04/17/2026
Hello Friends of PCNS:
It is with much sadness that we announce the closing of the Paxton Community Nursery School at the end of the 2025-2026 school year.
Our school has had the wonderful opportunity to serve over 2500 families throughout its existence. From the days in the basement of the United Methodist Church, to the most recent years in our current location in the Paxton Park District building - there has always been steady, continuous support of our school. Our classes were full, our waitlist was long, enrollment was at 60 students.
Unfortunately, the circumstances over the last decade have hit us hard. About 10 years ago, our enrollment began to decline. We saw an uptick in students being sent to other preschools in the area - schools that were not in existence when PCNS began. Then, COVID - this took our numbers down even more - with the afternoon classes being hit the hardest, and overall enrollment numbers falling into the 40’s. In 2023, we lost our long-time teacher and aide and had to essentially start from scratch. Finding a teacher and aide willing and qualified to pick up the baton was tough. It was a blessing that we found Sharon and Gwen.
During this time, our board consisted of only two people, who were tasked with not only finding a new teacher and aide, but continuing to recruit students for a school year that we were uncertain would even happen. Two years after that, we had to reduce our classes down to one session a day because our enrollment was too low to be able to afford to keep going with two sessions.
Registration has steadily declined 20-30% year to year, and there are other hurdles that come along with that. Low registration means fewer families helping with fundraising, fewer board members willing to serve, and less overall support from the community. As a not-for-profit, this was a serious challenge!
This year, the board voted to close the school for good. Enrollment for the 2026-2027 was low, we have had unforeseen, catastrophic challenges that prevented us from having class consistently in the current Spring semester, and our budget deficit was predicted to be nearly triple what it was for the current enrollment year. None of it could have been predicted, and the situation was not ideal. We appreciate the understanding of our PCNS families during this time.
Due to all of this (and more) all 6 members of the board have unanimously voted to close the school and dissolve the Paxton Community Nursery School entity.
Moving forward, we will close out the 2025-2026 school year as planned. The board wants to make sure that the community knows we appreciate every single person who has supported this organization over the last 50+ years.
Thank you all so much for everything!
It has been an honor to serve this community.
Sam Magers, President
and the Paxton Community Nursery School Board
