Ragamuffins Breaks Ground For New Daycare
Friday, May 2 was a day that has been long in the planning for Carol Maurer, owner of Ragamuffin Daycare in Stanley. For many years she has studied the need and planned to provide for more childcare in the area.
On Friday, a groundbreaking was held for the new 9,600 square foot daycare that will be capable of providing childcare for 120 kids. That will include the 30 children they already serve, but expand to allow for 90 more.
At the groundbreaking, Maurer talked about what makes Ragamuffins unique. That includes being a QRIS Step 3 program. They are currently applying for their Step 4 Cohort. Each cohort is a ten month process of onsite coaching, classes, assessments and observations of their program implementing goals to ensure best practices are always being met.
They are also part of the Best-In-Class Kindergarten readiness program, offering a sliding fee scale for children in the program. They are a member of the Childcare Aware Alliance, offering the learning beyond paper curriculum for children ages 0-4 to incorporate purposeful play and meaningful teaching. They work with Uspire and Early Childhood intervention for speech.
All of that adds up to their commitment to focus on early childhood development, educating the whole child and being purposeful in filling the gaps in the year before kindergarten.
They bring with them years of experience. They have staff members that have been with the daycare for as many as ten years, along with Maurer’s 21 years of experience in childcare. They work towards their Child Development Associates Certificate. There is also a staff member with her degree in early childhood development.
The new childcare center will be able to provide state licensed care with capacity up to 120 children. There will be two infant rooms, able to accommodate 20 infants; two rooms for children 18 months to 2 years old, able to accommodate 30 children. There will be a room for 3 year olds able to provide care for 20 children. Two rooms will be utilized for four and five year olds in the Best in Class Pre K program, providing care for 22 preschool aged children. To help meet community needs for before and after school care, as well as summer care, there will be a dedicated room for 20 school-aged children ages 6 to 12.