History

Pleasant Street Preschool is a non-profit organization that was founded in the summer of 2008 by a small group of individuals who wanted a high-quality, early childhood education program that would serve the needs of families in Paris and Bourbon County.  We started out at 617 Pleasant Street in the ground floor of the Paris First United Methodist Church.  Since then we have relocated to our current location on Main Street to accommodate our growing program.

OUR HISTORY
(The REAL Story)

Pleasant Street Preschool started as a great idea thought up on a snowy day in December 2007 while the founders (Larissa & Andrew) sat on the couch drinking espresso and playing the guitar. Larissa (a graduate of Berea College with a B.A. in Child Development & Family Studies) had been teaching pre-k for several years and thought she had a pretty good idea of how a little preschool should be run. Throw in Andrew’s business sense, encouragement from family and friends, more espresso, a few excited phone calls, donations from friends, donations from familiy, donations from kind, wonderful strangers (thanks strangers!), the sale of their Volvo station wagon to raise some more funds, the inevitable trip to IKEA and -BAM- a preschool was born!

Unfortunately, the opening date had to be pushed back for various reasons and PSP opened so late in August of 2008 that most parents had already signed up their children at other schools. So PSP opened its’ doors with two teachers, two students and one class bunny. The outlook wasn’t bright… But by September there were four students, by October there were seven students, by December there were ten students and by February of 2009 there were so many students on the waiting list it was obvious they’d have to find a larger space!

In March of 2009 a very kind property owner made a very kind offer and the dilemma of where to go was solved. The work began: painting, renovating, fundraising, purchasing, another trip to IKEA and the hiring of more staff. (They consider the adoption of their second bunny to be a contributing factor in their success.) They opened the doors at their new location in August of 2009 (only one year later) with three classrooms, five staff members and twenty-five students.  A couple of goldfish soon followed.

In August of 2010 Pleasant Street Preschool opened its’ fourth classroom, hired three more staff members and adopted a few baby chicks.

In August of 2011 Pleasant Street Preschool began offering a private Kindergarten Class.

In a time of soaring unemployment rates and economic struggle, Pleasant Street Preschool started with not a penny in their pocket and only a strong sense of adventure to lead the way. They couldn’t have done it without the wonderful students and families of PSP who have helped them along the way.