Hard work paying off

Child care, like many other things in the Valley, has been limited or scarce. That changed in December 2020 when Valley Village Childcare first opened its doors.

It didn’t take long, however, for the facility on West Bridge Avenue to quickly fill to capacity. The Valley Village Childcare Board of Directors tasked themselves with finding a new location, then construction began on the North Platte Valley Medical Center. With the medical center housing both the clinic and the skilled nursing facility, this meant the clinic building at 1208 S. River would be vacant.

This began months of negotiation with the Town of Saratoga, which owned the Corbett Medical Building, and spanned across two different councils. Finally, in February 2023, the Town of Saratoga sold the building to Valley Village Childcare for a dollar. This also meant there would need to be major reconstruction to convert what was a medical clinic for almost 40 years into a childcare facility which would house both Valley Village and Excel Preschool.

“All deferred maintenance, we took it on. When I saw ‘we’, Valley Village owns the building,” said Ellie Dana-Raymer, chairwoman of the Valley Village Childcare Board of Directors.

After months of construction, the doors of Valley Village Childcare and Excel Preschool finally opened on January 5. While there had been plenty of exterior work to keep the interest of the public piqued, the interior work is even more impressive. Those familiar with the building’s past life as a clinic would scarcely recognize it today. Literally all 6,100 square feet have been transformed.

Such a transformation, however, wasn’t cheap. Dana-Raymer told the Saratoga Sun she estimated the cost of the project to be around $1.2 million. The majority of that, she said, went towards infrastructure and deferred maintenance. The state required fire suppression system was close to $500,000.

“To do the fire suppression on this building we had to insulate the attic, and we had to put pipes out in the portico. We spent $80,000 just to put in all the piping and the suppression system, another $10,000 to dig from the watermain and bring it into the building and another $30,000 for the alarm system,” said Dana-Raymer. “Quarter of a million dollars to have fire suppression for 6,100 square feet.”

Add to that four new furnaces for the building. According to Dana-Raymer, the previous furnaces were around 30 years old and the Board of Directors believe it was better to replace them during the renovation process than to have them quit during the winter months. The deferred maintenance of the building was an additional $125,000, with work done on the crawlspace, a new roof and exterior paint.

“Where we spent our money was the infrastructure that keeps the building up and running and those things that really benefited the kids,” said Dana-Raymer.

Walking into Ray A. Corbett Building—as it is now named—visitors and parents are greeted by two interior entrances. To the left is Excel Preschool, to the right is Valley Village Childcare. Each door requires a code, given to parents by staff, to enter either side of the facility. On the side of Excel Preschool, two large classrooms make up the majority of their floor plan with a handful of offices and meeting rooms. Valley Village’s side of the building, meanwhile, has three classrooms—one for each age group—and a kitchen for preparing breakfast and lunch. While the rooms may vary in size, they have a number of things in common.

Child bathrooms with child level toilets and sinks—to help with potty training—are found in each room, each room also has cabinets and sinks and an exit door. According to Dana-Raymer, the classrooms were designed with the intention of being able to switch age groups depending on class size and child-to-provider ratios.

“Let’s say we only had three kids that are three to five years old. We might put them in here and take 10 infants and put them in another room,” said Dana-Raymer. “So, the rooms are interchangeable depending on how many of what age group (we have) and what the ratios are that are required by the Department of Family Services.”

Dutch doors in each room allow for staff to keep children in the room, while also observing what may be going on outside the room. Also in each room, parents are able to get an idea of what their children are working on with each week’s curriculum posted in the classroom. While the infant room is mostly pack-and-plays, the other two rooms include zones for arts and crafts as well as sensory play.

“All of our rooms are running with a curriculum,” said Dana-Raymer. “Today our unit of study is colors and here are some routines. This board helps everyone understand what we’re working on. It helps everybody keep on the same track.”

The kitchen itself is also a sight to behold. The room is large enough to allow for 24 toddler chairs and four high chairs and includes a children’s bathroom. Also in the kitchen are large refrigerator, a double oven and a health department certified dishwasher.

“This kitchen, like many things here, was donated by a generous supporter who said ‘You need a real kitchen,’” said Dana-Raymer.

And while it is currently covered in snow, the outdoor play area is another marvel of engineering. Artificial grass sits on top of inch-and-a-quarter foam, providing a safe place for children to land should they fall from the equipment. As one might expect, just like the interior of the facility is bound by regulations, so is the exterior.

“Our entire yard, you can put any structure on it where a child is safe if they fall five feet,” said Dana-Raymer. “Then, you have to put your structures at least six feet apart.”

Despite all the upgrades to the building and the Department of Health regulations, one may also wonder how many children Valley Village Childcare can take now. From the outside, it almost seems as if the Ray A. Corbett building is smaller than Valley Village’s previous home. Yet, according to Dana-Raymer, they are now authorized for nearly twice the capacity.

In their previous building, Valley Village was licensed for just 24 children. Part of this due to the fact that one of the rooms wasn’t designated as a classroom. In the new facility, Valley Village is licensed for 47 children. This increase in licensing has allowed for them to take children who had previously been on waiting lists.

As 2024 begins, it’s more than a New Year for Valley Village and Excel. It’s a new start.