Jan 3, 2008

Child care center draws more than 100 enrollees

$5.4M Mountain View facility to be ready by fall

By Melanie Carroll / Daily News Staff Writer

When a new child care facility opens this fall, classes will be offered in English and Spanish, youngsters will likely get a chance to interact with senior citizens, and about 30 percent of those enrolled will be low-income.

Four years in the making, the new $5.4 million child care center designed to serve about 104 children - from infants to 5-year-olds - officially breaks ground on Monday.

Mountain View is contributing $2.6 million to the effort while the David and Lucile Packard Foundation have offered a low-interest loan for the remaining $2.8 million. The Childrens' Creative Learning Centers Inc., the Sunnyvale-based group slated to run the center, is planning to pay about $201,000 annually to pay off the debt to the foundation, said Mountain View Assistant City Manager Nadine Levin.

The Escuela Avenue facility, planned to be 7,600 square feet, is near the Mountain View Senior Center, which will be working with the child care center in some capacity, said Lauren Merriman, the senior recreation coordinator for the center.

"We'll be collaborating with the senior center," said Fran Durekas, founder and chief development officer of Children's Creative Learning Centers, which will run the new facility. "We'll incorporate volunteer interactions."

Parents will have part-time, full-time and part-week child care options in the new preschool, Durekas said.

Durekas said that in the center's Peninsula locations such as Palo Alto and Redwood City, there is on average a one- to two-year waiting list for parents to get their children enrolled. Demand exceeds supply and the new center could easily fill more than 200 slots, Durekas said.

The care center will be open to Mountain View residents while the children of city employees may also be given preference, Levin said, adding that the city council has yet to formally decide all of the enrollment criteria. Full-time tuition ranges in price, but is likely to cost around $1,050 to $1,665 a month, much like its Sunnyvale center, according to CCLC's Web site.

"It is through the collective efforts of many that Mountain View offers the essential service of childcare to our community," said Mayor Laura Macias in a prepared statement. "Through collaboration throughout the city and beyond, Mountain View is a happier and healthier place to live. We would hope we can inspire other cities to respond to the important needs of families and child care, too."


E-mail Melanie Carroll at mcarroll@dailynewsgroup.com.