Keren Cameron, Director of Good Morning Preschool, posed with brothers Alexsis and Gabriel in this 2022 photo.
Photo by Lauren Weber
Mainstreeter Staff
For over 40 years, Good Morning Creative Arts & Preschool has operated licensed, arts-based childcare programs at its current location in the Logan-Ventca Hall at the corner of First Avenue and Bank Street in the Glebe. But while the school has been an important fixture in the Glebe for over 40 years, its tenure in that community may be coming to an end given a sequence of recent events that have left the organization scrambling to relocate in time for the next school year.
According to Katherine Liston, President of Good Morning Preschool’s Board of Directors, “time is running out for us to find a new location in time for September.” She notes that since the sale of their current Logan-Vencta Hall location in the Glebe, “Good Morning has been engaged in discussions with a local institution and had been looking forward to moving nearby in time for next school year. Unfortunately, we recently learned that the institution is no longer interested in renting to a long-term tenant, so we are once again looking for a new home.”
The timing of this latest news was “heartbreaking” says Karen Cameron, Director of Good Morning Preschool, coming as it did only two days before Christmas. “Obviously, we are gutted as we have been working for the past 10 months on this project without any indication that we would not be able to move forward with our tenancy.” She says that the preschool’s relocation plans are now about a year behind schedule, a setback that comes at the end of three difficult years, which have included low registration due to COVID-19, COVID-related closures, and the sale of the Logan-Vencta Hall building Good Morning Preschool occupied for more than four decades.
For her part, Liston suggests Good Morning would be open to moving to other neighbourhoods in central Ottawa, including Old Ottawa East, in order to serve young families. “As many of our alumni have lived in Old Ottawa East, this would likely be an ideal location for us! We are a well-established, not-for-profit cooperative committed to educating and enriching young people, and we would work hard to be a good fit for any organization interested in renting space to us.”
Good Morning’s Board of Directors is reaching out to the public to assist in locating a new forever home for the preschool. Anyone knowing of a location that might be suitable for the preschool or interested in joining Good Morning’s relocation committee is asked to contact the preschool by email at goodmorningpreschool@gmail.com.
