Wings Early Childhood Center Mission Statement: To deliver high-quality affordable early care and education to children in Archuleta County regardless of income or family structure.
— from the Archuleta County Education Center website
According to an interview yesterday with Archuleta County Education Center (ACEC) Board president Julie Loar, it sounds like the folks preparing to open the doors to the new Wings Early Childhood Center had hoped for a June 2019 start date. But creating a child care center from scratch is not a simple matter, and the estimated date for the grand opening is now looking more like November.
Meanwhile, the renovation of the building is proceeding.
Here are some photos of the former Greenhouse Restaurant, shot last summer. The building had been vacant for 20 years:
And here are some photos taken yesterday:
The staff is now being hired, and families from the community have been invited to enroll their children. A website is under construction. The ACEC Board is developing a sliding scale for tuition, with “rates based on the local market rate analysis and demographics.”
As as I understand it, the building was purchased by community activists David and Jean Smith, with a promise that Wings would be allowed to use the facility rent-free for at least 10 years — and possibly, in perpetuity.
We know a little bit about the other costs involved in operating an early childhood education center, because the government-subsidized Early Care and Education Work Group had published a 52-page report back in the spring of 2017, and one of the “models” described in the report looked very much like what the ACEC is now planning to open in November.
We will note here the $499,200 annual deficit — the difference between the educational cost per child ($12,000 per year) and the expected amount of tuition that a typical Pagosa family can afford to pay for childcare (estimated at about $200 per month per child in this model).
I wonder about these numbers (as I often find myself wondering about numbers.)
My granddaughter Simone attends Seeds of Learning, a 20-year-old childcare and education facility, and my daughter pays $30 per day for tuition. There are about 21 school days in a month (accounting for holidays) which comes to a monthly cost of $630 per month for full-time care. Seeds of Learning has a sliding scale that takes family income into account, and some families pay up to $52 a day, which comes to about $1,100 a month for full-time care. (According to my pocket calendar.) This higher tuition amount applies to households earning around $100,000 a year.
I had a chance to sit down with Seeds of Learning Executive Director Lynne Bridges yesterday, to talk about the cost of operating a childcare center. As with the proposed Wings Early Childhood Center, Seeds does not pay rent on their building; the vacant land was originally donated by the Town of Pagosa Springs, and a series of large grants and fundraising efforts have successfully paid off the mortgage. The current location is actually Seed’s third home in the past 20 years; the center started at the Community Methodist Church, then moved into the former Mary Fisher Clinic near Town Park, and then built its current $1.3 million facility. The current Seeds facility was designed specifically to allow for future accreditation by NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) and indeed, Seeds did receive that accreditation in 2011.
Even with a rent-free building, the sliding tuition scale at Seeds leaves the non-profit organization with an annual operating deficit of about $200,000 — which has to be filled each year by grants, donations, and fundraising. (Ms. Bridges and her hard-working volunteer Board were delighted by the community support shown at the recent ‘Dancing with the Pagosa Stars’ fundraiser. The amount raised, by that one event, was approximately $240,000.)
During the past three years, there’s been a close working relationship between Seeds, the Early Care and Education Work Group, and the Archuleta County Education Center. In fact, when I stopped by for my interview with Lynne Bridges yesterday, she was just wrapping up a meeting with new Wings Executive Director Dennis Bissmeyer. (I hope to get an interview with Mr. Bissmeyer sometime today.)
From the Wings website:
Renovation of an existing building (formerly the Greenhouse Restaurant) is almost complete. The building was purchased in 2018 by a generous community partner and was offered to the ACEC to be used as an early childhood center for at least 10 years RENT FREE! The capital improvement funding streams are already underway for the renovation – the Town and County have jointly contributed $200,000. These funds have leveraged an additional $100,000 from community donations. The ACEC has applied for grants and expects to receive the additional $200,000 required for full renovation of the building by the end of this year…
Our community needs the doors to open ASAP! The next step is to secure funding for start-up costs ($150,000+) including classroom furniture and supplies, office furniture, equipment and supplies, personnel including background checks and start-up classes, licensing fees and inspections, insurance and more.
The ACEC is seeking your financial support!
Speaking as a person who was basically raised by my own mother, up until the day I entered kindergarten, I confess to mixed feelings about “early childhood education” as an aspect of our current society and economy. Granted, my mother was not a trained, accredited professional when she took on the job of raising my sister and me — although she did a considerable amount of independent study during those years, reading all the latest theories on childrearing and choosing the ones that seemed most humane.
But the whole world was different back in the 1950s. Nearly every house on my street was home to two or three (or more) children, and nearly every mom was dedicated to staying at home and caring for those children, until they reached school-age.
Where my family now lives, in downtown Pagosa Springs in 2019, there are few children to be found. Some of the homes have become vacation rentals; many are occupied by older couples and individuals whose children long ago left Pagosa looking for a better life.
When my 5-year-old granddaughter Simone wakes up and learns that it’s a ‘school day’… her face lights up.