Behind closed doors at Claremont McKenna College, decisions were made with little notice that the Children’s School will be repurposed into an isolation dormitory for CMC students infected with Covid-19. The poorly-treated teachers of TCS were given one-week notice to move out so that construction can begin. Storage options for the multitude of items that helped make the school special were not provided. A parent set up a Go-Fund me account to rent storage space supporting the teachers who are trying to save what they can.
My daughter is among the children who has benefited from TCS’s creative learning philosophy. Community caregiving was part of the curriculum. Annual pajama drives were held for House of Ruth and Red Wagon Week meant pantry foods were collected and delivered to those less fortunate.
TCS’s teachers scouted yard sales, thrift shops and their own closets collecting items for imaginary marketplaces and costume closets; They brought seedlings from their homes to grow gardens; Director, Janet Dryer, built a multicultural children’s library and Pomona College collaborated to bring in renowned children’s author MacBarnett; Lea Harper coordinated volunteer college students and; Parents supported Harvest Sales and Festivals. These are just a few examples of what made TCS remarkable.
Yet, the care and love put into those historical cottages is being dismissed with a sneaky, backhand and no regard to the declaration on TCS’s college page that reads:
The Children’s School at Claremont McKenna College has been an integral part of the Claremont Colleges since its founding in 1936. Foremost in our minds in operating the school is to provide an outstanding educational program for young children.
Many are saddened by this abrupt, insensitive infiltration of a Claremont landmark. Teardown of the miniature bathrooms is due to start, a tactic meant to render those in opposition, nearly helpless. We must intervene before damage is done to the cottages.
While CMC may say this is temporary, there is no reason for us to believe that is so. And young CMC college students occupying the quaint spaces of the children’s cottages is bound to do more destruction to the historical grounds than the internal demolitions will do.
Indeed, if it is “foremost….to provide an outstanding educational program for young children” as declared by the Colleges when TCS was established for families of professors, staff and the Claremont community, then this breakdown is certainly not reflecting that commitment.
On behalf of more than 600 petitioners, myself included, we ask that TCS be taken off the table as a target for repurposing in any way and that TCS be made whole again in preparation for when the Health Department deems it is safe for our children to return to school.