September 18, 2024
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Crystal Lake preschool starts school year at new home after avoiding shutdown

Purple Moose kicks off new school year at St. Paul’s Church in Crystal Lake

By Michelle Meyer
Purple Moose Preschool starts the school year at its new home in St. Paul's Church located at 485 W Woodstock St., Crystal Lake.

Purple Moose Preschool starts the school year at its new home in St. Paul's Church located at 485 W Woodstock St., Crystal Lake. (Michelle Meyer)

Crystal Lake-based Purple Moose Enrichment Preschool will start its first day of school Tuesday at its new home, less than nine months after losing the space it had leased at for seven years.

Purple Moose now operates at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, at 485 W. Woodstock St., after the school received the surprising news in January that its lease at the current church would not be renewed.

St. Paul’s Church reached out to Purple Moose after hearing about its sudden need for a home. The Montessori school housed at the church had shut down because of low enrollment, said the Rev. Bob Wang, St. Paul’s pastor. Having Purple Moose move in is a “win-win” opportunity to further serve the community outside of church practices.

“We’re thrilled,” St. Paul’s council President Wendy Manser said. “It is such a joy to hear those voices and see those smiling faces again at the church.”

Teachers Cheryl Covert and Lisa Knoeppel teach about today’s weather during circle time on Tuesday Jan. 23, 2024, at the Purple Moose in Crystal Lake. The preschool will close down after the current school year finishes in June, unless the school can find another location after the Shiloh Church decided not to renew the preschool's lease.

Teachers Cheryl Covert and Lisa Knoeppel teach about the weather during circle time on Tuesday Jan. 23, 2024, at the Purple Moose in Crystal Lake at the school's former location. It lost its lease and had to relocate. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

The preschool moved into the church earlier this summer and has hosted its summer camp at the new 3,500-square-foot location. More than a dozen families helped the school move in a single day, Purple Moose Director Anna Linscheid said.

Despite the limbo it was in earlier this year, the school enrolled about 80 kids for this school year, Linscheid said. The nonprofit preschool serves almost 100 children ages 2 to 6 and has 13 employees. The enrichment part of the school means that each month the school focuses on a specific theme, such as the human body or dinosaurs.

“After working through all the ins and outs of the process, we know this is just the beginning of a long and prosperous partnership between the members of St. Paul’s Church and our friends who make up the Purple Moose family,” Wang said.

Purple Moose previously leased from Shiloh Church for seven years and has been in the community for 39 years. The school also previously rented from St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Crystal Lake.

“I want to say ‘thank you’ to the community,” Linscheid said. “We wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for them. I just have so much gratitude for them that we are able to keep moose-ing on.”

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