Children’s Museum of Indianapolis to end preschool program over COVID-19 issues

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The leader of the world’s largest children’s museum says it had to make an “incredibly difficult decision.”

The museum’s officials said they will close the preschool program after a decade in operation because, in part, the COVID-19 pandemic will be here until there’s a vaccine, longer than they had initially hoped.

Katy Mann had three children go through The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis Preschool. Her fourth child is enrolled in the virtual preschool that will wrap up in July.

“It is truly one of the best preschool programs in the entire world, and we love all of our teachers there. Our kids have loved the learning experience.” Mann said.

The Children’s Museum’s announced Monday that its preschool was closing. That’s when Mann found out.

“I’m completely understanding. I am heartbroken. I’m sad, but no anger, no frustration at all. Obviously, it’ll be frustrating to try to find a new preschool,” Mann said.

Jeffrey Patchen, the museum president, told News 8 the preschool currently has 80 students. “It’s very disappointing,” he said.

Without a coronavirus vaccine, “because of that, many families could not commit to a 2020-2021 preschool tuition, with so much uncertainty,” Patchen said.

To help keep preschoolers safe, Patchen said, new rules would have had to been put in place, including smaller class sizes, intensive cleaning and social distancing.

“The resulting financial implications of those changes and maintaining a preschool just became cost-prohibitive,” Patchen said.

Patchen says the museum has already started to refund parents’ money for registration, tuition and materials for the 2020-2021 school year.

Patchen also told News 8 he expects the museum to lose between $4 million and $7 million in earned money in 2020 because of the pandemic.

Email to preschool parents

June 8, 2020

Dear Preschool Families:

My thoughts and those of The Children’s Museum Preschool staff, Museum leadership, and Museum Board of Trustees have been with you and your family during the unprecedented health crisis of COVID-19 and have appreciated your patience.

Today, it is with great regret that I must tell you we will not be able to offer a preschool program for the 2020-21 school year and will be closing the program. This has been an incredibly difficult decision because our preschool has provided us a unique opportunity to educate young minds using real objects and inquiry-based learning. Our commitment to early childhood learning will, however continue through our exhibits and programming.

The decision to close is a multi-faceted one, based on operational safety and financial considerations as well as public health projections from the CDC, which indicate that COVID-19 will remain active for much longer than initially hoped, and the potential for a reoccurrence will remain with us until an effective vaccine is widely deployed.

With so much uncertainty, we understand that many families cannot commit to 2020-2021 preschool tuition. Further, given the new protocols that would need to be implemented in order to ensure each preschool student’s safety—smaller class sizes, social distancing, intensified cleaning regimens, etc.—and the ongoing cost of those changes, maintaining the preschool would become financially untenable.

All of us appreciate the many hardships that the pandemic has caused for you and understand the additional stress you may face as you seek an alternative school for your child. We are here to support you with information and insights as you consider your options for this fall. We will also be returning all monies paid for 2020-21 material fees by June 20, 2020. The current Full Time program will continue virtually through July 3, 2020.

If you have questions and would like a member of our leadership team or the Preschool staff to contact you, please let us know by sending an email to TCMpreschoolclosure@childrensmuseum.org. We are proud of the accomplishments of The Children’s Museum Preschool staff and students over the past nine years. Please know we consider every student who has walked through our doors a part of our Museum family.  

Sincerely,

Dr. Jeffrey H. Patchen
President and CEO, The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis