Mt. Pleasant Childcare Center taking shape as opening nears

MT. PLEASANT — Mt. Pleasant Childcare Center Director Amy McLaughlin stands in the middle of a room covered in plastic buckets, drapes and tape with half-finished painting and electrical work hanging from the ceiling.

She doesn’t see the construction mess.

She sees full classrooms and tables filled with children playing and learning in a positive environment.

She sees nap time, play time and daily lessons with engaging content.

She sees a blossoming child care center that is ready to serve Mt. Pleasant and the surrounding areas.

She sees her dream coming to life.

According to McLaughlin, the center is set to open July 6, after setbacks and challenges troubled the group earlier in the year.

The center is making considerable progress with only finishing touches and state inspections to come.

The center has had a tough year having to battle for nonprofit status to ensure funding and having to schedule the construction to occur at the right time for a smooth finish. It took a little bit of help from U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst to ensure their nonprofit status.

“The nonprofit status took a while, but Sen. Ernst office really helped us with that. It was really thoughtful and kind of them to do. So that opens up more funding for us,” McLaughlin said.

“Right now it’s more of a jigsaw puzzle trying to get the pieces together at the right time. Rob’s gotta ton of different pieces coming together at the same time right now,” McLaughlin added.

Rob is Rob Zeglen of Zeglen Construction, the contractor who is taking the former Family Video store and transforming it into McLaughlin’s dream of a child care center.

Now that construction is nearing an end, the next challenge is hiring staff. The center’s struggle to hire people is a common issue for child care centers throughout Iowa and across the country.

“We’ve been fortunate to find the staff that we have so far, but it’s been a struggle to find good people,” McLaughlin said.

With the center set to open July 6, McLaughlin has fielded questions if there will be after-school services.

According to McLaughlin, they are in conversation with the school district to see if they will provide space for the program for elementary students throughout the district. However, McLaughlin is hopeful the center will be able to offer the program.

“I have dreams for the child care center and the first of those dreams is to open up an after-school program,” she said. “There are a lot of families in the community that are not able to pick up their kids right at 3 o’clock when school gets out because they work later than that.”

With flooring laid and painting done in most of the center it is starting to take shape with final touches taking place daily.

The center is nearing the end of construction with most of the work done. The center still needs to place furniture and donated toys and more for it to take shape before July 6.

Missing ceiling tiles reveal the completed duct work overhead. The rooms below are starting to take shape to resemble McLaughlin’s dream.

She sees full classrooms with tables and chairs with kids playing and frolicking about.

McLaughlin doesn’t know exactly how the center will be structured just yet. With registration still open, she doesn’t know how many of each group there will be and how to group them.

McLaughlin hopes that at the July board meeting, she will be able to talk with board members about the center’s plans for an after-school program that would run from 3-6 p.m. for grades kindergarten through fifth grade. The program would provide help with homework, recreational time and a snack after-school.

The center still is taking registration for children and applications for employment at this time, applications are available at the Mt. Pleasant Chamber of Commerce.