OUR HISTORY

In 1973, a group of women (mothers) wanted to have their preschool children experience a nursery school environment, and also wanted to be part of that experience and be able to obtain more information and skills about parenting. This is when they decided to establish Sault Cooperative Preschool.

Colleen Arbic was the organizer and the first president. The school changed its name from nursery school to preschool in 2000, in order to modernize it’s image. The school’s purpose statement is “to promote the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children, and to help parents learn constructive methods of parenting through observation, guidance, and practical experience under a qualified teacher”.  Parent participation is the factor that makes this a cooperative preschool and is the basic element of our structure.

Myrt Wolleager was then hired to be the program director and teacher. The quality of the preschool became apparent to the public, and in two years another teacher needed to be hired, so they chose Mary Armstrong to facilitate the environment. There were four classes that met two days a week for two hours, and Friday AM class that was composed of twenty children from the other four classes. Total enrollment was eighty children.

In the early eighties, economic problems faced the Sault area as a result of the air force base closing. The preschool enrollment dropped to forty children, but by the late eighties, the school was back to full enrollment and has restructured to two, three day classes, and two two day classes. Two teacher assistants, Diane McDonald and Marcia Clow, were added to help with the continuity of structure of classroom instruction.