Neck of the Woods Childcare, Waitsfield, is asking the Waitsfield Select Board to award it the remaining $17,000 of an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant promised to the Waitsfield Children’s Center.
The Waitsfield Select Board will consider that request at its November 25 meeting. (That meeting agenda and Zoom link can be found on the town’s website at www.waitsfieldvt.us.)
The Waitsfield Children’s Center closed this summer and Neck of the Woods (NOW) absorbed students and staff from that facility. NOW would like to receive some $17,000 left over from funds grants to the Waitsfield Children’s Center which were intended to reinvestigate water and wastewater at its location at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Waitsfield.
In a letter to select board chair Christine Parisi, NOW board member Betsy Jondro noted that NOW was aware of the ARPA grant balance when it absorbed staff and students from the children’s center this summer.
“Currently, when a child needs to use the bathroom or get changed, a teacher must leave the playground with them, and go back into their classroom. That teacher needs to be replaced in order to keep our teacher/child ratios in line with state requirements. We are currently working with Yestermorrow who will design and build two outside structures, starting in March, 2025 for our two large playgrounds. These will house composting port-o-lets, covered changing tables, and storage for supplies,” Jondro wrote to Parisi.
“While Yestermorrow will do the majority of the construction, we do need to purchase the materials and the port-o-lets. The current estimate is $20,000. We would like to request the balance of the WCC ARPA grant to fund this project,” Jondro added.
She concluded, noting that NOW is thankful for the town’s past and ongoing support and said “if these monies are already pledged to a different entity, we respect that decision.”
