Mint Hill parents scrambling to find childcare as lease between school & church ends
MINT HILL, NC — Parents of a preschool in Mint Hill are spending their spring break looking for childcare after finding out their kids school will have to leave their current location by mid-June.
It appears the Blair Road School and the Blair Road United Methodist Church have come to a fork in the road.
Parents of the school were told on Friday, the church and school decided to end their current lease.
“Right before our spring break was starting, and I just felt super shocked, caught off guard, um, and anxious, you know, wondering how I was going to make plans for summer and fall if we weren’t able to reach a resolution,” explained Lauren Blackshaw.
Parents Blackshaw and Meredith Carpenter are now spending looking for other options.
“I’m going to be potentially losing all child care for the summer effectively in five weeks.
Preschool does not operate after Memorial Day,” said Carpenter.
Blair Road School is a pre-school that also offers after school programs for dozens of families in the area.
“Blair Road preschool not only serve the preschool community, but also students across Mint Hill and Matthews because students who are ordinarily in our K-5 school system come here for full day,” said Carpenter.
The school’s director sent out a letter to parents last Friday saying the relationship between the school and church deteriorated and the church was willing to allow the school, which has been there for more than 40 years, to stay one more year by agreeing to an increase in rent from $500 to $5,000.
A statement on the church’s website, states the school was originally created to maintain a collaborative relationship with the church which includes reflecting it’s mission and values. Writing the school no longer maintain that close relationship.
Both the church and school declined to be interviewed.
Rev. Rick Schilling with Blair Road UMC gave WCCB this statement:
“The Church remains steadfast in our commitment to serve and support our community with integrity and care.
Blair Road School is an independent legal entity from the Church. Originally, the School was established to maintain a close and collaborative relationship with the Church. This included having church leadership represented on the School's Board of
Directors, following shared bylaws agreed upon by both parties, and operating in a way that reflects the mission and values of the Church.
Regrettably, the School no longer maintains that close and collaborative relationship, and we are deeply saddened that the connection has deteriorated. The Churchβs legal counsel has attempted to resolve the matter in full with the attorney for the School. Unfortunately, these attempts have not been met with meaningful or substantiveΒ engagement.
The Church has been in contact with the School since the summer of 2024 to negotiate a new lease. This advance notice was an earnest effort to not disrupt the continuity of care for community children and their families. Given the Church is a
separate entity from the School, the Church cannot notify the clientele of the School. That falls within the purview of the School to contact families.”
An attorney for Blair Road School’s gave WCCB this statement:
” As you likely have seen shared among social media posts and email blasts from Blair Road UMC (“UMC”), a conflict has arisen between BRS and UMC that has sparked public discourse regarding payment sought by UMC from BRS. At this time, BRS has no intention of closing down. This is, at its core, a conflict between a Landlord and its Tenant. BRS is actively seeking an alternative location for its daily operations so it can continue to provide daycare, afterhours, and summer school options for its many wonderful families. BRS is grateful for those who, on their own initiative, started a GoFundMe campaign with the best intentions to help BRS through these times. Ms. Heimbach and BRS thanks everyone for their outpouring of love and support and hopes to continue providing services for years to come.”
