University officials purchased a 1,792 square foot modular building this month to increase the capacity of its child care facilities after the likely sale of the Westmoreland Apartments. The University plans to have the space usable for this fall.
If the University finds a buyer for its aging apartment complex, then the child care center located on the property, which holds 28 slots for children, will shut down. The deadline to submit purchase-offers for the apartment complex is May 8, and although no offers have been made, Vice President for Finance and Administration Frances Dyke said it’s normal to get most offers during the final week before a deadline.
The University purchased the custom-built child care facility, which is similar to those seen outside middle schools and high schools, for just less than $40,000 from Portland State University.
Portland State used the building in 2003 to hold students for one year while it remodeled its child care center, said Dennis Reynolds, coordinator of EMU Child Care and Development Center (CCDC).
Renovations will need to be done to the modular, Reynolds said, but because it was designed to be a child care center, less work is needed.
“We know that this building will meet this criterion,” he said. “It’s a safe and appropriate space for kids.”
The modular will be placed outside of the Vivian Olum Child Development Center, located on 1650 Columbia St. behind the Law School. University officials say the modular will recompense for most of the lost child care space after the two classrooms at the Westmoreland Childcare Center close.
“We don’t know how many families will not be able to be served at CCDC next fall. We know that number is small, but regardless of what the number is we know that this classroom will help,” said Karen Logvin, Work and Family Services Administrator.
Reynolds said there will be a net loss of 12 slots for children, but one slot doesn’t necessarily mean only one child will be able to fill it.
“A chair in a classroom doesn’t mean that only one student sits in that chair,” he said.
Currently, University students are able to enroll their children in five different child care programs affiliated with the University. The program that controls the Westmoreland Childcare Center, EMU Child Care and Development Centers, controls the Westmoreland Childcare site and the Moss Street Children’s Center.
University child care providers sent a letter April 12 informing parents whose children are enrolled in the Westmoreland Childcare Center of the modular purchase. Child care will be provided at the Vivian Olum Center on a priority basis to those parents if they cannot be accommodated by the Moss Street Children’s Center.
Student families will be charged the same rates as they were at the Westmoreland site, said Logvin.
Logvin and Reynolds said the purchase intends to follow the University’s commitment to serve student families during the Westmoreland sale.
“This opportunity came, and it was already built, and it was a good price and fairly new so we took advantage of it,” Logvin said.
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