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60 Years in Community

In the fall of 1962, a group of neighbors in Norwich, VT formed a playgroup for their three-year-old children and met in their homes a few days a week. The parents wanted a situation more structured than the neighborhood group that was already playing together but did not want their children in the five-day sessions offered by the only preschool in the area at the time. The group began by funding necessary materials, a teacher's time, and also by serving as assistant teachers on a rotating basis. They met regularly in the ground level basement garage of one of the families. The modest space was accommodating; there was a low, large table for crafts, a couch for reading stories borrowed from the library, and a spot for a record player. Materials and supplies were basic, consisting of drawing paper, crayons, chalk, and borrowed puzzles. Storage was the trunk of one of the parent's cars. When the year ended everyone assumed the playgroup would end, too.

Given the success of the group, one parent offered their basement and another suggested there might be space available at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth. An agreement was soon reached to use the preschool room at the Church of Christ. The parent group firmed up rules about participation and tuition, adopted the name "Hampshire Cooperative Nursery School," and opened in the fall of 1963 with a class of twelve three-year-olds.

HCNS obtained state licensing in 1970 and created the head teacher role to assist the president in running the school. One of the most important and fortunate decisions of the school's history was when Sue Denhartog was hired in 1968 as a teacher. In 1970, she was named head teacher, and she developed and nurtured the role for more than 2 decades.

In 1987, HCNS became the first early childhood program in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine to become accredited by the National Academy of Education for Young Children (NAEYC). This was and still is a distinction shared with relatively few programs nationwide.​

Patricia Wells Knowles became the Director after Sue Denhartog and led the 30th anniversary celebration for the school. The Valley News dedicated a full-page article with pictures on the front page of the "Close-Up" section to acknowledge the remarkable occasion. At that point, the school was growing rapidly and needed to expand. Patricia Wells Knowles, along with the Board of Directors, enlisted the help of the Tuck School at Dartmouth College to develop a study to help determine the future of the school. This study led to the decision to move the location of the school from the Church of Christ at Dartmouth to the school's present location on Lyme Road. Trumbell Nelson led the renovations to make the space more accommodating for a preschool.

Linda Shemanske became the Director in 1995 and her very first endeavor was to pack up and move the entire school to Lyme Road. Linda joined the HCNS community as a parent in 1983-84 when her daughter was enrolled in the preschool. She was hired as a teacher in 1986 and was ready for a change towards the end of the 1995 academic school year. It was perfect timing for her to take on the role of Director, which she held for 18 years. 

In 2015, veteran teacher Meg O’Leary took over as Director. In the years since, Meg has nurtured hundreds of students and families – including four of her grandchildren – and mentored our teachers. In 2022, Meg was joined by Jess Grant, an educator and HCNS parent, as Co-Director.

There has been tremendous growth for the school in recent decades. A soccer program was established and summer camp programs were created; both of which are open to all children of the Upper Valley community. HCNS has offered numerous enrichment activities to enhance the experiences and love for learning for our children and families: field trips to Cedar Circle Farm, maple sugaring with Dartmouth Organic Farm students, and hikes guided by members of the Hanover Conservancy are just a few of the famously fun and exciting opportunities for the children. The school's outdoor space has been transformed to create a play environment rooted in nature, based on the belief that children thrive when they spend time with the natural world. Our tuition assistance program has tripled with generous support from the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation and the Couch Family Foundation. 

Over the school's first 60 years, there have been over 20 teachers and hundreds of very committed parents who have dedicated their time and energy to making the school the success it continues to be.