TPNS Turning 60

March 7, 2019

The Tahoe Parents Nursery School (TPNS) is celebrating its 60^th anniversary with a fundraiser and book drive to help it transition to its new, permanent home on the campus of Lake Tahoe Community College. All community members and parents are invited to TPNS’ 60^th anniversary “adult social” with lots of good friends, food, drink, and memories, taking place on Saturday, March 30 from 5:30pm-9pm in LTCC’s Creekside Room and Student Center.

Tickets for this event are $55. Proceeds will go toward the development of a new playground for TPNS’ new, permanent home at LTCC. Tickets can be purchased safely online at Eventbrite (search for ‘TPNS’). Each ticket includes heavy appetizers from the Tallac Catering Company, beer and wine, and a commemorative glass. Raffle tickets for prizes and Tahoe Blue Vodka signature cocktails will be available for sale.

In loving memory of TPNS teacher Judy Simmons and her 29 years of dedication to South Lake Tahoe’s children and the families of TPNS, attendees are asked to please bring a new, favorite hardcover book to donate to the TPNS library, which will be dedicated as the “Teacher Judy Library” at the anniversary celebration. Bookplates will be available to add your name as a donor at the event. Attendees can also make a donation of money for the purchase of books. Donated new hardcover books can also be dropped off at TPNS’ current address, 1100 Lyons Avenue, anytime between Monday and Thursday, 9am-12:30pm.

For those who cannot attend, book or monetary donations are warmly welcomed via snail mail, sent to Tahoe Parents Nursery School, One College Drive, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 96150. For more information about this event, contact LTCC Director of Childhood Development Programs Leslie Amato at (530) 541-8767, or email amato@ltcc.edu.

TPNS started as an idea back in January 1958, when 10 local mothers first got together to consider creating a compassionate, high-quality preschool for South Lake Tahoe’s youth. After eight months of fundraising, enough was raised to pay the rent on a property and file the paperwork needed to create a nonprofit organization. The school opened later that year with 26 children, becoming the only cooperative preschool program in South Lake Tahoe then, and now.

TPNS strives to graduate well-adjusted and well-prepared students into the Lake Tahoe Unified School District (LTUSD) and into the community. Many of TPNS’ current parents were preschoolers there themselves, creating a multi-generational community link that has helped TPNS to grow, evolve, and maintain its base of involved parents and community members.

Former city councilwoman and LTUSD board member Wendy David, whose children attended TPNS and who also served as its co-director, sees TPNS the way many other local parents do – as much more than just a school.

“TPNS is the best thing that ever happened for me and my family,” said David. “We began as parents after moving to South Lake Tahoe in 1973, and were fortunate to hear about and be able to join the school. Because it is a co-op, we immediately made friends through working at the school, carpooling, sharing childcare and attending night meetings and socials. The friends we met then have become more than friends; they are family.”

Aileen Yure, a longtime employee at TPNS who retired in December 2017, added, “TPNS has given over 2,000 local families a positive and enriching start to their children’s education. As a cooperative preschool, TPNS parents are an active part of their children’s first educational experience. In the 24 years I have been a part of this amazing program as both a parent and a teacher/director, I have watched children blossom, parents become more confident, and friendships of both young and old develop into lifelong relationships.”