Meyer Center Cuts Ribbon on Its First Inclusive 4K Classroom

The Meyer Center for Special Children recently celebrated the opening of its first inclusive 4K classroom with a ribbon-cutting at its Rutherford Road campus, recognizing Pacolet Milliken, LLC, whose $200,000 grant made the program possible. Six weeks into its first school year, the 4K Inclusion Program is already proving something educators and families have long understood: children learn best from one another.

Since opening on Aug. 10, typically developing 4-year-olds and Meyer Center students with disabilities have spent their days learning, playing, eating, exploring, and growing together. The result is a classroom where differences are simply part of the community—and where every child benefits.

Students, families, board members, staff, donors, and community partners joined Pacolet Milliken representatives to celebrate the milestone. Jennifer Calabria, director of real estate development for Pacolet Milliken, joined John Runion, SVP of Pinnacle Financial Partners; Meta Hendricks, executive director of the Meyer Center; and Meyer Center parents Justin and Caroline Lambert in cutting the ceremonial ribbon and officially dedicating the new classroom.

“Inclusion is not simply about placing children in the same room,” said Hendricks. “It is about creating a community where every child is known, valued, and given the opportunity to participate. Our children are not learning about inclusion from a lesson or a book. They are living it every single day.”

For more than 70 years, the Meyer Center has helped children with disabilities reach their fullest potential through specialized education and intensive therapy. That expertise now creates a unique early learning opportunity for every child enrolled in the 4K Inclusion Program.

The two 4K classrooms operate as one learning community for most of the school day. Students share morning meeting, literacy and math centers, related arts, lunch, recess, outdoor play, field trips, and school-wide events. Structured instructional time is supported by both a certified early childhood educator and a certified special education teacher.

At the same time, Meyer Center students with disabilities continue receiving individualized instruction, IEP supports, and the speech, physical, occupational, and feeding therapies they need.

A $200,000 grant from Pacolet Milliken LLC funded the conversion of existing Meyer Center space into a fully equipped 500-square-foot classroom, along with year-one staffing, curriculum, and start-up materials.