Stepping Stone School For Exceptional Children Inc history

A handful of people with large hearts and small purses created A Stepping Stone Foundation in 1989.

In September of 1990, with only 40% of the needed money in hand, the first site launched at the neighborhood Mitchell Elementary School in Isaac district.

That spring, negotiations opened with the Alhambra School District to duplicate the program at one of their schools for the 1992-93 year.

Year five was equally successful, ending with the Foundation Board deciding to add an additional class in March 1995.

Year seven added an additional childcare class for parents and year eight began in the fall of 1997 with continuing enthusiasm.

In 1998, Stepping Stones expanded the preschool program to include typically developing students.

In 2002, with the help of the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation, A Stepping Stone Foundation opened a three-year pilot project in the Murphy School District to see if a local board could be created and nurtured in order to take over the care of one site.

Board diversity became a strategic goal and in 2007, Maritza Hernandez, became the first former preschooler to join the Stepping Stone Board.

As part of that initiative in the fall of 2012, A Stepping Stone hired its first former preschoolers to work in the administrative office hosted by Climatec Inc.

In 2014, the Bob and Renee Parsons Foundation granted a significant amount of money for support of LEAF at the Alhambra sites for three years.