Santa Monica Breaks Ground for Child Lab School
Santa Monica and Santa Monica College representatives held a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the beginning of construction for the Santa Monica Early Childhood Lab School on Tuesday, March 8 early in the afternoon. The building is planned for completion in the spring of 2020 and will serve as a child care center for the community. The event took place on the corner of 4th Street and Civic Center Drive in the center of downtown Santa Monica.
Originally started in 1989, the project has been established through a partnership between the city itself, Santa Monica College, and two non-profits, the RAND Corporation and the Growing Place. The Growing Place will be taking care of the day-to-day operations. All parties were represented in the day’s event, with each of the organization's representative giving a speech.
As the location of the lab school is currently a parking lot near the Civic Center, a small trough with dirt was made alongside plastic shovels and toy dump trucks to signify them breaking ground.
Research done by the city has shown that 35% of children are not ready to start school, and Mayor Ted Winterer believes this lab school provides an opportunity to prepare more children for kindergarten and it allows the training of more educators for the future.
“It’s great. It’s always good to see people gathered together in support of a groundbreaking ceremony like this,” Winterer said.
The lab school itself will be open for anybody but will reserve 30% enrollment to Santa Monica residents as well as 15% for lower-income families which is an important aspect for those involved with the project. The RAND Corporation is providing funding for scholarships for families to participate.
The college is allowing students to intern for experience through the nationally accredited Early Childhood Development department, a requirement for students majoring in the field. The new building, which has been built specifically for childhood development, will provide easier access for students.
In attendance was SMC’s Superintendent/President Dr. Kathryn E. Jeffery, who talked about the unique partnership and how the connection between the college and the city will come together.
“It’s an opportunity for our students to have access to a training facility that’s near the college,” Jeffery said. “Yet, it’s at the heart of the city, so the residents will be able to easily come in, bring their children, teachers will be easily coming in, and the people who are a part of this will be able to have access to quality services in an easily-accessible location.”
A study model for the 20,000-square-foot lab school designed by the firm Carde Ten Architecture and Consulting. Brian Ten, one of the founding partners, came to the event.
“It’s been a long road for everyone and what’s really nice is that everyone is so happy about where we are. But for me, I’ve still got my road ahead of me for the next year or two,” Ten said. “I’m looking forward to the construction, it should be a very visible project and something that everyone’s going to be proud of here. It was definitely worth the hard work and collaboration of many people.”
Laura Manson, the chair of the ECE department, spoke to the crowd and has been involved along with the department in getting everything ready.
“This event makes it even more real that we know we’re moving forward, and it’s beautiful to see the support of the community as well,” Manson said. “It was validating in that process, so we’re just over the moon for this.”