Bezos Academy Pacific Beach to close in June
Associated web page already stripped clean, school location removed from map

By Jerry Knaak The Daily World • April 1, 2025 1:30 am

Parents of students at Bezos Academy Pacific Beach received an unwelcome surprise in their mailboxes over the weekend — letters announcing the school’s closure in June.

The letters, signed by Chief Education Officer Michael Abello, did not cite a specific reason for the closure. Bezos Academy Pacific Beach is a one classroom preschool located at Pacific Beach Elementary School in Pacific Beach, which is part of the North Beach School District.

“This was not a decision that was made lightly, and it’s come after a long period of evaluation and consideration,” the letter read, in part. “Please know that we will continue to offer you and your child the school experience you have come to expect from Bezos Academy through our last day of school on Friday, June 27, 2025.”

An internet search for the school, which opened in fall 2021, returns a result of “Nothing found, please try adjusting your search.” The Pacific Beach preschool no longer appears on the map of Bezos Academy locations.

“We have appreciated our partnership with Bezos Academy to provide early childhood education at Pacific Beach Elementary over the past four years, and we wish them success as they continue their mission in other communities,” said North Beach School Board President Jeff Albertson via email. “The North Beach School District will examine how our existing programs, including transitional kindergarten at Pacific Beach Elementary and the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, can meet the needs of families and young learners in the Pacific Beach attendance area.”

Founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, there are 10 other Bezos Academy preschools in Washington state, with a new one planned for Centralia. All 10 are actively accepting applications for the 2025-26 school year. The new location, which has not started accepting applications just yet, will be housed in the United Learning Center of Lewis County in downtown Centralia.

”Pacific Beach was among the earliest schools we made plans to open at Bezos Academy. Since then, we’ve learned a lot about the space we need to effectively run a preschool,” said Bezos Academy Director of Communications Allison Leader via email. “Operating in this community has been a wonderful experience, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to attract the number of families we had hoped. Despite efforts from us and many members of the community, we just can’t fill our seats at the level we need to continue. We are working closely with both families and staff to support them during this transition.”

Bezos Academy tuition-free (for eligible families) all-day preschools are also located in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky and Texas.

According to the official website, the Bezos Academy “program model was inspired by many of the core principles of the Montessori method. These principles include children having choice in their work, maintaining a prepared environment, and using a child’s interests and movement to support learning and cognition. We believe that these principles, among others, promote creativity, independence, collaboration, and leadership.“

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April 2, 2025

Subject: Petition to Save Our Preschool

Dear Michael Abello, Chief Education Officer, Bezos Academy,

We, the undersigned parents and community members, write to express our heartfelt commitment to preserving the Pacific Beach Bezos Academy. This institution has been a cornerstone of our community, providing exceptional early education and fostering the development of our children.

Recognizing the challenges currently faced, we are determined to support the Pacific Beach Bezos Academy in achieving sustainable enrollment numbers. As part of this commitment, we, the parents, pledge to actively engage in referral efforts to attract new families to join our preschool community. Through word-of-mouth advocacy, outreach to friends and family, and participation in community events, and we will work tirelessly to ensure that enrollment numbers increase so that the preschool thrives.

“In selecting communities for our preschools, we consider a wide range of data, including income levels, participation in free and reduced-cost meal programs, and gaps in access to licensed childcare providers,” says the Bezos Day One Fund. We invite you to review the comparison below of Grays Harbor County’s health rankings compared to state and national averages.

In Grays Harbor County, the average household spent 43% of its income on child care for two children and 19% of children live in poverty. (Source: 2025 County Health Rankings - https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/health-data/washington/grays-harbor?year=2025

Child care access is what most parents would describe as the greatest challenge in our community.

From our county’s early childhood support services gap analysis report taken in 2023, “Lack of child care access came up repeatedly as a theme amongst providers. Providers highlighted access concerns generally, but also noted specific segments of the population for whom they observe that access challenges are the greatest. These included: • Families who do not qualify for Working Connections subsidy • Families who need infant or toddler care • Families who need care for children with complex emotional, behavioral, and developmental needs

This observed lack of capacity has likely been worsened by a decrease in available child care slots in Grays Harbor following the COVID pandemic. In their 2022 Grays Harbor brief, Child Care Aware of WA reported that the number of child care providers in Grays Harbor dropped from 48 to 38 between 2017 and 2021, with the resulting loss of nearly 200 child care slots.”

Source: Grays Harbor County Public Health – 2023 Early Learning Childhood Support Services Gap Analysis https://www.healthygh.org/data

We kindly urge you to consider this petition and the collective efforts of parents who believe in the value of this preschool. Together, we can secure the future of Pacific Beach Bezos Academy for the next generation of children and continue to provide our children with the foundation they deserve.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

Sincerely,