Post #6 – Early Childhood Center (ECC) Building
Eagle Vision II
Currently, because of the remote location of the Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Building in Ste. Marie, many Pre-K, Kindergarten children are riding a bus 2 to 2.5 hours per day. In the morning, these students are picked up at their home, dropped off at the Newton Elementary Building (NE), transferred to another bus, and shuttled to the Pre-K, Kindergarten building in Ste. Marie. The reverse process happens in the afternoon. There is no room for these students in the NE building and transporting these students on designated Pre-K, K buses is not cost effective.
The school district has been blessed with the opportunity to purchase the Sunrise Youth Center and associated property (1401 Clayton Ave, Newton) at a discounted price. Once the purchase is finalized, the plan is to expand the Sunrise Youth Center building to provide classrooms for PreK, K students and administrative offices for staff. In addition to the classrooms and offices, the project scope includes upgrades to utilities, fire protection, kitchen (conversion to a “warming only” kitchen), a bus lane to allow safe unloading / loading for students, a pickup lane for parents, a staff parking lot, and a fenced playground. The current gymnasium will be utilized for Pre-K, K recreation and will most probably be utilized for other extra-curricular activities, such as wrestling.
When this facility is completed, the school district will save approximately $150,000 / year in transportation costs. In the future the school district may realize other opportunities to reduce operations costs even further. The school district truly appreciates the Sunrise Youth Center Board’s decision to offer this facility to the school district at such a reduced cost.
A conceptual building layout is shown in the diagram below.
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