily close our doors after discovering lead in our soil and in some of the dust at our site. This testing and inspection came after one of our beloved students was found to have extremely high lead levels, prompting immediate action on our part.

We are working closely with a respected environmental remediation company and are taking every step necessary to ensure that our campus is safe, healthy, and fully cleared by the Louisiana Department of Health before reopening.

The well-being of our students is at the center of every decision we make. We are heartbroken to pause our time together, but this is what love and responsibility look like and we will do everything we can to make our campus as safe as possible. We will continue to keep you, our community, updated – and we thank you for your trust, support, and patience as we do what is right.

With love and with hope to see you all soon,
Liza Drennon & The Crescent School team

The Crescent School kiddos were so lucky to have the best dad band in town pay us a visit today!

Thank you for letting us dance, sing, and learn about different instruments from you guys! We feel so lucky to have such an amazing community 🎶

As summer begins, we are so excited to announce the beginning of our first Summer Reading Program!

With a carefully curated list of children's books, our Crescent School families have committed to reading three books per week together! This will create long lasting memories, widen our student's library of wonderful books, and give incentive to become great readers!

We are equally excited to be parterning with neighborhood businesses who will be giving our prizes to our readers each week and at the end of each summer month!
Thank you to the following businesses for partnering with us!

Unclench your jaw
Relax your shoulders
Soften your brow
Breathe.

Sometimes those smaller and younger than us can show us how to slow down 🌙

Magnolia teacher, Ms. May, led our Magnolia Class in an introduction to basic chemisty concepts this morning!

By mixing lemons, baking soda, and vinegar, these young friends were able to have a sensory exploration that touched on sight, smell, and taste. The Magnolia's screeched with excitement as they were able to watch the changes and get their hands into their own experiment!

No one is too young to be introduced to the importance of STEM!

Palmetto Class lead teacher, Ms. Andrea, is a volunteer for an Algiers Point based neonatal/special needs cat sanctuary, Tomato Foster Club. Her volunteer work has become a part of The Palmetto Class curriculum while she teachers our older friends how to care for two kittens who are being bottle fed.

Bringing in community work not only helps our students make a difference in their neighborhood, but it is also teaching them how to care for something much smaller and more vulnerable than themselves.

Peak photo number 2 to see one of our Palmettos sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to the kittens before naptime!

Thank you for allowing our students to care for these sweet babies! And be sure to check in on the amazing work this organization is doing!

While our young learners spend their days learning about plant life cycles and seasnonal changes, The Palmetto Class went out into the neighborhood on a berry hunt! Mulberries have begun to ripen so these friends were able to venture out, pick them, and bring them back to school to snack, share, AND use their juices to paint with!

Expanding the classroom into the environment not only helps our students connect their lessons to the world around them, but also creates a respect and unity with our environment.

Algiers Point lost a very important person in our community this past week. Our Magnolia and Palmetto Classes created beautiful pieces of art today to say thank you to Kelly for all of the help and support you gave our school over the past few years. You will be greatly missed ❤️

We have left chalk for anyone who may be passing by and would like to contribute in paying respects to such an amazing woman.

Our Magnolia Class is growing up! These young learners have become more confident moving their bodies, have gotten comfortable with change and noises, and turn their listening ears on every morning in order to stay safe!

This all means that neighborhood walks for the Magnolia's has begun! We are so lucky to have Algiers Point as an expansion of our campus 🏡

"We must teach our children to smell the earth, to taste the rain, to touch the wind, to see things grow, to hear the sun rise and night fall - to care." - John Cleal

As our young learners start the process of gardening, they ventured down to the Mississippi River to collect what will be needed for their garden beds back at school. This connection to the natural environment they are from as well as the adventure that was had, helps these friends to connect with their surroundings, care for nature, and expand their knowledge outside the four walls of a classroom!