BROOKINGS When school starts next week, the littlest students in town won’t be kindergartners or even junior kindergarteners they’ll be preschoolers embarking on an educational odyssey through the Brookings school system. And thats thanks to a new organization the Brookings Child Care Collaborative.
The BCCC is a new acronym, but one with familiar faces the Brookings Economic Development Corporation, SDSU, the Boys & Girls Club and the Brookings School District. Each brings something different to the table, but all four share a passion for expanding access to quality child care.
Back in 2019 we did the BEDC did a survey on issues for businesses, and the number one issue that they came up with was child care, Tim Reed, CEO for the BEDC, said. The BEDC did a survey then directly to parents asking them what they wanted in child care. And thats where it came out that most of the parents said they want to make sure that its quality child care.
Partnering with some other groups, the BEDC formed the Brookings Early Care and Education Collaborative, which issued a report in 2022 identifying a need for 495 slots for kids ages zero to five in Brookings.
The goal was never to shift spots, Stephanie Mason, BEDC vice president of economic development, said. It was never to shift children from one daycare or preschool setting to the next. The goal is to get to those kids that arent maybe financially able to or because of capacity limitations not able to get into those quality care facilities.
The Brookings City Council allocated $580,000 of federal economic stimulus money to the BEDC to build an early childhood facility.
We were looking at trying to stand up an 80-slot facility that we were going to try to hand off to an entrepreneur, to try to kind of guide it and manage them through. And that was nearly impossible, Mason said. Theres this fine line of like people who are really passionate about helping support children and early learning which is great, but its not a successful business model, and so we have to think more creatively.
When the school district made plans to expand pre-kindergarten programming, Superintendent Summer Schultz reached out to Jody Hernandez, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of the Northern Plains.
It really started from a meeting between Jody and I, Schultz said. We started talking about the fact that we were building facilities that included spaces for early learning. And before we moved too far on that knowing they were one of the organizations in town that did preschool I wanted to meet with her.
Their plans quickly became integrated with the BEDCs vision, and the 80-slot facility was replaced with four different locations the three elementary schools plus the Boys & Girls Club serving a total of 360 children ages zero through five. Earlier this summer, the city council redirected the $580,000 from the BEDC to the new collaborative. The BEDC also helped obtain a state grant for renovations at the Boys & Girls Club.
The Governors Office of Economic Development was looking at this issue and had funding. And so because were an economic development agency, it was helpful that we could help apply, Reed said. Even though the Boys & Girls Club was kind of the official entity that got the funding, we still kind of put our name on it and that way, an economic development organization was requesting this, and we got $450,000.
The school renovations were already underway; a $60 million project to construct new buildings at Hillcrest and Medary is nearly complete. The district funded that mostly through a bond measure and capital outlay certificate issuance. When the new buildings open, the district will have a 60 slot preschool capacity.
We have capacity to do 20 at each of the schools. Were just below that right now, knowing that some of our families that we serve in our early childhood special ed will be moving in and out of some of those spots throughout the day, Tanna Stadler, director of academics and special programming for the school district, said. The teachers have been working together through the summer, theyve been getting together on their own time, and theyre excited to get started.
The Boys & Girls Club will undergo renovations this fall, while their staff offers continuous service at the schools.
Were going to be able to serve our kiddos four and five year olds in the three school buildings from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Hernandez said. Well offer that throughout the school year, even on no school days and on snow days as well as well as the three year olds that we still have in our possession, theyll still be at the club.
Renovations at the club should be complete by Jan. 11. In addition to construction, theres also been extensive training taking place for teachers at both the club and the school.
Were training right alongside of the school district, Hernandez said. Not only are we going to be able to institute the training that were learning with SDSU in the classrooms zero to two, but then were going to be able to have that same training that were doing with our four and five year olds in our extended care.
That training should ensure an equal quality of care across all locations.
The opportunity presented itself for SDSU to come into this collaborative, Evan Ortlieb, dean of the College of Education and Health Sciences at SDSU, said. We can provide some of the faculty expertise around early childhood care, around early childhood education, around teacher development, around professional development of in-service teachers.
He said the collaborative is unique.
Everybody has been in search of the holy grail, if you will for a functional model that can be scaled and sustainable. And I think our group is first to the table, Ortlieb said. This work that Summer and Jody led off with is a response to what the community has been vocalizing for a long time. And so its not like they created this thing in the ether without any knowledge of the local context. Brookings is unique, and we have major employers such as the university, the hospital, so on and so forth. But we had not had major answers to the child care needs that exist.
Its an approach other communities are already interested in. Schultz will be presenting a session on the BCCC at an upcoming national superintendents conference. Reed and Mayor Ope Niemeyer have been invited to speak at the Hunt Institute a nonprofit specializing in public education policy.
Nobodys been able to grab a hold of it and do like what weve done, Reed said. Theres an organization called Economic Development Professionals Organization of South Dakota and this is something thatll be talked about there, too.
The collaborative is self-sustaining. Full day preschool costs $500 per month; the before and after school program costs $200 per month. The BCCC plans on exploring cost sharing models in the future to help lower financial barriers that prevent some families from participating. The BEDC will also conduct follow-up surveys to assess changing community needs.
We do whats called business retention expansion visits, Reed said. And child care always comes up so well start asking hey, has it gotten better?
The first feedback comes the evening of Sept. 3, when the littlest learners in town provide firsthand accounts of their day in preschool to moms and dads throughout Brookings.
Were excited, Stadler said. Its almost like Christmas with all of the funding that weve received through all the grants, with the furniture and with all of the supplies and materials for our playgrounds and our classrooms the teachers are so excited to get into their rooms and get going.
Email Jay Roe at[email protected].
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