Doors close on Rehoboth Cooperative Preschool

For 20 years, Labor Day was one of the busiest times for Jill Mitchell. As director of the Rehoboth Preschool Cooperative, she was busy decorating rooms and preparing the school for a new year of students.

This year, those students never came. Instead of making phone calls to meet this year's students and parents, Mitchell said that with a heavy heart, she made calls informing them that the school would not open.

“We wanted to do everything we could to open the school, but no matter how much we wanted to do it, we couldn't cover it financially,” Mitchell said.

A number of factors contributed to the school's demise: competition from other preschool facilities, a shift in demographics and a drop in enrollment.

With only six students enrolled for the 2014-15 school year, preschool teacher Barbara Coscia said she knew it would be tough. “I remember reading Jill's email and thinking, 'Oh Lord we're not going to make it,'” she said.

Mitchell said no one wanted the school to close, but with dwindling finances, a decision had to be made.

“We were stuck on a timeframe,” she said. “Do you open and wallow in debt?”

Only memories left

On a brisk November day, Mitchell and Coscia took care of a few final details at the empty preschool building. The rooms are empty, the walls bare. Tiny voices no longer fill the building, and their busy hands no longer cut, color and create memories of their early years.

“We had a good name with the area schools,” Coscia said. “It was a school known for a good education.”

The history of the preschool has been well-documented over the years in dozens of newspaper articles. Created by a group of local mothers, the school originally held classes in St. Edmond's Catholic Church on Laurel Street. The program grew and eventually moved to Sussex Street where it became the area's premier preschool facility.

At its peak, Mitchell said the school enrolled 50 students with a long waiting list.

Mitchell started as a teacher at the preschool during its heyday.

“I loved it. There's something about the school – it becomes a family,” she said. “It was more family than work.”

Mitchell, a Rehoboth Beach native, attended Cape Henlopen schools and grew up in a home off of Rehoboth Avenue where her grandparents ran a boarding house. Her family later moved to a home off Route 1 close to where Big Fish Grill now sits, she said.

She earned a bachelor's degree at Wilmington College and began her teaching days at an Ocean View middle school called the Snow School. The school was a cooperative run by parents, similar to the preschool cooperative.

When the preschool advertised for a teacher, Mitchell said she saw it as a chance to work with younger students. So, she applied and got the job.

Thirteen years later, she became director.

But those years shuttled in a number of changes. For Mitchell – now an Ocean View resident with three grown children – it meant greater state scrutiny and more demand for preschools that offer full-time care for working parents.

Mitchell said they took the changes in stride, even moved forward with the necessary certifications and paperwork for the Delaware Stars program, which earned the preschool a four-star rating. With some more work, she said, they could've earned the highest five-star rating, making the school the only one in the Cape Region with such a high rating.

“In the beginning, the state didn't oversee preschools, but when the state got involved, it was much more work,” Mitchell said. “The school had to evolve to meet the changing scene of education.”

While the preschool was ready to meet the new state demands, she said, it wasn't ready to compete with full-time care. The cooperative could only provide half-day classes compared to full-time opportunities elsewhere, she said.

“There was more competition that sprouted up with full-time care,” Mitchell said. “From an area where there once was one facility, it grew to be many.”

Still young at heart and spirit with her soft-spoken voice, Mitchell said she is not sure what the future holds for her now.

With her former coworker and friend, Coscia, by her side, both women said they doubt they will seek work in the preschool field.

“We weren't ready to retire,” Mitchell said. “We want what we had, but we can't have it.”

Clearing out the facility this fall, the women donated many items to other preschool facilities in the area. That way, part of the school will always live on, Mitchell said.

“It's kind of like being an organ donor,” she said. “It lives on.”