School district, TLC hope to reach deal by year’s end

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Dan Levi promised that kids would be able to see sunlight as they learned.

“Yes, there are going to be windows in the classrooms,” Levi said. “Our cost opinion has dollars for putting windows in all the classrooms.”

Levi is the architect and proprietor of Levi Architecture, which has offices in Cedar Falls and has been selected to renovate the rooms in the North Grand Building that will be utilized by The Learning Center (TLC) in Charles City.

TLC has been working with the Charles City School District since the beginning of the year to come up with an agreement for the community child care organization to lease space in the newer 1970s portion of the building at 500 N. Grand Ave., which is the former middle school.

Currently, TLC is located at leased space at 404 N. Jackson St.

Pam Ost, TLC director, said she is confident there will be an agreement between TLC and the school district very soon.

“We’ve been working on that already,” Ost said. “We’re hoping that by the end of the year we would have something concrete.”

TLC and the school district held an open house at the North Grand Building on Tuesday. The public was invited to tour the potential classrooms, view the basic floor plan on display, and listen to Levi and Charles City Superintendent Mike Fisher talk about the partnership.

“TLC is very proud to have developed a relationship with the school district and with Levi Architecture, to make this project come to fruition,” Ost said.

Fisher said the school district is passionate about partnering with TLC.

“We realize that early childhood access to quality child care is so vital to a child’s success,” said Fisher, who puts his own 4-year-old into child care at TLC. “TLC is one of those hidden treasures. My son has thrived at TLC.”

Ost said she believed one of the reasons Levi was chosen for the project was because of his history of involvement with child day care issues.

“I believe the school board was comfortable because he has so much background in child care,” she said. “It was just a really good fit for us.”

Levi is involved with Child Care Service and Referral, part of the Blackhawk County Child Care Coalition, which he described as a “loose group of volunteers” attempting to solve the problems with child care.

“We’re in about a dozen different communities at various levels, talking about this crisis and what we can do about it,” he said.

Levi said he was “blessed” to be able to afford child care for his children when they were younger.

“Most families can’t afford what the market rate is at most child care centers. It’s a problem,” he said. “Parents can only pay so much.”

Levi said affordable and accessible child care can be an engine of economic development and population growth for a community.

“One of the ways to grow our communities, especially in rural Iowa, is to get moms and dads to move into town,” he said. “Child care is a really big deal as one piece of that.”

Fisher agreed, and echoed some of Levi’s comments.

“If we were to lose TLC tomorrow, we’d be in trouble. Our school would be in trouble,” Fisher said. “We wouldn’t have young families moving here, and we wouldn’t have employees to work at our businesses, and we’d have fewer people spending money here.”

If the agreement is reached, TLC will lease rooms 130B through 134, in the northeast part of the North Grand building. The cost of the project will be between $850,000 and $1 million, according to Levi. Ost said that TLC was already looking into grants and other fundraising opportunities.

“We are looking at all those larger components that would be specific to the project,” she said. “I have no doubt that we are going to do this. We are looking at the funding portion of this now.”

Ost said that once the agreement is reached with the school, TLC will delve deeper into the funding.

“We’ve already talked to some community members who have said they would like to be involved in the project, and would like to sit on the group that will be moving that funding portion forward,” she said.

Major construction will not be required for TLC to move into the former school building. Walls will not need to be moved or removed in the rooms TLC wants to use. An additional door may be necessary on at least one room to meet some emergency exit requirements.

The area of the building does need a new roof and some plumbing improvements. Some asbestos needs to be removed. Levi and Fisher both said that the school district will fund some of the necessary repairs and renovations.

Levi said that it was a great opportunity to work on a building that already has some amenities in place. He talked about how the old middle school gym will be available for the TLC children, how parking is already available and how the building has multiple entrances.

Johnston developer Shawn Foutch has purchased the 1930s portion of the North Grand Building from the district, and intends to construct approximately 40 market-rate apartments there. The school district has also been in discussions with the Floyd County Courthouse regarding the possibility of using temporary space at the North Grand Building while the law enforcement center is undergoing construction and updates are being made at the courthouse.

TLC began searching for a new home early in 2019. Ost said the current TLC location allows little room for growth.

“We have 83 (children) currently at TLC, and the capacity for the building in the rooms that we rent is 93,” she said. “Each room has a specific level as to the number of children, based on square footage. It doesn’t allow us growth in many areas, such as infants. I max out at 11 — I can’t take 12, 13 or 14 infants. Here, I would be able to do that.”

Ost said the North Grand location is almost double the square footage, although it is not TLC’s intention to double the number of children.

Fisher said he considers TLC to be an extension of the school district, and the school district is an extension of TLC.

“At Charles City schools, our mission is that whoever you are, or what your story is, you can learn and be loved,” Fisher said. “What I love about TLC is, they believe in that mission, too. No matter your background … they’re going to love you and raise you up to be a good person.”