By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Learning Cross Child Care is closing one of its locations but has opened a new center at the First Presbyterian Church in Hays.
Learning Cross Agape at the First Presbyterian Church, 2900 Hall, has been open since February.
The church has hosted child care in its building, but that space has been empty for some time.
The church received a grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation to complete classroom renovations.
Agape can accept infants through children 12 years old, Brett Schmidt, Learning Cross director, said. It is considered a small-center pilot through the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
Learning Cross can legally accommodate up to 24 children in that classroom, depending on age, but the center has capped its enrollment at 12.
The center can accommodate up to four infants and will have three to four staff members assigned to that location, Schmidt said.
"All of our programs, we always overstaff just to make it easier on our staff but also higher quality care," he said. "That's what the mission has always been."
Learning Cross has reserved spots for school-age children at Agape for children who have graduated from its intergenerational preschool at Ascension Via Christi Village, 2225 Canterbury.
Agape has a waitlist for infants and toddlers.
Schmidt said the small-center model allows for more flexibility and more supervision than a traditional center.
All children are combined in one classroom with infants in a designated area for safety.
Learning Cross Academy preschool, 2517 Canterbury, will close as of the end of June.
That center opened in 2020 and was a kindergarten prep program for 4- and 5-year-olds.
Learning Cross had hoped to purchase the Academy location, but that fell through. Schmidt said staff also preferred the intergenerational model.
The child care has had lower enrollment at the intergenerational Learning Cross Preschool because of a lack of available staff members, so the staff members from the academy will be moved to the intergenerational center to accommodate enrollment at that location.
"We will have more flexibility with staff, and we will bring the program back, so every kid gets that," Schmidt said of the intergenerational program.
"Child care's hard. When you have the intergenerational built into it, you have another benefit to teaching," he said.
Despite the academy's closing, Schmidt said the changes will likely result in no net loss in child care spots.
The intergenerational center, which cares for 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds, will be able to accommodate more children when academy staff are transferred to that program, Schmidt said.
The intergenerational center is full for the next two school years but has a waitlist.
You can learn more about the programs at learningcross.com.