Rainbow Early Childhood Center opens

CLINTON TOWNSHIP — The Rainbow Early Childhood Center held its grand opening on Aug. 14 with chants from cheerleaders, speakers and a few kids with plastic shovels breaking ground.

The center, formerly Rainbow Elementary, will now offer kindergarten, preschool, latchkey and day care. It will also provide instruction for kids not quite ready to make the transition to kindergarten called “young 5s.”

“It’s meant for students who were born between Sept. 1 and before Dec. 1,” Kenneth Janczarek, superintendent for Clintondale Community Schools, said about the “young 5s” program. “You have to be a certain age when you start kindergarten but there’s a big gap when you’re looking at September to December.”

Students who would’ve gone to the former elementary school will be attending McGlinnen Elementary School for fall classes.

  Janczarek said the transition was a year in the making. He thanked the school district’s staff for making the project come together.

“From the last day of school till now, from patching walls to placing things to making our building look amazing,” Janczarek said.

Walking around the new school made an impression on Janczarek.

“I got a little chill,” he said. “In terms of seeing the little ones playing, having fun.”

“When we prep kids at this lower level, it increases their success in the elementary school, in the middle school and in the high school,” Board of Education President Jared Maynard said following the ceremony.

Janczarek said the school shut down on the last day of school, June 14, and the renovations began on June 21. He called the transition a “pretty quick turnaround.”

“All the rooms were totally painted, cleaned, gutted and redone,” Janczarek said of the renovations.

The center offers community members opportunities to utilize the state’s Great Start Readiness Program, according to Janczarek. Maynard said that all the rooms were transformed by utilizing GSRP funds from the state. He said $25,000 is allocated for each room the district renovates for the program. Janczarek said this started last year and there are increased funds available for already opened rooms that increase the number of students by 10%.

“So to go from 16 to 18 students, we also receive additional grant money,” Janczarek said. “That grant money can be used for building updates, it can be used for bonuses for hiring as well as advertising.”

Janczarek added that the center receives more money per pupil for having a GSRP classroom five days a week. The amount per student is about $12,000.

“Financially it makes sense as well as educationally for the district for opportunities for our families,” Janczarek said.

On June 5, the district unveiled new playground equipment at the center and has since added a new fenced-in playscape for younger kids. Janczarek said an indoor playground will eventually be installed at the center, but there’s no set date.

Clintondale Human Resource Specialist Andrew Lewis oversaw much of the day-to-day work that went into the center’s transition from an elementary school. He said there were doubts that it could get done in time but, when things started moving around, people began to feel like it could be ready. Lewis said he appreciated the school district for supporting him in the project.

“I think it’s going to be fantastic for kids to really feel heard, for kids to feel appreciated, to have a group and support system around them that actually cares about them,” Lewis said.