A new early learning center north of Spokane in the town of Valley is set to open next fall, with the goal to bridge and improve child care for the rural community.
“They’ll start getting in the ground and moving dirt this week,” said Candace Harris, director for the current Valley Early Learning Center.
Funded by bond district saving and grants, Harris said the new 13,000-square-foot facility will operate similarly to its current center and offer year-round child care, special education and transitional kindergarten. The new space will replace the portable classrooms they had been using to operate the last 14 years and build six new classrooms. This will allow the center to serve at least 134 children, in comparison to the current 84, eliminating the wait list of 26 children.
She projects that it will cost about $10 million and be located near the Columbia Virtual Academy.
“To be able to have the opportunity to do something like this is amazing,” Harris said.
In the past, she emphasized many people have turned down job opportunities in the rural town of Valley because of the lack of child care. She said this could help alleviate those worries for potential new neighbors, commuters and surrounding rural areas.
“We really have kids enrolled from not just the Valley community, but from Springdale, Loon Lake, Chewelah. We have people that come all the way from Colville, you know, so we serve a pretty large area,” Harris said.
Mandi Rehn, superintendent of Valley School District, echoed Harris’s statement, noting that about 50% of the kids at the current learning center are from outside of Valley while the other half are from the town.
Rehn also said many of their staff, who don’t live in the area and have young children, rely on the learning center. By being able to build a new space, this will also help keep retention rates and be a resource to them, she said.
“I feel really lucky to be able to be part of a community that supports its youngest learners in such a great way,” Harris said.
