Another Jackson day care - one of the largest in South Jackson - will close today and leave parents searching for a new school.
Play and Learn Preschool did not have enough staff members to supervise the number of children it had, according to state requirements. But state officials said they were working with the day care to correct the issue and did not force the school to close. The decision was made by the church that owns the school.
Play and Learn, which is owned by and part of Life Church Jackson, will close at 5:30 p.m. today, said Catrina Hillsman. She is the director of the day care.
The church is a satellite campus for Life Church Memphis. Life Church Jackson was formerly Landmark Church, and Play and Learn was previously Jumpstart Early Learning Center, both on Tenn. 18 in South Jackson.
Life Church Memphis told Hillsman on Monday that it would close the day care four days later, and then the church sent letters to inform parents, she said.
"Parents didn't get the news until Tuesday," she said. "And I only found out Monday afternoon. They gave no notice this was happening."
Life Church Memphis did not return phone calls Thursday afternoon.
Parent Codey Henson said he was upset when he learned the preschool would close with little notice.
"With all these kids, all 70 of them, you can't just expect parents to have a place to go," he said.
Henson and his fiancee both have children at Play and Learn. He is a chaperone for field trips and sometimes drives the van.
"I just love those kids; they're so awesome," he said. "The school-age kids are a blast to hang out with. Those kids deserve something better than Life Church. That church didn't care about them at all."
The Tennessee Department of Human Services had been working with the day care on a couple of issues, including the teacher-student ratio and licensing finalization, department spokeswoman Michelle Mowery-Johnson said.
The agency had made 10 visits to the day care after the day care and church changed ownership in January, she said.
Hillsman said those visits were part of routine checkups Human Services conducts with every day care. State officials were helping Play and Learn Preschool finish its paperwork for a license because of the name change.
Church leadership changed names and hands this summer, when the former Landmark Church became part of Life Church, Hillsman said.
Dana Jones owned the original day care on U.S. 412 but offered to move her day care to the campus of Landmark if the church built her a center, Hillsman said.
In January 2008, the church bought the day care, and Jones became a staff member. In January 2009, Life Church bought the church - which includes the preschool - and in May, Jones was fired, Hillsman said.
A few teachers left with Jones, which contributed to uneven ratios of children and teachers, Hillsman said. She said she had wanted to hire more teachers but couldn't do so without the help of church leaders.
Parents have been upset with the news of the preschool's closing, Hillsman said.
"I was going to have a meeting for parents to update them on the name change and new ownership," she said. "But the church told me to cancel it. Then they told me they were shutting us down. They weren't professional at all in how they handled this."