On track

The west wing is being demolished.

The roof is being replaced.

The interior is getting a makeover.

Progress is on track for Jay County Early Learning Center to open late this summer in the former Judge Haynes Elementary School on the west side of Portland.

“I feel really good about the progress,” said Doug Inman, executive director of The Portland Foundation, during a walk through the building Thursday. “As long as every two weeks they keep telling us we’re on scheduled, I’ll be in a great peace of mind.”

The deadline for construction is July 31, with the facility for 6-week-olds through 5-year-olds planned to open in August.

The construction project at the former elementary school — The Portland Foundation purchased it in 2022 with a goal of converting it into an early learning center — started in November with Shroyer Solutions of Muncie working on demolishing the west wing and Centimark of Fort Wayne on a new roof for the remainder of the building. (The west wing had sustained significant water damage because of roof leaks.)

Now Muhlenkamp Building Corporation of Coldwater, Ohio, is in the process of the $2.42-million interior renovation. There are holes in floors as new plumbing is installed, all of the classrooms have been gutted and new entries have been cut into the exterior walls.

The plumbing work will allow for two bathrooms in each classroom in the east wing, which will house infants and toddlers. The south wing for 3-, 4- and 5-year olds will have a single bathroom in each. Classrooms throughout the building will have a door leading outside, and a new main entrance has been cut leading to the south parking lot.

    Plumbing work is part of the ongoing renovation at the former Judge Haynes Elementary School. Two bathrooms will be added to all classrooms on the east wing with one each on the south wing to prepare the building to become the new Jay County Early Learning Center. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)
  

The former library will become the new entryway, main offices and break room, with an awning covering the walkway to the parking lot. Parents will bring students inside, where there will be double sets of doors and a keypad for security.

The electrical system will be upgraded with new lighting installed throughout. There will be a new building control system that will operate the heating and cooling system from a central location. 

    Electrical upgrades are part of the interior renovation that is underway at the former Judge Haynes Elementary School in Portland. Work will also include adding restrooms to all classrooms. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)
  

“That will help with operating costs because as the day winds down and everyone leaves then the system will work itself down and not be at full heat or air as it would be otherwise,” said Inman.

Vinyl flooring will be installed in all classrooms and hallways in an effort to give the building a more homey feel. A small play area will be added on the north side of the building, accessible directly from one of the infant/toddler classrooms, and the existing playground equipment on the southwest side will be updated.

“The 1950s metal stuff’s gonna go,” said Inman. (The building opened in 1952.) “We’ll take all that out. And we’ll be bringing in age-appropriate playground equipment for the kids. …

“The stuff that’s out there now is for up to 12-year-old kids. The equipment is just way too big for 2 year olds.”

Once the renovation is complete the building will be ready to serve children, with Westminster Preschools of Marion handling the operation of the facility. Westminster was selected in the spring after the foundation put out a request for proposals. Interest forms for both children and staff are available on the Westminster Preschools Portland Facebook page.

“When we put the request for proposals out statewide, Westminster was at the top of the list,” said Inman. “They came very highly recommended from my community foundation colleague in Grant County. She spoke very highly of them.

“Their expertise, their knowledge is what we didn’t have. … The Portland Foundation is not in the business of running an early learning center. … We’re excited that they wanted to do a five-year operating lease.”

Inman noted that Westminster is in discussions with Chartwells about handling food service for the facility. (The company has managed food service for Jay School Corporation since 2019.)

In addition to the early learning center, Inman noted that IU Health Jay’s Healthy Beginning’s program will also offer services in the building. The former principal, secretary and nurse offices on the north side will be left as open spaces for Healthy Beginnings to work out of, though the number of days they will be in the building has not yet been determined. The old bathrooms across the hall are being transformed into a training space.

Inman said the hope is that the training area could also be home to a family resource center that has been discussed as a need for the community.

‘We were really trying to make this not just about Westminster and early learning but also Healthy Beginnings and a family resource center,” said Inman. “The people in our community that need assistance, we want to be able to provide a space that they can actually come and not make multiple stops to have to see people that they need to talk to. So we’re excited about that.”

The Portland Foundation committed to funding the project — $3.97 million in all, including funding for equipment and supplies — but it and Westminster have since been awarded various grants to help with the cost. The largest, so far, was a $741,949 grant through the State of Indiana Family of Social Services Office. Others include $500,000 from Early Years Initiative grant from Early Learning Indiana — the bulk of that money is for renovation, equipment and supplies with the remainder to support Healthy Beginnings — and $50,000 from the Ball Brothers Foundation. (The project also received $291,000 through the first round of the state’s Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative (READI) program.

“It’s just one of those things that we, as the foundation, looked at and said, ‘This has got to happen,’” said Inman. “It’s been talked about so long and things are at the point in the community where it’s desperately needed.”

He noted the recent 2023 Early Learning Indiana Closing the Gap report — it is available at earlylearningin.org/closingthegap — that shows nearly 1,000 children who may be in need of early learning services in Jay County. The report shows that current programs have the capacity to serve about 25% of those children. Of those programs, the report rates only five of them as “high-quality.”

Jay County Early Learning Center is expected to serve about 150 children.

“The need is huge,” said Inman while also praising a facility Pioneer Warehousing is working on that is expected to serve almost 50 children. “This does not solve the problem, but it provides an opportunity to at least move the needle.”