Early childhood education center plans move forward in Idaho Springs

BY DEB HURLEY BROBST DBROBST@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Editor’s note: is is the rst of two stories about the tenants planned in Building 103 in addition to the Clear Creek School District’s new elementary school. is week’s story pro les the early learning center that will be on the south end of the building. Next week’s story will pro le the Clear Creek Center for Arts & Education, which will occupy the building’s top oor.

A dent in the child-care desert is moving forward in Clear Creek County.

A consortium of representatives from Clear Creek’s school district and recreation district, plus the county continues to make progress on opening an early childhood education center for infants through pre-kindergarten children in Building 103, which is the former middle school, by December 2024.

e partnership has the school district providing the space at a reduced rental cost, the county providing initial funding to remodel the center’s portion of the building and the rec district operating the center. Plans call for space for about 60 children in four classrooms in about 6,100 square feet of space on the south end of the building near the track.

Building 103 has a total of 86,000 square feet, and the school district is putting a new elementary school in about 60,000 square feet of the building to replace Carlson Elementary. In 2021, voters approved a $33 million bond, with about $25 million going to build the new elementary school.

Bond money is being used for asbestos abatement for the entire building, but it cannot be used to build out space for other organizations, according to the terms of the bond.

e new early learning center, which doesn’t have a name yet, will be in addition to the preschool and pre-kindergarten options at KingMurphy and Carlson elementary schools and at Georgetown Commu- nity School, which also is adding an infant/toddler room in August. e options at the schools are available during the school year, while the new center will be available yearround.

No decisions have been made yet on how much parents will pay for their children to attend.

O cials say the center will allow 35 to 50 community members to increase their productivity because their children will be cared for while they work, center workers will be paid a living wage and receive bene ts, and programs will be available to allow center workers to earn