A Bloomfield preschool that calls itself nonreligious now greets families with an anti-abortion sign at the driveway. According to a letter parents have been circulating, the school has told families the signs are staying. Now parents are pushing for a meeting to change that.
Foundations Prep School sits just over the Montclair border at 1350 Broad St. and cares for children from 6 weeks to 6 years old, including kids from Montclair families. It rents its space from Brookdale Christian Church. A few weeks ago, parents say, the church put up a run of new signs around the property. They’re along the driveway and parking lot where families drop off, and parents say more hang in the hallways and stairwells inside.
The first one many parents will see as they pull in reads, “Choose Life. Your Mom Did!”
Parents say they have complained to the school and to the church, and some have taken the issue to a Montclair parents’ Facebook group. Now a group of parents is collecting signatures on a joint letter to the school’s owners asking for an in-person meeting. The letter says the school has already given families its answer: the signs will stay, and more could go up elsewhere on the property.
What parents say they haven’t gotten is an explanation of whether the school had any say in the signs, or what it can do about them. The Pod asked both the school and the church. Neither responded. When we drove to the property this week, the church doors were locked. Preschool staff confirmed they had received our email, then asked us to leave.
Here’s what we know.
What do the signs say?
The Pod’s photos show multiple signs. Besides the anti-abortion message at the driveway, three push a message of salvation: “Only Jesus Can Save Us,” “Repent and Follow Jesus Now… Before It’s Too Late,” and “Do You Know Where You’re Spending Eternity? Jesus Does!” Others read “Read the Bible” and “Christians, Support Israel!” One says “Christians, Fight Against Racism, Antisemitism, Bigotry & Bias in Any Form.”
Is Foundations Prep a church preschool?
It used to be. Foundations Prep opened September 12, 2005, with 16 students as a church-sponsored daycare. Two employees of the school later bought it from the church, according to the school’s own history. Today it calls itself a “privately owned and independently operated, nonreligious childcare center” inside a multi-use church building. Its website says staff never instruct children in any religious practice or ask them to believe in any specific way.
Brookdale Christian Church is nondenominational, meaning it belongs to no single Christian denomination, and dates its founding to 1894.
Parents told us they understood the school and the church to be separate.
Sharing a building with a church isn’t unusual. Nationally, about 1 in 5 young children whose main child care is a center attend one housed in a church, synagogue or other house of worship, according to 2019 federal data. What’s less clear is who controls the walls and the driveway.
What are parents asking for?
The joint letter is addressed to Saquing and Torres and signed by “the undersigned FPS parents and families.” It asked families to sign on by Sept. 18.
According to the letter, the school told families that the signs would remain in shared spaces and that more signage may be added elsewhere on the property. The letter says families were offered the option of using a different staircase or route, which the parents rejected, writing that the burden shouldn’t fall on families. It also says the church has described the signs as expressions of its convictions and part of its broader outreach. The Pod has not seen the school’s message to families directly.
The parents write that they enrolled their children knowing FPS operates in a church building, but not “with the understanding that the property would become the site of an active evangelistic campaign.” They cite the school’s own acknowledgment that “the environment surrounding FPS has changed.” They ask the owners to meet with families to discuss what options remain, what protections will exist against future signs, and how the school squares the new environment with calling itself nonreligious.
Who controls the signs?
According to the school’s website, the church owns the bulletin boards and wall space in the first- and second-floor hallways and stairwells. The site lists those areas, plus the driveway, parking lot and outdoor gathering spaces, as shared with the church. It mentions religious decorations in the sanctuary but says nothing about signs. It invites parents with concerns to stop by the office.
The website doesn’t say who decides what goes up in those spaces. The Pod emailed the school and the church to ask who approved the signs, whether the school was consulted, whether it has asked for any to come down and whether either side plans changes. Neither replied.
As of this week, the signs are still up. We’ll update this story if either the school or the church responds.
Do you have a child at Foundations Prep, or a view on the signs? Some parents may welcome them, and we want to hear from those families too. Reach out to us on Instagram or email hello@montclairpod.com and tell us what you’ve seen.
