Preschool celebrates 75th anniversary

Hundreds of people with ties to Sleepy Hollow Preschool came back April 20 to celebrate the school’s 75th anniversary.

The celebration drew current and former students, family members, and staff to the school, currently located at John Calvin Presbyterian Church on Columbia Pike in Annandale.

The event also honored Debbie Brown, who has been with Sleepy Hollow Preschool (SHPS) for 30 years – as a parent, teacher, and since 2006, the school’s director until her retirement in 2023.

SHPS was founded by a group of local parents in 1949 and has been a parent-governed, cooperative preschool ever since.

In the beginning, the school was held in families’ homes. Later, it met in various locations around Annandale, including St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, First Presbyterian Church of Annandale, and for the last decade, John Calvin Presbyterian Church.

Despite being housed in a church, SHPS has always offered a non-sectarian preschool experience for children of all backgrounds, says Hillary Nebhut, a SHPS parent and marketing chair. 

During the 2020-21 school year when most school buildings in the area were closed due to the Covid pandemic, SHPS stayed open by safely and successfully shifting the entire program outdoors. “That was no small feat when dealing with dozens of 2 to 5-year-olds,” Nebhut says.

Throughout its history, SHPS and staff members have won numerous awards.

Many long-standing traditions are still in action at Sleepy Hollow: Children still make applesauce for the annual Thanksgiving feast. They shake bells at the annual holiday sing-a-long, watch for the chicks to hatch each spring, and release the butterflies they’ve observed growing from caterpillars.

And they still play outside on rainy, snowy, and sunny days.