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Work session on school facility study planned
By Jennifer Nichols, NT Staff Writer
While members of Southwest Iowa Family Service, Inc. (SWIFS) asked Atlantic School Board members to again consider letting them use a site on school property to be part of a plan to be used in a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for a proposed new childcare facility, board members decided to include the topic in their discussion during a work session about their facility plan.
Previously, Atlantic Superintendent Dr. Wendy Prigge said, school officials want to look at all facilities in the district, and a make a 10-year plan for them. Prigge said they might look at expansion or renovation, depending what the facility may need.
Monday night, Board Member Dennis Davis said he wanted to talk to the architect who is overseeing the school’s 10-year plan before considering anything related to the possible childcare facility. Board members and Prigge tentatively set a date for the work session, Thursday, Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the high school media center, pending whether or not the architect is available that evening.
Meanwhile, SWIFS representatives asked the school again to consider letting the group use a school site in a plan to apply for a CDBG grant for a proposed childcare facility. Members said they’d like an answer from the board by the beginning of September.
“We are proposing that the school make available to SWIFS a building site to enable us to carry this project forward,” Hal Gronewold, SWIFS representative, told the board in July. “We need to identify a site to enable our architect to develop a sketch of the center which we need to submit with an application for a CDGB grant due this fall. We are recommending the old Lincoln Elementary property as the preferred site, primarily because building it elsewhere on the school campus would contribute to traffic congestion and disturb the aesthetics of the existing campus configuration. Our sampling of opinions lead us to believe the Lincoln site would be well received by the community, particularly if this project could tie in with any future development plans that the school might have at this location.”
SWIFS Representative Dave Dunfee said Monday that SWIFS can submit more than one application with different site options, in case board members are interested in different site than the old Lincoln School option.
USDA Representative Theresa Jordison also attended the meeting, talking about other schools in the state, and their involvement with childcare facilities. Jordison said one advantage of having the facility connected with the school is bringing the school’s curriculum into the childcare. Another is keeping more students in the district because those children in the childcare facility are likely to attend the school that is connected to the facility.
Dunfee said in July said the group is planning on asking for the maximum grant amount, $600,000, for the facility, and if they don’t receive that much, other fund-raising would be done. He also stressed that the facility would serve 100 children, and officials from Head Start, Matthews House and Little Lambs were “interested” in having their children in this facility, possibly moving them there, which would fill the facility to capacity. He also said other childcare facilities were important to the area.
“We need private care,” he added.
In July, Davis asked why the issue seemed to go away after being discussed and debated quite a bit last year, and Dunfee said SWIFS was waiting for the results of a survey on childcare. Gronewold said the survey indicated one-third of those surveyed would be interested in using a facility like the one SWIFS proposed if it was available.
According to the results of the survey, providers said they would like to receive higher pay and benefits for their work, and more respect and support from the community.
Parents say finding the childcare provider that they trust to take care of their children is difficult, and the cost of childcare is expensive. They also say childcare is needed outside the traditional hours. Both parents and providers said transportation to and from childcare was a big problem.
Others mentioned the amount of childcare providers in Atlantic, how over half of the spots with those providers were full, that there are no incentives for providers to offer child care outside the traditional hours, there is a lack of knowledge about early education and what providers contribute to the community, parent productivity is impacted by child care, and a list of providers in the area is needed to help parents find child care.
COMMENTS ON THESE STORIES ARE WELCOME, BUT FULL NAMES AND PHONE NUMBERS MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE POSTING FOR VERIFICATION, BEFORE THEY WILL BE RUN. PHONE NUMBERS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. THANK YOU.
Previously, Atlantic Superintendent Dr. Wendy Prigge said, school officials want to look at all facilities in the district, and a make a 10-year plan for them. Prigge said they might look at expansion or renovation, depending what the facility may need.
Monday night, Board Member Dennis Davis said he wanted to talk to the architect who is overseeing the school’s 10-year plan before considering anything related to the possible childcare facility. Board members and Prigge tentatively set a date for the work session, Thursday, Sept. 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the high school media center, pending whether or not the architect is available that evening.
Meanwhile, SWIFS representatives asked the school again to consider letting the group use a school site in a plan to apply for a CDBG grant for a proposed childcare facility. Members said they’d like an answer from the board by the beginning of September.
“We are proposing that the school make available to SWIFS a building site to enable us to carry this project forward,” Hal Gronewold, SWIFS representative, told the board in July. “We need to identify a site to enable our architect to develop a sketch of the center which we need to submit with an application for a CDGB grant due this fall. We are recommending the old Lincoln Elementary property as the preferred site, primarily because building it elsewhere on the school campus would contribute to traffic congestion and disturb the aesthetics of the existing campus configuration. Our sampling of opinions lead us to believe the Lincoln site would be well received by the community, particularly if this project could tie in with any future development plans that the school might have at this location.”
SWIFS Representative Dave Dunfee said Monday that SWIFS can submit more than one application with different site options, in case board members are interested in different site than the old Lincoln School option.
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Dunfee said in July said the group is planning on asking for the maximum grant amount, $600,000, for the facility, and if they don’t receive that much, other fund-raising would be done. He also stressed that the facility would serve 100 children, and officials from Head Start, Matthews House and Little Lambs were “interested” in having their children in this facility, possibly moving them there, which would fill the facility to capacity. He also said other childcare facilities were important to the area.
“We need private care,” he added.
In July, Davis asked why the issue seemed to go away after being discussed and debated quite a bit last year, and Dunfee said SWIFS was waiting for the results of a survey on childcare. Gronewold said the survey indicated one-third of those surveyed would be interested in using a facility like the one SWIFS proposed if it was available.
According to the results of the survey, providers said they would like to receive higher pay and benefits for their work, and more respect and support from the community.
Parents say finding the childcare provider that they trust to take care of their children is difficult, and the cost of childcare is expensive. They also say childcare is needed outside the traditional hours. Both parents and providers said transportation to and from childcare was a big problem.
Others mentioned the amount of childcare providers in Atlantic, how over half of the spots with those providers were full, that there are no incentives for providers to offer child care outside the traditional hours, there is a lack of knowledge about early education and what providers contribute to the community, parent productivity is impacted by child care, and a list of providers in the area is needed to help parents find child care.
COMMENTS ON THESE STORIES ARE WELCOME, BUT FULL NAMES AND PHONE NUMBERS MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE POSTING FOR VERIFICATION, BEFORE THEY WILL BE RUN. PHONE NUMBERS WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED. THANK YOU.
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