Bainbridge Island Child Care Centers finds a permanent home

Bainbridge Island Child Care Centers’ Kid’s Club program has been bouncing around for months. Not like, “Oh this is fun, we’re on a trampoline” bouncing, but rather, Little Orphan Annie-style, like you have no home and everybody keeps punting you.

Bainbridge Island Child Care Centers’ Kid’s Club program has been bouncing around for months.

Not like, “Oh this is fun, we’re on a trampoline” bouncing, but rather, Little Orphan Annie-style, like you have no home and everybody keeps punting you.

It started with two Commodore portables last June; the school district needed the space back because of increasing kindergarten enrollment and changes in state-mandated class sizes.

So Kid’s Club moved to space number two, the Ordway gym, for the month of July and August. Then, a knight in shining armor appeared, a deal at Coppertop Business Park, except it totally fell through. Executive director Shelley Long was worried, until the school district swooped in and invited Kid’s Club back to the gymnasium, where the daycare has been housed since last September.

Each move was a headache, with licensing to pursue, which amounted to about three months of dedicated work from one employee and endless red tape.

Long is happy to announce that it’s finally — almost — over.

Bainbridge Island Child Care Centers has purchased Montessori Country School’s Voyager campus, with an anticipated move date of December 2017. (At that time, Montessori Country School will shift its program into a new facility near Battle Point.)

“It is so pastoral and so beautiful,” Long said of the 2.5-acre property. “There’s apple trees and gardens. You walk onto the property and you just feel like taking a big, deep breath. It’s that beautiful.”

While Montessori Country School finishes up its new building, Kid’s Club will remain in the Ordway gym and Big Kids, Bainbridge Island Child Care Centers’ program for kindergarten through second-graders, will stay in the Little Red Schoolhouse (the center owns the building but leases the land from the school district).

The Montessori property is zoned to accommodate 70 kids, but Long said she hopes to negotiate with the city to increase enrollment.

“We’re going to want to have 90 to 100, so we have room for growth,” she said.

Long also plans to put in a new kitchen and a blacktop. She wants to develop new programs such as sustainable gardening and basketball, with a continued emphasis on outdoor activity.

“Our whole mission is for the growth of kids and their families,” Long said. “We take that responsibility seriously. We’ve got to have an exciting environment, a nurturing environment, where parents feel confident their kids are in excellent care. And they are — that staff, they’re the most amazing teachers.”