Iowa Valley to expand child care program to infants

MARENGO — Iowa Valley Community School District knew when it opened Little Tigers Childcare last year that it would eventually have to expand.

The district had only two rooms to spare for child care space, so it opened in the fall to children three and older. But a temporary space set up on a lot north of the school will allow infants to 2-year-olds to join the day care facility this year.

Little Tigers Childcare uses two former kindergarten classrooms at Iowa Valley Elementary School for day care. It uses the cafeteria and gymnasium for before-and after-school programs for older children.

Open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the facility is licensed through the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services with Taylor Snook as director and six certified associates watching the children. The day care is open year-round.

Elementary School Principal Liesl Yunek said she hears a lot of positive feedback about the new facility, which the community has been wanting for years.

Initial planning for a community day care facility involved the Iowa Valley School District, the City of Marengo, Compass Memorial Healthcare and Marengo Community Development, said Yunek.

The school found a way to open a facility using existing rooms and a grant to help pay for the director.

Tuition is $150 a week or $30 a day. Parents pay for breakfast and lunch through pay-schools accounts. The day care serves 46 children, said Snook, and there are 53 children on a waiting list, including nine that haven’t been born yet and 10 under the age of 2.

Putting up a modular building north of the elementary school will make space for children 0-2 years of age, but it also require additional staff, said Yunek.

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Human Services sets the child/adult ratio for each age group: 1:4 for infants under the age of 2; 1:7 for 2-year-olds; 1:10 for 3-year-olds; 1:12 for preschool students who are 4 or 5 and for older children, though sixth grade.

Snook said the facility needs two or three staff members on site from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., depending on the number of children enrolled. The facility can be fined if it has too many students for the number of staff on hand, she said.

The state considers the square footage of the space when licensing for a certain number of children, said Snook. The two rooms currently in use are 30 feet by 30 feet, allowing 20 children in each classroom.

Little Tigers can put 30 students in the larger cafeteria and gym during before- and after-school programs.

It was difficult to give up two kindergarten classrooms for the current needs, said Yunek. “There’s no room for 0-2.” The district had to think creatively. It wants to build a permanent space, but until that money is available, the district will put up a temporary structure on the north lot for the younger children.

“This is not a permanent solution,” said Yunek. With more preschoolers in the district, it may need the two day care rooms for kindergarten in the future, she said.

The district is in the process of fundraising for the new building. The goal is $100,000. Rheingans said if the district gets the money and data now it will have an easier time meeting tight deadlines for grants.

Yunek said tuition may have to be increased, though probably not to the level of other day care facilities in the county. “We have to break even at least.”

Marengo families get priority. “We want to stay competitive” said Yunek but they don’t want to out price the community.

Iowa Valley Superintendent Curt Rheingans said the district can keep prices down because Little Tigers Childcare doesn’t have a mortgage and the utilities for those rooms were already being paid by the school.

Some parents still prefer in-home day cares because they can pay on a daily basis. Little Tigers fills only full-time slots, said Yunek. The facility is paid whether the child shows up or not.

Compass pays for some drop-in slots for their employees, Yunek said.

Contrary to rumors, hospital employees don’t get free child care from the district, Rheingans said.

Rheingans found a modular that the district can use for its temporary child care building, but the district has to find someone to haul it in.

Rheingans is retiring from the district at the end of the school year, but he said he plans to have the facility expansion completed before he leaves. “I want to leave things in good shape.”

Yunek said she hopes to have arrangements finalized by April 1.

Donations can be sent to Iowa Valley Elementary c/o Brenda McCaw, 151 E. May St., Marengo, IA 52501. Or drop off at the school. Make checks payable to Little Tigers Childcare.