NL schools extend helping hand to local childcare facility

By Bryce Kelly, Mt. Pleasant News

NEW LONDON ? The New London School District is doing their best to address the local need for childcare services by opening up their facilities to the New London Community Child Care Center.

According to New London Community Child Care Center director Dennis Julian, 2016 has been the facility?s best year financially due to the sheer number of children enrolled. However, with strong attendance comes new challenges.

?We are getting numerous calls every day from people moving to the area who are looking for quality childcare,? Julian explained. ?Now that we are in the process of renewing our license, I have been asking myself and my staff what would we need to do to expand without spending a bunch of money to expand onto our building.?

The solution, Julian suggested, was to expand into the neighboring building ? Clark Elementary ? in order to hold an onsite before and after school program for school-aged children.

?Just doing this, the licensing and cost to expand our services would be so much less than building onto our facility,? he said. ?Right now, our current building is licensed for 126 (children)...we believe if we can do this expansion, we could offer our services to roughly 30 additional school-aged kids than what we have enrolled now.?

The plan, which the New London School Board has officially agreed to as of Wednesday night?s regular school board meeting, is to lease out the Clark Elementary small gym and cafeteria areas before and after school during the school year, and then lease out those same facilities all day during the summer months when school is not in session.

?I?ve had discussions with people from various factories in Mt. Pleasant who want to hire people but can?t because there is not enough childcare facilities for workers to take their kids to,? Julian continued.

Agreeing that the need for more quality childcare in the southeast Iowa area is a great need, the board agreed to lease those Clark Elementary facilities under the condition that Julian continue to have open communication with New London school administrators.

?We will have to work out some kind of a schedule so that if the school were to need those areas for a school-related function, you guys know about it ahead of time in order for you to make plans,? said New London Superintendent Chad Wahls.

Julian stated that he had already been in contact with the Clark Elementary principal to begin composing a schedule.

Once an official contract has been drawn up and signed, the childcare facility will be able to begin implementing the services expansion.

Moving on to other matters, the New London School Board discussed and approved the implementation of a fee for admission to New London Spring musicals.

?Last year, when we put on our spring musical, we ended up in the hole $840,? said board secretary/treasurer, Jessica Boyer. ?It costs a lot of money just to get the rights to put on these musicals, and in looking at the budget, I think it would be wise to not allow activity passes for this event and charge an admission fee.?

After looking at the numbers, the board agreed, saying that they want the musical to continue to flourish, and in order for that to occur, the school must be able to afford the cost of production.

The admission costs will go into effect starting next school year. No official cost has been set at this time.

The New London School Board will meet again on Monday, March 20, at 7 p.m., in the New London Community School District Board Room.