Almost a year following a community discussion on increasing child care options in the Stuart area, the West Central Valley School District is forming an agreement to provide before and after school, and summer child care.

Kids Korner Owner Lezlie Ellerman presented a contract to the school board this week to rent an unused classroom at Stuart Elementary for child care services this coming school year and the following summer. This “Kids Campus” would be offered to students in kindergarten and up, and Ellerman would pay the District $500 a month to rent the space. Ellerman said the program, like the ones she has in Dallas Center and Adel would have a curriculum, as opposed to a “babysitting” kind of atmosphere.

Superintendent Lance Ridgely said he’s been in talks with several entities over the past year on how to offer childcare services, “Because we’ve aligned the elementaries and because we’ve moved the kindergarten classrooms, we have two classrooms that are available in Stuart. And in an effort to utilize those spaces I’ve been talking with Lezlie Ellerman who has a couple of different daycares established and also does before and after school care for a couple of districts to our east. And she and I have talked about how this would work, what it would look like and how we might serve the West Central Valley District in the best way possible.”

While the Board noted that this Stuart program would greater benefit families on the west side of the District, Ridgely mentioned that he is in talks with another provider on starting a program in Dexter or Redfield. Ellerman added that she would like to run that program as well, for the sake of consistency. Ellerman attended the childcare needs meeting that occurred last fall, and said she’s wanted to be a part of the West Central Valley District for a long time. The program is anticipated to start on August 23rd. For information on childcare rates, call 515-240-8626.