The Grace Nursery School
As many of you know, the Grace Nursery School is a phenomenal 5-day preschool program. Since its creation in 1965, Grace has blessed so many families, including both children and their parents. The nursery school began as a ministry of Grace United Methodist Church, which continues to provide oversight to the school. We look forward to continuing the rich traditions of Grace, even after the pandemic and the many changes since. That is why it brings us such pain to announce the resignation of Amy Hofmann, the Grace Nursery School director. After faithfully leading Grace for 22 years, she will be relocating this summer to North Carolina to live closer to her daughter. We wish her the very best in this new adventure!
As the nursery school goes through this transition it falls to Grace United Methodist Church to guide the process of hiring a new director for the 2023-2024 school year. There is a staffing committee (SPRC) that will review candidates for the position, and the Nursery School Board, made up of members of Grace UMC who have experience in the teaching field, that will make the final decision of who to hire. We are very excited, however, that our head teacher, Donna Ernst, has submitted her name for consideration as the future director of Grace Nursery School and is our leading candidate. We will work quickly to have our new director in place as soon as possible so that you can be assured of the leadership of the school for your little one.
Know that you are in good hands as Grace Nursery School and Grace United Methodist Church work together to provide an excellent preschool program. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. You can reach me by phone or email using the information below or stop in my office during nursery school hours. God bless!
Sincerely,
Pastor Brian Neville
An Important Update as of May 15th, 2023
The Grace Nursery School is undergoing important changes. Amy Hofmann, the director at Grace Nursery School, announced her resignation on April 20th to move closer to her daughter in North Carolina. We have already offered our thanks for her service to the school, but we need to give a further update. As of May 11th Amy is on leave. During this interim period Patti McHugh, the Assistant Director, will be leading the nursery school.
In preparation for this transition the Staff/Parish Relations Committee (SPRC), which acts as the human resources department of the church, has worked in tandem with the Nursery School Board to select the next director for the Nursery School. Today we are excited to announce that Donna Ernst has accepted the position as the new director at the Grace Nursery School! Though she has already been busy preparing for the position, she will continue to work closely with Patti to begin in this new capacity at the end of the school year, June 12th.
As always, the Nursery School, at the direction of the director, will have full control of hiring teaching staff. Positions for the summer camp and 2023-2024 school year will be at the discretion of Donna Ernst. In the meantime, we invite you to direct any questions about summer camp, tuition and next year's registration to Patti McHugh.
Once again, we welcome Donna to this new role at the Grace Nursery School and thank our staff, parents and especially our wonderful students for making the Grace Nursery School a truly special place to be. God bless!
Sincerely,
Pastor Brian Neville
Brian Winiarski, SPRC chairperson
Bill DeBlock, NS Board chairperson