Save The Learning Tree School!

OUR SCHOOL FACES CLOSURE!!!

After cultivating a relationship with our landlord for over 21 years, with little notice he is asking us to vacate, not because we are behind in rent, not because we are not good tenants, BUT because someone offered “triple” the money we are paying.

We need to raise one million dollars ($1,000,000) immediately to continue serving the Bronx community.  

Should our school close, 300 students will be displaced and 42 employees will suddenly be without employment. This is a worthy cause; please help us.

HELP! Save A Valuable Education

A message from Lois Gregory, Founder of The Learning Tree Cultural Preparatory School

As one of many children living in a segregated town, we were told by teachers that we were inferior to whites and that slavery saved us from cannibalism, and I believed it. I know firsthand how it feels not to know your true story or your personal greatness. I know how it feels to lack confidence and to feel worthless. It hurts! Can you imagine a teacher telling you that you could never succeed in college and the best you could ever hope for is to work in a 10-cent store?

How lucky I was to finally get to New York City, where I began learning the truth of my culture and attended college. I was determined that one day I would have a school where “all” children would be celebrated, learn of their culture, and be encouraged to feel proud, smart, and know of their endless possibilities. Finally, The Learning Tree was born.

The Learning Tree has been serving the Bronx community for over 40 years with amazing outcomes. From nursery through 8th Grade, all children are celebrated and experience academic rigor and many extracurricular courses. Our school was not built overnight; it has been cultivated and nurtured for over 40 years. Our culture is embedded with joint belief systems shared between the school and families, the practice of teaching virtues and building character, and the developed ceremonies and traditions that celebrate academic excellence.

HELP! Save A Valuable Education

The Learning Tree continues to do fundraising, particularly with fun family involvement activities. Unfortunately, our fundraisers alone cannot give us the immediate one million dollars that we need. 

That teacher long ago told me I could not get into college; however, I did. So, together, let us defy the odds again and raise the million dollars necessary to keep The Learning Tree open.

The Learning Tree serves students from Nursery through 8th Grade. Many of our preschoolers learn to read and become excellent readers in kindergarten and 1st grade. In addition, many of our graduating 8th graders are accepted into specialized high schools, high-ranking public schools, and independent schools and earn top honors in their classes.

Our middle school program includes performing and visual arts, featuring dance, djembe drumming, drama, sewing, an entrepreneurial program, and rites of passage.

From kindergarten through 8th Grade, field trips are important to our program; for example:

Third graders go to Penn Dutch County;

Fourth graders go to Historical Penn;

Fifth graders go to Washington D.C;

Sixth graders go to The Gullah Islands;

Seventh graders go camping in New York State; and

Eighth graders go on international trips, often donating supplies and performing community service in these countries. For example, in the country of Ghana, in the village of Apatrapa, The Learning Tree raised money to build a water well for the village. Some of the many countries visited were Egypt, Peru, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, China, Morocco, and many more!

Our children are also taught to give back through community service, and also each year, we have a St. Jude’s Trike-a-Thon, raising at least $5,000.00 for the sick children of Saint Jude’s Hospital.

Some of our outcomes are evident in our alumni. Over 95% of our alum complete high school successfully, and over 85% complete college successfully. Many of our alum have professional careers, i.e., teachers, doctors, lawyers, accountants, nurses, engineers, Information Technologists (IT), CEOs, etc.

Please visit our website www.learningtreeprep.org and please donate via the GoFundMe page.

HELP! Save A Valuable Education