Parents and teachers were outraged after a St. Petersburg preschool and daycare center suddenly closed Tuesday, with the only advance notice being a sign on the locked doors that read “CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE — NEW OWNERSHIP.”
All teachers at Learning Adventures Preschool, located at 4401 38th Ave N, were told they had been fired. Families were told they would need to find a new place to take their children.
Parents and staff first learned Friday that the school’s previous owner, Dorothy Mull, was selling the school she had owned since 2016.
Staff praised Mull and said due to a clause in the contract, Friday was the earliest she could inform them of the new management.
In a letter dated Nov. 10 that was given to parents who attended the school’s Thanksgiving celebration Friday and sent to others Monday, Mull wrote that it was a difficult decision to sell Learning Adventures.
Mull told staff she vetted potential buyers and wrote to parents that the new owner, Denice Aviles, “shares the same values, dedication and love for early childhood education.”
“There will be no immediate changes to staff, tuition or daily operations,” Mull wrote.
In an interview Wednesday, Mull said the new buyer’s switch-up was “a total shock.” She said she met with Aviles Monday, when Aviles and her team met the rest of the staff and parents, and said everything appeared to be on track. Mull learned of the change Tuesday when an employee called her in tears.
She said she spent most of Tuesday on the phone trying to see what could be done, but said a real estate agent told her the sale was final and Aviles would have to sell the place.
“I put my blood and sweat tears into that school,” Mull said. “I love those families, I love those kids, I love those staff like family.”
Aviles has been listed as the registered agent for the school since September. She is listed as the registered agent for a Port Charlotte school, Academy of Little Achievers, and a real estate holding company that lists the St. Petersburg preschool’s address as its primary business address, according to staterecords.
Aviles could not immediately be reached for comment. A person who answered the phone for the Academy of Little Achievers said it was the wrong number for Aviles and hung up. Calls to the school and numbers associated with Aviles in state records, as well as email addresses, were not returned.
“They seemed wonderful,” teacher Brianna Adams said of Monday’s meeting. “They were asking questions. They were trying to learn things about the school, getting to know us.”
The school’s director, Sheila Brightman, said that on her way to work Tuesday, she got a call from an employee who told her the school had been shut down and all employees were fired. Brightman called Aviles to ask if that was true. Aviles confirmed it, she said.
“If she wanted to get rid of all of us and bring in her own stuff, fine, but all of these little children are just tossed out into the street,” Brightman said. “Some of them have been together since they were 1, and now they’re 4 and 5 years old.”
Teacher Briana Lucas has two kids who attend the school. She said ripping away the livelihoods of teachers with no warning was devastating when some teachers are living paycheck to paycheck.
“I don’t even know which way to go,” she said.
Teacher Candice Dunson is a single mother of seven who lost her home to Hurricane Helene. She has been staying in a hotel, and when she received a text from a coworker that they were all fired, she was gutted.
“It’s going to be a really rough road ahead,” she said. “We are a family. We looked forward to seeing those kids every day and those kids looked forward to seeing us.”
Parents were left scrambling days before Thanksgiving in an area where waitlists for childcare are long.
DeAnna Shakurov said she transferred her daughter to the school this year after a management change to her former school, and was willing to drive farther and pay more because of the environment it provided.
She called the new owner’s behavior “heartless.”
Sarah Wiemert, a mom with two kids at the school who like several other students and teachers there transferred from the former St. Pete Prep Learning Center, said she took the day off and offered to babysit another kid whose parent was not able to. She has some time off saved, but worries how quickly her family will be able to find childcare.
“We just don’t really know what to do, because it seems like there’s no corrective action we can take,” she said.
This story has been updated.
Divya Kumar is a reporter covering education as a member of the Tampa Bay Times Education Hub. You can contribute to the hub through our journalism fund by clicking here. Reach her at dkumar@tampabay.com.