From the Director: 2026 Changes

Teri Ann Cox
Executive Director of The Children’s Center

January 2026

Dear Center Families,

As we kick off the new year, I want to first wish you all the very best – may 2026 be filled with hope, health, and happiness for you and yours!

In lieu of my monthly newsletter contribution, I am writing this letter instead because The Children’s Center has an exciting year ahead that will include visible changes I want to inform you of as we continue to implement the 2025-2028 strategic plan approved last year by our board of directors. One of the five primary goals we are focusing on strategically is “repositioning” our property into a “purpose-driven building and grounds.”

Many of you know that we completed much of the Wetlands Learning Gardens installation last fall and will finish this project in the spring by building benches around the outside classroom area and installing 15 educational signposts that will guide children and inspire learning. While classrooms will be able to watch the hundreds of plantings emerge from their winter slumber, we will be planning an official, symbolic “ribbon-cutting” in late June to celebrate this significant investment in our property. Thanks to many generous donors, who celebrated our 50th anniversary with monetary gifts, children will now be able to access a portion of our playground area that is often underwater for months out of the year.

We will also in the spring be repaving and expanding our parking lot out back. Given the considerable growth we have experienced (now caring for over 200 children vs. less than 150, eight years ago), we recognize parking has been tight. Stay tuned on how additional spots will be added (e.g., for school age pick up from the basketball court area) and former ones slightly reconfigured, thanks to the excellent planning by Norway Plains Associates.

Inside the building, you may see updates occurring in your child’s classroom, as we remodel cabinets and storage areas that haven’t been addressed in years. In 2025, we touched the Penguins, Amigos, Snapdragons, and Little Loons rooms and are looking to move to some of the toddler classrooms next.

For the infant program, we plan to leverage the annual NH Gives fundraiser (June 9-10, 2026), to raise money to transform the small corner area off the baby room deck to include non-toxic turf material and eco-friendly sensory surfaces, so that our youngest children and their caregivers can enjoy more space and time outside, right from their back door.

In the months ahead, I will also be sharing new details on how we aim in the future to slightly expand our building’s footprint so that we can better deliver the services we provide. From speech, PT, and mental health therapy rooms to a much-needed conference room for parent-teacher conferences and IEP meetings, to a flexible staff meeting area and a few offices, we are working with LDa Architects & Interiors to determine how best we will physically add onto our building without disrupting our normal daily operations. This will be a daunting but very doable task with the right planning and coordination.

Given these above larger-scale projects and the need to focus my attention on overseeing these plans (as well as raising significant capital), we will be looking to bring on board the first half of the year an experienced center director to manage the day-to-day licensed aspects of the infant, toddler, preschool, and school age programming. The preferred candidate with be a collaborative partner with me and the coordinators to ensure that the quality of our programs isn’t impacted by the implementation of the building and grounds objectives we are envisioning and planning to accomplish by 2028.

As you can see, there are a lot of exciting changes coming in our future! In the year ahead, I will continue to keep you informed of the decisions and progress we are making against our objectives. If along the way, you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Until then, Happy New Year!

With kind regards,

Teri Ann Cox, Executive Director