After 56 years helping north Fort Smith children, Inter-Faith Community Preschool closing

There are police officers, attorneys, parents and even grandparents who can claim they were once students at the north Fort Smith preschool.

For 56 years, the Inter-Faith Community Preschool has prepared children for kindergarten during a time before pre-kindergarten in public schools.

The metal building with red trim at the entrance sits in a part of north Fort Smith that has had many families in need such as Sindy Torres. Her son Jordan Torres, 5, attended the preschool for two years.

"He loves it. He likes going to school. He does not ever want to miss anything at school. If he does he asks, "But mom why.' He loves his teachers and everyone at the school," Torres said. The children are sad the school is closing.

The people who live nearby who could not afford a daycare or a preschool in 1967 were the focus of a mission.

That mission became the Inter-Faith Community Preschool, 1200 N 5th Street. It was hit by a tornado in 1996 and a new school built. It survived the pandemic, and has remained open with fewer students, said executive director Ann Law.

Law has been at the preschool since the days before public school offered pre-kindergarten, before a 3-year-old could get into a public school program. The people who lived in the area needed assistance then.

But the time has come to close the preschool, where one of the famous former students is Jaylin Williams and his cousins, Law said.

Families will say goodbye at a reception from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 7. The last graduation will be on May 17 at the preschool.

People frequently stop by to see their old preschool, she said. A police officer, an attorney, others who say they remember their former teachers there. So the stream of people stopping by to say farewell has picked up, Law said.

A mission in 1967

Between time to play and time to nap for the children on a midweek day, Law talked about the local mission of 1967, and the people who made it happen.

In 1985, Law was the preschool director of the Van Buren First Baptist Church preschool. She said she was invited to Inter-Faith to "join their mission."

"Inter-faith was a mission at that time, and still is for families who have difficulty paying for preschool on a monthly basis. We cater to the lower income families," Law said.

She said there were seven Methodists who had a vision for the nonprofit Inter-Faith preschool. By 1987, Law became the director at Inter-Faith.

After a tornado hit the building at night in 1996, the former building was razed and a new one was built and opened in 1998.

"We had a board that worked diligently to make this happen over all these years," Law said.

The current board president of Inter-Faith is Amy Evans. She said the preschool has been free to children over the years thanks to the the public.

"Through the years we've had many generous donations and sponsors," Evans said. "I think Inter-Faith has served the community well."

Law said pre-kindergarten classes were not part of the public school district when the preschool opened.

"There was very little resources in the 80s and 90s, even up the the first part of the 2000s," Law said.

"That was the most important time for us to be needed to be here. In this day and age now there are so many resources for families to be able to go to public school, the ABCs programs in public schools that are free for families and take 3-year-olds," Law said. There are more preschools today.

Preschool is important for socialization before kindergarten for children, she said. Preschool helps develop the fundamentals to help the child and their kindergarten year, she said.

"There is always going to be a need for preschool, especially when it may be over $200 a week now and parents are paying over $800 a month," Law said. "There are plenty of resources out there to help parents now. There are DHS vouchers. There are more resources than when we started this mission."

During the pandemic, the preschool closed in March 2020 but reopened for the fall. There have been fewer children, and staff members have been sick and some have left their jobs. There have been about 35 children enrolled at Inter-Faith since the pandemic, she said.

She talked about the importance of preschool.

"If they (children) haven't been in a preschool environment before they get to preschool environment before they get to pre-K, it is not so much the curriculum that the teachers are looking for, it's the social and emotional aspect of preschool. How they can get along with other kids, how they can share, how they can listen, get in line, take instructions. That is the most important thing the the kindergarten teachers are looking at. If they can't get along with other children, they can't sit in circle time or get in line they are totally lost," Law said.

Farewell reception May 7

At 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 7, the preschool will be open for a farewell reception for the public.

There will be refreshments and a lot of memories to share.

"This gives our families who have been with us since day one who still come by to bring toys or to come by to see if we need anything," Law said. "I want this time to be for them to come back and see their school. I want this time for families to bring their kids back. The kids who are 35 years old can come back and they will have that opportunity to come by and see their school one last time and see their teachers they had 30 years ago," she said.

On May 17, the last class will go through graduation, she said.

Law said the closing of the pre-school is "bittersweet."

" I've been here 36 years. I've had kids come back who I taught probably 30 years ago and now they are in their mid-30s," Law said. "We've had children who came here who are bringing new kids back now. We have grandparents who came here who are bringing their grandkids back. So it's a generation after generation family."

"It's bittersweet because I know it is time for me to leave. I think everything has its season. And I think our season for Inter-Faith you know, we were here at the neediest time for children and their families when there were no resources available."

Evans said the farewell reception will be a good time to thank all of those involved over the years in Inter-Faith, including Law.

"We really appreciate Ann and all of her involvement and what she has done to help the community over the years," Evans said.

For Sindy Torres, the closing is also sad. She said the children in Jordan's class will keep in touch, but are also sad the school is closing.

"They love the school, they call the little school. They are sad, but Jordan is going to kindergarten and the preschool has been a blessing for me and Jordan," Torres. "I'm very grateful to have experienced the school with my kids. There are so many good memories I will have and they will have."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Inter-Faith Community Preschool in Fort Smith is set to close