I am writing to express my concern about the City’s decision to end Piedmont Play School’s lease in the building that the Piedmont community built for it, effectively abandoning an institution that has served this community for decades.
Nearly twenty-five years ago, Piedmont families — including my wife and I — partnered with the City to design, fund, and build a permanent home for PPS. Our design firm donated roughly one-third of the design and development costs. Parents fundraised and donated to cover another third, and the City contributed the remainder. The project was publicly described as PPS’s permanent home by city officials, in the press, and by the Piedmont families who contributed so generously to build it.
Given that history, the City’s refusal to even discuss a lease extension feels like a profound breach of trust. Piedmont families invested time, money, and labor, believing they were building a permanent home for PPS — not a temporary rental to be reclaimed when convenient.
After learning of the City’s decision, I met with the PPS Board and offered my help. I also spoke with councilmembers and administrators. Mark Delventhal, the retired Recreation Director who led the PPS discussions, called me personally to express his displeasure and confirmed to me that the building we built was intended as a permanent home for PPS as long as the school was in operation.
Current City Council members and administrators have described the PPS cooperative model as “outdated,” noting that most parents are dual-income working families. They also said that PPS is “not at full capacity” and “out of step with the needs of the community,” and pointed to a waitlist of 41 children for full-time care.
In response, I met with the PPS board and suggested offering full-time care while maintaining the cooperative elements that make the school special. PPS is a state-licensed program, and so was able to implement this model as early as the Fall of 2026.
The PPS board promptly developed a proposal to the City to do just that: offer a full-time preschool program instead of half-day, and adjust cooperative participation to one morning or afternoon per month, prioritizing Piedmont residents and at no cost to the City. The City rejected this offer, but will not publicly state what they plan to use the PPS building for.
This history, these proposals, and the overwhelming response and concern from the Piedmont community highlight two important truths. First, cooperative preschool is not a relic. It is a community-centered model that has benefited generations of Piedmont families, fostering parent involvement, early childhood development, and neighborhood connection.
Second, the fact that Piedmont families built the facility with the expectation of permanence should carry moral weight. Whether or not the cooperative preschool model aligns with the City’s preferences, the City owes the Piedmont community transparency, respect, and a good-faith process.
The broader issue is the message the City’s decision sends. My family has lived in Piedmont for 33 years, during which we have seen numerous community-driven projects come to life — from improvements at Dracena Park and Coaches Field to recreation facilities across town. None of these projects would have been possible without Piedmont residents donating their funds, expertise, and time.
The citizens of Piedmont contribute generously to city projects because we believe in this community and trust that our efforts will have a lasting impact. To see what has happened to the home built for Piedmont Play School — a project funded and built by parents, volunteers, and local professionals — is a breach of that trust. It’s hard to imagine giving more to Piedmont when the City appears willing to disregard the commitments made when Piedmont citizens donate to civic projects.
Piedmont Play School is more than a tenant. It is a valued, community-built institution, one the City once proudly supported. To dismiss it without meaningful dialogue undermines the civic partnership that has made the City of Piedmont a model of community engagement.
We urge the City Council to reconsider its decision, or at a minimum, to engage openly and respectfully with the PPS community to find a path forward that honors the history, investment, and values that created this school.