By PATRICK ADRIAN
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WINDSOR, Vt. — After four years of difficult hunting for a new property, Windsor’s Head Start program has a permanent site and will reopen this fall.
Southeastern Vermont Community Action, who provide Head Start programs across Windsor County, announced this week that it recently purchased the former Masonic Hall at 4 Dunham Avenue in Windsor for its new Head Start center, according to a press release. The organization plans to open in September once renovation plans complete.
“We are enormously grateful to the Windsor community, the town and local organizations and businesses for their support and patience during this process,” said the organization’s Executive Director Steve Geller.
The search for a new Head Start site spanned four years and was beset with challenges and frustrations, Geller said during phone interview yesterday.
The organization’s Head Start program provides comprehensive early childhood education and family support at no cost for low-income families in Windsor County, with programs in Windsor, White River Junction, Springfield, and Chester. These combined programs serve 80-90 3-to 5-year-old children.
In 2015 owners of the Old Windsor Firehouse, where the Windsor Head Start leased space, opted to sell the building instead of renew Head Start’s lease. After fruitlessly searching for a new space to lease, the organization decided that buying property was the wiser course.
“Windsor in general has a low rate of available properties and many of those are houses,” said Geller, saying that residential properties often lack what an early education program requires for classrooms, parking, and outside space.
An adequate school site must meet strict federal and state guidelines, including compliance with the American Disabilities Act and passing numerous fire, safety and environmental assessments. Sites also must consider suitability with the neighboring properties. Geller said that they had to stop pursuing one residential property because the neighbor had a right of easement to use its driveway, which the neighbor refused to yield.
“We couldn’t have them driving a vehicle through the property where we might have children outside,” Geller said.
Several times the organization thought they found a property only for an environmental issue like ground contamination or an abutment issue to stop the sale. Between 2016 and 2017 the organization invested a year pursuing a house neighboring a shopping plaza on North Main Street, agreeing to invest an additional $100,000 in renovations to comply with flood zone regulations, only to learn prior to finalizing the sale that they would not have access to the plaza parking lot for teachers and parents.
“The plaza’s management misrepresented the situation from the start,” Geller said. “We wasted so much time and effort, not to mention legal fees. That property was almost a year-long process.”
Last year they had the opportunity to buy the Masonic Hall. As it happens, the masonic hall was the Head Start’s location before they relocated to the old firehouse, Geller said. The Masons decided they could no longer afford to retain it and decided to merge their chapter with another, and sell the building.
“It’s a perfect building for us,” Geller said, whose organization acquired the hall for $165,000.
Southeastern Vermont Community Action received a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, the federal agency that administers Head Start, to cover most of the renovation costs, with a $15,000 matching contribution from the Vermont Building Communities Grant program.
“We’re excited to come back to Windsor, and with a permanent property we look forward to providing services for many years to come,” Geller said.
The Windsor Head Start had to close during this search period, Geller said. The organization helped some families through their home-based program, through which Head Start teachers periodically visit children and parents in the home to teach ways for parents to educate and cultivate their child’s development, and providing spaces for children in nearby programs like Springfield. Some families, however, lacked the means to stay at home or take their children elsewhere to employ alternatives.
The Head Start program in Windsor is now accepting applications for the 2019-20 school year with plans to start Sept. 1. Geller said they aim for an initial enrollment of 15-17 children, but in time they may expand additional classroom space on the second floor.
Children must be at least age 3 by Sept. 1 to enroll. The program offers high quality classroom instruction and child development activities six hours her day, 5 days per week (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. -2 p.m.). Families interested in applying for the program should contact Lori Canfield at [email protected] or (802) 885-6669 ext. 8102 for more information.
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