NORTHAMPTON — Smiling at several dozen happy onlookers, Mayor David Narkewicz held up a foam pair of scissors and laughed. He would pretend to cut a red ribbon wrapped around the sign for Nonotuck Community School in Florence’s Bay State Village, let the photographers get their pictures, and then actually cut the ribbon — this time with real scissors.
“Congratulations, happy 40th and now I’ll shut up so you can enjoy your cake,” Narkewicz said.
For the mayor and the school’s teachers, parents and their children, this was a special occasion. Not only was the preschool celebrating its 40th anniversary, but it had bought the school building a few months prior to the anniversary celebration, cementing itself in the city and quelling any fears that the school would be shut down.
While enjoying food and drinks, many of the parents, including Alice Rich Lewis, reflected on the nomadic and uneasy history of the school.
“Now, there’s definitely a degree of stability that we’ve never had before,” Lewis said.
On April 21, the Nonotuck Community School purchased the Feiker School building — built in 1900 — ending 10 years of renting the building from the city of Northampton. The $291,100 deal allows Nonotuck, with an enrollment of 60 children, to have a building of its own for the first time in its existence. The city, on the other hand, will use the money from the deal to finance new roofs at its Leeds and Bridge Street elementary schools.
Nonotuck was founded in 1977, after splitting away from the Sunnyside Early Childhood Center and becoming its own institution. Its first classes were held in the basement of St. John’s Episcopal Church. Since that time, Nonotuck has moved a couple of times, first to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and then to the Feiker School.
When the city announced that it would be selling all of its buildings not used by the city or the public, uncertainty arose regarding the future of Nonotuck.
“We found out during the winter that our lease would expire in the summer, and that we couldn’t renew,” Executive Director Leslie Klein Pilder said. “We were in a kerfuffle. Parents were looking for other possible places for the school, but, to be honest, I was worried that there wouldn’t be anywhere for us, and that we may have actually closed down.”
As a parent cooperative preschool, Nonotuck is organized by the parents of children attending the school; all of its directors are parents of children at the school, and parents are “expected to be involved in some way,” according to Lewis, a parent of two children at the school and frequent parent volunteer.
Lewis previously served on the school’s board of directors, and organized the capital campaign that raised the money for purchasing the Feiker School building. Although the parents share similar philosophies, Lewis says it was still difficult to ask parents for money that would potentially save the school.
“When parents are paying tuition, it’s a lot sometimes to ask for more, but the capital campaign was very successful because we had parents ask their own parents and relatives,” Lewis said.
Aside from donations from the parents and relatives of Nonotuck’s schoolchildren, Nonotuck hosted concerts and a wintertime family dance party to raise funds. Also involved in fundraising were the Florence Bank and Northampton Area Pediatrics.
According to Pilder, Mayor Narkewicz was also “extremely involved” in ensuring that Nonotuck would be able to stay at its current location. Narkewicz, using his position as chairman of the Northampton School Committee, was able to extend the amount of time Nonotuck had to raise money and buy the building.
“These people have been great tenants, so the purchase is a great result for both Nonotuck and for the city,” Narkewicz said. “Great early childhood education is something every city needs, so I’m happy and proud we were able to get the deal done.”
Nonotuck accepts children as young as 15 months old, an aspect of the school that Pilder says is unique in Northampton and rare in western Massachusetts. Pilder describes Nonotuck’s philosophy as “play-based learning,” in which teachers follow and observe the preschoolers, learning each child’s interests, strengths and weaknesses. The result of such an educational approach is a constantly changing curriculum.
“One year we had a lot of kids very excited about glass blowing, the next year all of them were excited about outer space. So, we encourage the children’s creativity and imagination, and all the while they are incorporating social skills and really learning,” Pilder said.
Since the school made the deal with the city, Pilder says Nonotuck has started planning investments — something that was impossible when the school’s community was scrambling to raise money through its capital campaign.
A new roof is the first thing on the school’s agenda, and the board is working on getting estimates on a cost. However, many parents would like to see a new play area, after the school was forced to get rid of a swingset that some deemed unsafe.
“The popular wish is definitely to redo the playground. It’s still perfectly functional, but we had to take down the swings. Now, no swings at a playground? Come on,” Lewis said.
Pilder acknowledges that many parents, especially given the “play based learning” that Nonotuck endorses, want a new playground, but she says that now the school owns the property there are new challenges that must be dealt with.
“It’s just like going from renting an apartment to owning a home,” Pilder said. “We can no longer just call the town and say, ‘hey, the roof needs to be fixed so come fix it.’ We have to come up with money and pay for things like that now, so the playground will have to wait.”
While Pilder is not sure what Nonotuck’s next investment after a roof will be, she said that it will be up to the board and parents. The one thing she is certain of, however, is that the Nonotuck Community School will stay put for a long time.
“I remember worrying if we’d stay here. Now I’m trying to come up with an exit strategy — I could be here for the next 40 years,” Pilder joked.