Early Learning Center Celebrates New Home

What began with a nine-student pilot preschool class in 2010 reached another milestone Monday, Aug. 24, as the Valley community gathered to celebrate the opening of the new Valley Early Learning Center. District officials, families, and community members attended an open house and dedication for the new approximately 13,000-square-foot facility, followed by a ribbon-cutting marking the transition from portable classrooms into a building designed specifically for the district’s early learning program.

The new center is expected to allow the program to serve approximately 140 children and provide year-round services. Valley School Board member Bill Wilson told those gathered that constructing a yearround early learning center in a small rural district represented an unusual accomplishment. “To me, this community has landed a man on the moon, all by itself,” Wilson said. Wilson credited the effort to people throughout the district and community, including VELC Director Candace Harris, the school board and local residents who supported the project. “This was a Herculean effort led by people within this community, an effort that most communities don’t even try to accomplish, let alone accomplish,” Wilson said.

Construction began last fall after Valley voters approved a bond for the new facility. The project replaces the portable classrooms where the program had operated and gives VELC considerably more room to serve children. Earlier in the construction process, Harris said she initially dreamed of having around 7,000 square feet, enough space to serve children on the program’s waiting list. Instead, the completed building is approximately 13,000 square feet.

“I felt like I was dreaming big in the early days, and now here we are with a new school that will allow us to serve about 140 kids,” Harris said previously. “It’s a long way from the pilot preschool class I taught in 2010.” During Monday’s dedication, Wilson emphasized that VELC is not operated through the same funding structure as the district’s kindergarten through 12th-grade programs. He said the early learning services are licensed and funded through the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families rather than the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Wilson also highlighted the program’s standing within DCYF’s Early Achievers quality recognition system. “Please know our program meets that Level 5 standard and with this new building they’re going to have to make a new level 6. That is just to keep up with us,” Wilson said. He said Valley was the second provider in Washington to receive a Level 5 rating and the first in Eastern Washington, giving much of the credit for the program’s development to Harris. “Valley is unique here, and again, that is all due to our fearless VELC leader Candace Harris,” Wilson said.

“She did all this in our portables yet.” Wilson also pointed to the impact early learning can have when children enter elementary school, saying students coming out of the program are typically ahead academically and socially compared with children who have not had the same opportunity. “We lean from the board, down to head of management... and then from the community up, which is actually the most important, because we couldn’t get anything done without you guys,” Wilson told the crowd.

“So know that everyone in Valley could be extremely, extremely proud of what they’ve done.” Wilson said the program could also serve as an example for other districts trying to find ways to expand early childhood education despite the complications of combining different funding systems. “We are truly a lighthouse for other districts,” Wilson said. “They need to understand what we’re doing here and what this means for the kids’ ultimate success.” Wilson said Valley had to piece together funding sources involving DCYF rather than relying solely on traditional public school funding.

“The legislature needs to know that,” Wilson said. “And DCYF and OSPI, they need to know that we had to combine income sources and income streams to make this happen.” The celebration concluded with a ribbon cutting that highlighted the program’s connection to generations of Valley families. Harris invited Annette, Tiff and Jay Wilms to participate in the ceremony. She told the crowd the family represented the history and continuity the district hoped to celebrate with the new center. Annette Wilms served the Valley School District for 22 years and attended Valley School herself as a child. Her daughter, Tiff, also attended Valley, and the district is now serving Jay at the new early learning center.

“This family’s story reflects the strong roots, traditions, and commitments to children that make Valley such a remarkable community,” Harris said. “It’s especially meaningful to me to have three generations of one Valley family with us for this moment.” The family then helped cut the ribbon, with Jay given the opportunity to enter through the center’s children’s door. For Wilson, the dedication represented more than the opening of a building. He said it demonstrated what a rural district and its community could accomplish when people were willing to pursue an unconventional project. “This program and new building is a Crown Jewel for Valley,” he said.