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Our Story

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How We Started

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 Jean Lyle Children’s Center was an outgrowth of the Stella Louise Woods Children’s Center & Lab School located on the Macalester College campus from 1948 to 1979. It was part of the Education Department and served the Macalester community.

When the College elected to discontinue funding the Lab School, three members the of Lab School’s board, Betty Hills, Rica Van and Maxine Simon, decided to continue its mission and open their own school. They located the site of St. Mary’s Church and named the new school in honor of Jean Lyle, the director of the Early Childhood Education Department at Macalester for 16 years. Naming the new school in honor of Jean Lyle, a remarkable teacher and friend, Jean Lyle Children's Center opened in the fall of 1980 and continues to serve children and families today. 

WHO WAS JEAN LYLE?

An extraordinary educator whose ideas and practices form the core of JLCC's preschool and kindergarten programs, Jean Lyle was the director of the Early Childhood Education Department at Macalester College for 16 years.  In this role, she worked to strengthen Macalester's Stella Louise Woods Children's Center and Lab School, using the British infant and preschool system of emergent curriculum.