Founded in 1973, Methodist Early Childhood Education (MECE) Preschool is a non-profit school operating on the campus of the First United Methodist Church of Boca Raton.

MECE is overseen by a Board of Directors that includes representation from parents, former teachers, community leaders, experts in the field, and church leadership.

Under the leadership of Cathy Herschelman, M.Ed., MECE is planned with keen awareness of the special characteristics, needs, interests, and way of learning of the young child. With loving teachers, MECE seeks to promote the child’s spiritual, physical, intellectual, and social-emotional maturity in an atmosphere which reflects basic religious values common to both the Methodist Church and other Christian religions.

The program provides appropriate developmental activities for each child in the areas of language arts, math, science, art, music, and physical education. The MECE teacher endeavors to emphasize the worth and dignity of the individual child and spiritual growth through educational and engaging activities.

Accreditation

As a Christian Preschool Association accredited preschool, MECE is a Florida Gold Seal school. The Christian Preschool Association was established for the purpose of supporting and encouraging high quality, Christian, Early Childhood Education in weekday programs.

All MECE teachers are certified and have been fingerprinted and cleared through a background screening. All staff complete a minimum of 24 hours of Professional Development per year.

The Best for Your Child

All MECE staff members attend at least 24 hours of training annually and are CPR/First Aid trained and certified. All of our classes have 2 adults: a lead teacher and an assistant. Our ratios far surpass the state's standards (ref):

Amazing Parents and Community

At the end of the day, it is the parents and local community who make good schools become great schools. This is one of the reasons that MECE is a part-day school and not a full-time daycare - because equally important to a child's development are shared experiences, a strong parent network, and lifelong friends. We could go on and on about the big and little things that MECE and the Parents' Association do to engender and nurture our collective family. But even better: next time you are at a nearby park, we encourage you to ask around about MECE and see for yourself. And we invite you to become a part of it.