Crucial preschool faces $200K ‘misstep.’ Pierce Co. residents rally to save it
A preschool on the Key Peninsula is asking for support after staff discovered thousands of dollars in missed payments following a leadership change.
Key Peninsula Preschool offers three programs: a co-op preschool, a nature-based early learning program called “Forest Friends of the KP” and an infant and toddler room. The rural peninsula has few options for child care, preschool staff previously told The News Tribune.
On March 26, the preschool posted on Facebook that they were facing “unexpected financial challenges,” putting their programming at risk. They asked for donations via PayPal and said they were also reaching out to other nonprofits, local businesses and community partners for help.
“Following a recent leadership change, we identified a serious issue with past financial management,” the preschool wrote in a post the next day. “We want to share that this has now been addressed, and clear plans and safeguards are in place moving forward.”
Key Peninsula Preschool Director Jessica Schock characterized the issue as “a very unfortunate misstep” in phone interviews with The News Tribune. She said the school’s debt amounted to around $200,000, around half of the school’s $400,000 budget.
“We started with all of this money and now all of it is not there anymore,” Schock said.
The previous director had to step down from the role for health reasons, and Schock swapped positions with the director last September. After sitting down with the school’s new treasurer, who joined in February, the two found the school had a backlog of bills that hadn’t been paid off, including for loans and credit card payments. Schock said she doesn’t believe the missed payments were intentional.
Schock didn’t have specific examples of the “unexpected costs” for which the school took out loans, but said the school had faced significant startup expenses.
The school had “to get specific things like for licensing, having to set certain things up and get certain structures in place and just be able to open,” she said. “ ... The startup cost was more than we had and it’s taken us longer to catch up than we expected.”
No one was reporting the school’s financial situation to the nonprofit’s volunteer board. Since then, the school has taken steps to restore that failsafe. The school’s treasurer, also a volunteer, is responsible for reporting the school’s finances to the board, and has been disclosing the amount in the school’s bank account and sharing projections for the following month, said Schock.
As of January, they’re “profiting for the first time ever,” she told The News Tribune.
“ ... we’re not a sinking ship,” she said. “We just need a little bit of help to come up with the back funds.”
Schock told The News Tribune that the school’s goal was to raise $18,000 by the end of May to cover payroll. They had met that goal as of Monday, following a rummage sale that brought in $5,000 on top of prior donations.
The school is looking at other changes to cut costs and improve their financial tracking. Schock said conversations are ongoing with the Key Peninsula Civic Center, which rents space for the preschool co-op, about a potential rent reduction. The Civic Center board planned to vote Monday evening on the issue, she said.
She also said the school applied for grants to help cover the cost of food, and it’s relying on community donations to supplement school supplies. The “last resort” will be cutting staff hours, but they haven’t reached that point yet, she said.
Schock expressed thankfulness for the support the school has received from the community. There are around 20,000 families on the Key Peninsula, and the Key Peninsula Preschool is the peninsula’s only full-time licensed childcare center, she said.
“Our community really showed up for us!” she wrote in a text message Monday, following the weekend rummage sale. “... Every bit we can raise helps us to add the necessary cushion to be able to start paying back loans.”
Key Peninsula Preschool will hold a joint fundraiser dinner with another nonprofit, Key Peninsula Partnership for a Healthy Community, on Saturday, May 16, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event is at Key Peninsula Lutheran Church, 4213 Lackey Road NW in Lakebay, and proceeds from the catered event will be split 50/50 between the two organizations.
