A popular St. Petersburg preschool is closing. The reasons keep changing.

North East Park Preschool has served St. Petersburg families for over three decades with an experienced staff that provides infant and toddler care. Its programs, which include a state-funded Voluntary Prekindergarten program, have a waitlist.

So, parents and employees said they were stunned by an announcement in late June that the school will close on Aug. 9. They were also confused, they said, by the rationale outlined by Drew Grubbs, the lead pastor of Legacy Church at North East Park, which operates the school.

The decision leaves about 100 families with few options on short notice and has forced employees to scramble for new jobs.

In separate letters and emails, Grubbs’ explanations for the decision have varied.

To school employees on June 25, he cited “numerous budget and staff concerns” as the main impetus, adding that “much prayer and thought has gone into this decision.”

An email to families made a similar point, referring to “massive increases in costs” at the school, but adding another factor: It was “hard to replace teachers and staff when they vacate a position,” Grubbs wrote.

To congregants of the church, however, he led with a different reason: the “lifestyle choices” of some staff members, which he described as “unbecoming of Christian preschool teachers.” They “do not represent our commitment to a Biblical worldview,” he wrote in a letter obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

The letter did not elaborate, but parents and teachers have cited previous conversations with Grubbs in which he expressed disdain for staff members who had tattoos, were going through a divorce, and had children out of wedlock.

On its website, Legacy, located at 3737 First St. NE, describes itself as “a Christ centered, scripture focused, Southern Baptist church.”

In an interview, Grubbs denied that lifestyle choices were a rationale for the school’s closure — “It’s a side story that they’re creating,” he said. “We’ve got a very loving approach to staff.”

He initially said no such letter was sent to the congregation. But after he was shown a screenshot of it in a follow-up email, he referred further questions to the church’s lawyer.

Grubbs acknowledged in the interview that the closure felt abrupt but said the congregation had been discussing it since before the pandemic. “There’s not a good time,” he said. “We tried to give them at the least the summer to think it through. We knew it wasn’t going to be convenient.”

He also introduced another reason for the school’s closure: The church, he said, needs room for other activities, including Sunday school, children’s ministries and accessible space for older members.

“We have loved serving the community for the last 33 years,” Grubbs said. “You’re welcome.”

Whatever the reasons for the decision, families and employees say the impending closure has caused major disruption in their lives.

One parent, Erin Mauldin, said that in conversations with other parents, “the general vibe was panic, confusion and borderline despair.”

She and other parents noted that registration for Voluntary Prekindergarten, a free program for 4- and 5-year-olds, closed months ago, and many other day care centers in the area were already full. Mauldin, who compared the mad dash for day care spots to a “Hunger Games” competition, said she called 15 centers the following Monday. The response, she said, was “noes, waitlists or laughter.”

Mauldin was one of 10 North East Park parents interviewed by the Tampa Bay Times, all of them describing a similar situation.

Crystal Bleecher’s family recently bought a house near the preschool so they could walk their children there every morning. After receiving the June 25 email, she said she “went directly into panic mode” and had to take multiple days off of work to visit alternate schools and fill out applications.

Aly Dinelli said she got lucky and found a nearby day care center that just opened a few spots. However, that program ends its day earlier than North East Park, meaning she and her husband, who both have jobs, will need to make new arrangements to pick up their son.

“To make such a brash decision without any discussion with any families — to have children unable to attend VPK or be with friends they built relationships with — I can’t fathom how this guy made this decision,” parent Jordan Perry said, referring to Grubbs. Perry and his wife, Ellie, have a son at the school.

Danielle Wendel, assistant director of St. Petersburg Christian Preschool, said she has been inundated with calls from North East Park parents and staff. Returning to her office one day earlier this month, she found they had left 20 voicemail messages.

“This definitely doesn’t happen often at a preschool and so abruptly,” Wendel said. “Nobody deserves at all to be told in two months or three months or less that you don’t have care for your child and you’re also out of a job.”

Though the Times spoke with five teachers, all but two declined to be named, saying they feared losing the two weeks of severance pay Grubbs has offered to school employees who stay until Aug. 9. The day after the Times first contacted Grubbs for this story, teachers received a letter from him suggesting the money could be withheld if they spoke out.

The severance was offered “as a reward for continued dedication to maintaining professionalism and good comportment until the end of employment,” his letter said. “Please note that talking about the transition at the church in front of the children would equate to unprofessional behavior. Spending time maligning the church staff and congregation also falls in this category.”

Teacher Kayla Coker agreed to be interviewed despite what the letter said. “It is going to disrupt my life,” she said of the closure. “I’m a single mom with two kids and I work two jobs.”

Debbie Dahl, who has taught at the preschool for almost 17 years, said, “I just absolutely love my job” — so much so that she took a pay cut to return to teaching after a career in child development.

“I’m 60 years old, and I was planning to retire there,” Dahl said, noting that she is going through a divorce and is the sole breadwinner for her household. “To go there every single day with parents crying and everyone you work with losing their job has been extremely difficult. It’s the death of a school; it just breaks my heart.”

In addition to mentioning the lifestyles of some preschool staff, Grubbs said in the letter to his congregation that he was disappointed teachers and families at the school had not regularly attended Legacy Church.

Parents countered in interviews that the preschool has regular chapel meetings and puts on an annual Christmas pageant.

On Sunday, July 2, the congregation voted 38-12 to close the preschool. The meeting was open only to members, but some families and teachers from the school attended that morning’s service to try to speak with congregants.

During his sermon, Grubbs quoted a section from the Book of John that tells people to cut away branches that “do not bear fruit.”

He asked: “Are we fruitful?”