Palisades Methodist Preschool has located to a new place until the facility in the church in Pacific Palisades can be rebuilt.
One of the most beloved preschools in Pacific Palisades was at the Methodist Church at the corner of Via de la Paz and Bowdoin.
When the church burned on January 8, the preschool and all the offices located there also burned. Among the items burned were many of the tiles that the children had hand painted, were glazed and then hung by the entrance to preschool door.
Methodist Preschool assistant director Alec Harrison wrote, “We were fortunate enough to be able to continue to operate from some additional rooms in Palisades Preschool (in Santa Monica) to give us a little breather while we figured out next steps.”
A search was made for a new location and “we found the perfect location on Butler Avenue, at Kardia United Methodist Church, which funnily enough was a former preschool.”
After refurbishing those spaces, the preschool moved in four weeks ago and welcomed families. “We have a beautiful outdoor space and all the classrooms open out onto a nature trail around the school,” Harrison said.
“The transition has been extremely seamless, and we are so thrilled to get ‘back to business,” Harrison said. “As we gear up for next year, due to some of our families being displaced, we have a few openings for enrollment.”
Because so many families have been displaced to the South Bay and other areas of California and other states, there are some openings available in the preschool and Parent & Me program.
And parents who may be wondering about the lovely tiles that were placed on the side of the church wall? “We were able to salvage many of these which were made by all the children in the school at our annual tile painting event. They are currently being stored and will be replaced in the rebuild of the school,” Harrison said.
