Dist. 44 opens early childhood center in Lombard

Before early childhood students in Lombard Elementary District 44 moved into their new home at Butterfield Elementary School, they visited the location on a field trip.

Some teachers let their students fill a box with favorite items from their old classrooms at Madison Elementary School. Others asked the little ones for help choosing where to put desks, chairs and decorations.

“They tried to build that comfort level so it wasn’t this big, new place,” Principal Kristine Walsh said.

Roughly 110 students in early childhood and kindergarten readiness programs moved into the four-classroom addition just after winter break. Built with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the addition was designed for kids ages 3 to 5, some of whom have special needs.

“Their classrooms are larger than their former home and everything was designed for this age group,” Walsh said.

The district applied for federal stimulus funding in November 2009 and received $784,055. Funding from Lombard’s tax increment financing districts and the school district’s sale of a former school building to the Lombard Park District completed the project’s total budget of $1.2 million. Construction began Aug. 3 and students began using the addition about five months later, on Jan. 4.

Teacher Nicole Homeier said she thought her 12 students might have trouble adjusting to new surroundings in the middle of the year. But in the third week of using the new space, she said they love their room’s view of open park land and its adjoining bathroom.

“(Teachers) had input on where we want outlets and covered shelving,” Homeier said. “It’s just so bright and airy. I walk in and I’m happy.”

Students also enjoy storing their coats and backpacks in “little-kid friendly” cubbies instead of lockers and having floor space to build things like an igloo, made by covering an oversized cardboard box with cotton balls, Homeier said.

Walsh said the district’s five early childhood teachers and six instructional assistants are able to work closely together in the addition.

“Having them all in one space is certainly an advantage,” Walsh said. “There’s a lot of collaboration that goes on between the teachers.”

Other than the four new classrooms, the addition has two special instruction spaces that hold an occupational therapist, physical therapist and parent coordinator.

About half of the students attending school in the new addition have developmental delays, Homeier said, so having specialists nearby is a necessity.

The early childhood center — added to the back of the school and invisible from the street — is far from flashy, but Walsh and Homeier said it meets the needs of the district’s youngest students.

“It’s just been such a positive thing,” Homeier said.

The only aspect of the early childhood center not yet completed is an age-appropriate playground that Walsh said will be built in the open field behind the school. She said playground construction will begin as soon as the snow thaws and spring sets in.