Is a new building needed or not?

As for now, this is the question for a partnership of Oskaloosa preschool and day care facilities. After earning a community development block grant a few years ago, Kids Corner and its partners are responsible for providing a facility able to handle 256 preschool children. Initially, a 30,000-square-foot facility had been proposed, which would be located near the Lacey Recreation Complex, said Beth Danowsky, representing the partnership.

Now in the second year of the project time line, the partnership is receiving reimbursement from the Iowa Department of Education, Danowsky said.

“Out of ten categories that they scored on their site visit our partnership scored 10 out of 10 on all but one category and that was facility,” she said.

Danowsky said that, at this stage in the development project, a contingency plan can be brought in. She said using the Memorial Union building on the former Vennard College campus in University Park is one idea. A 28E agreement would be needed, in this event, she added.

“We’ve done some rough estimates and it looks like the maximum we could save is as much as $2 million,” Danowsky said to the Oskaloosa City Council Monday night. “If it turns out to be feasible, it saves us money and it serves the partnership well, then that is something we can add to a proposal. If it doesn’t look feasible, we can just pick up with the project where we are now.”

Partnership is the key to this project, said Danowsky. The partnership striving for this facility includes Kids Corner, the YMCA, Head start, Oskaloosa Public Schools and Sunshine Preschool. Child Care Resource and Referral have also been involved, said Danowsky.

“One of the things we’ve been talking about with this grant is building a partnership,” Danowsky said. “This partnership has been together for eight years, but they’ve been actively working for two years on development of curriculum to provide four-year-old preschool for all the children of the community.”

In a letter to the Oskaloosa City Council, the partnership’s plans thus far were laid out, said Danowsky. Oskaloosa Mayor Dave Krutzfeldt signed the letter in approval after hearing no objection from the Oskaloosa City Council at their Monday night meeting.

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Herald City Editor Andy Goodell can be reached at news2@oskyherald.com