In as little a few weeks the cafeteria and gymnasium at the Willis Avenue School in Mineola will begin hosting children from Harbor Child Care weekdays from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The Mineola School district approved a one-year lease with Harbor Child Care last Thursday at a Mineola Board of Education meeting, and the center is now waiting for clearance from the state Office of Child and Family Services to begin programs at the Willis Avenue School.
Harbor Child is not-for-profit child care organization, which for 38 years has provided early care and education for children from 12 weeks old to 12 years old. It is licensed by state Office of Children and Family Services, said Tom Rooney, director of marketing at Harbor Child Care. They currently have 800 children in six locations around Nassau County.
Harbor Care’s locations include the Herricks Community Center, where they have reached capacity in the space they occupy. Another location was needed to accommodate all the children, Rooney said.
“We have a big after-school program and we ran out of space at the community center,” Rooney said. “We were able to work with (Mineola) Superintendent (Michael) Nagler and moved some children over to Willis Ave School.”
More than 30 to 40 children will occupy the two rooms and the day-care center will pay the district $1,500 a month, Nagler said.
Nagler said the district will appraise the value of the Willis Avenue School for future lease agreements.
“Right now we’re doing our homework and having the school appraised,” Nagler said. “Other non-profit organizations have shown interest in the site, and we believe that Harbor Child Care will be an interested party in the bid process next year.”
As part of the school district’s reconfiguration plan, the Willis Avenue School won’t be used for classroom space next year. At least part of the school will be leased.
The plan included fifth graders moving to the middle school, and eighth graders moving to the high school this year. Also included in the configuration process is a $2.6 million expansion to the Hampton Street School and an upgrade to the library at the Meadow Drive School, which is to prepare both facilities to become the district schools for grades K through 2.
Under the reconfiguration plan, the Cross Street School was leased to Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove.
Currently the central administration offices for the district are located on the second floor of the Willis Avenue School, and a future lease of the school may include the leasing of the first floor or the entire building, Nagler said.
“Once we solicit proposals we will know if renters are interested in the whole building or just the first floor,” Nagler said. “Of course if they want the second floor it must make financial sense for the central offices to move. We don’t know where we would go at this point, but if there if there is interest we will explore our options.”
Rooney said that Harbor Care would be interested in leasing again at the Willis Avenue School, but in the meantime will continue to look for other facilities incase if it doesn’t work out.
