CLOSING: Rye United Methodist Church; Nursery School Threatened

The Rye United Methodist Church is planning to close its doors on December 31st, due to a declining congregation. The move also impacts the Rye United Methodist Nursery School (RUMNS), hused in the church. School parents are circulating the letter below, asking for help with a little "nursery school M&A" – finding a new home for the school before time runs out.

How can you help? Leave a comment below with ideas or get in touch with the school as indicated below. The letter:

Dear friends and neighbors

Please help us save one of Rye’s best-loved nursery schools!

Rye United Methodist Nursery School (RUMNS), one of Rye’s oldest and best-loved preschools, is being threatened with closure, and we 66 parents, dedicated alumni and five teachers are launching an urgent mission to save our school by finding it a new home.

Rye United Methodist Church, home of Rye United Methodist Nursery School (RUMNS) for more than 40 years, announced on November 11 that, due to the decline in its congregation,  it will close on December 31, 2011.  The Church will allow RUMNS to remain in its building until the end of the school year in June 2012, but from that date, RUMNS will be left without a home.

RUMNS is, despite the challenging economic climate, in sound financial condition and enrollment numbers having been consistently rising.  It owns all the school equipment inside the church –  and playground outside – and can relocate this to another site.

RUMNS is not only highly cherished, but much needed by the city of Rye:

Rye preschools are currently bursting at the seams, particularly in morning programs

• RUMNS offers the unique ‘helping parent’ program whereby each child’s parent joins the child’s class one morning per month, offering a special experience for both child and parent at the school
• RUMNS has been running for more than 40 years with a devoted team that are more a family than staff, two teachers having taught at the school for more than 18 years each
• RUMNS is a non-denominational preschool, and while the majority of its children are American, it actively celebrates the cultures of its international students
• RUMNS’s distinctively gentle-yet-academic approach promotes early enthusiasm for literacy and numeracy

RUMNS is urgently seeking a roof, and, ideally, an umbrella organization such as a church, youth club or retirement village, over its head. 

If anyone can help save this wonderful preschool by finding it a new home, please contact Sheridan Povemba, Director of RUMNS on 914 921 1939 or at [email protected] with the greatest urgency.  Your help is profoundly appreciated.

Yours faithfully,

The parents, alumni and teachers of Rye United Methodist Nursery School