The Athabasca Play School Association now has a place to call home.
After years of moving around, jumping from place to place wherever they could fit in, the non-profit organization, which provides a pre-school experience for three to five year old kids, now has a permanent spot nestled up to Whispering Hills Primary School.
A crew from Triple H Transport, out of Stony Plain, carefully guided a modular classroom unit from Athabasca University across town to WHPS on Friday. Upon arrival, they squeezed the portable unit into its final spot at the back of the school.
A permanent home has been a long time coming, explained Annie Karczmarczyk, a play school association representative who was on hand to capture the careful work of getting the building to its final resting place.
”Families have been fundraising for a building for well over ten years, so this isn’t just this year’s families, this is many years of many families’ work,” she said.
Since their inception in 1985 the group has bounced around to spots across town, including WHPS, Landing Trail Intermediate School, Athabasca University and the Nancy Appleby Theatre.
Karczmarczyk praised Aspen View School Board for the work they did in securing the facility from Athabasca University.
“They’ve been doing all the ground work to make this happen in a really short period of time,” she said.
Under their agreement, Aspen View will pay up front for the $60,000 building and the approximately $40,000 worth of maintenance required to tie it into WHPS power, heat and plumbing. The association will continue fundraising to pay off the costs incurred by Aspen View.
David Kwiatkowski, Maintenance Director for Aspen View, explained that the school board’s staff will eventually stucco the exterior of the unit to match that of WHPS. They will first hook the building up to the school’s utilities and work on the interior so as to give the play school association access as soon as possible.
Superintendent of Schools Brian LeMessurier explained that the increase in costs to bring utilities to the unit will be minimal for WHPS and will probably be very close to what the association is currently paying for rent.
He saw the deal as a good one for all three parties involved.
“The new building will give them some stability,” he said. “The end result is young children will be better served in their pre-school years.”
WHPS principal Lorna Kravontka added that having kids come to the school before kindergarten will ease the often difficult transition.
She said it will give them a chance to get to know the school and its facilities and teachers before getting their start in kindergarten.
“We know that this is best for kids,” she said.
