Park District Leases Space in Downtown Building
Plan calls for opening Great Adventures preschool and using facility for evening and weekend programs for children, adults.
Photos
A new Plainfield Park District preschool will open this fall in leased space inside the downtown Heritage Professional Center, with a plan for more children and adult programs to follow.
The district has leased space in the building at 24023 Lockport St., which is also home to Sigler Family Eye Care and Plainfield Pediatric Dentistry, with a goal of being ready for occupancy by late August by the Great Adventures Program for Preschoolers, the park district said in a media release.
Great Adventures Program for Preschoolers will synchronize its schedule with the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.
Once the school is operational, the release said, more park district classes and programs for children and adults will be scheduled. District officials say the new facility will allow them to offer a wider range of programs in the evenings, on the weekends and year-round, the release said.
“The recreation staff is always coming up with new program ideas but the challenge has always been to find the physical space to hold them,” said Cheryl Crisman, superintendent of recreation.
“This facility is a wonderful opportunity for us, not only to expand our current program offerings, but also to offer some new and different things.”
The idea of opening a downtown facility is part of the 2010-14 Parks and Recreation Master Plan, which calls for "an indoor facility that meets the expressed priorities and unmet needs of the Plainfield Park District community,” said Executive Director Greg Bott.
“One of the strategies determined to meet that goal was to consider alternative means of providing an indoor facility, including investigating the leasing of empty and unutilized buildings and facilities of private and public entities in the community."
"This building is centrally located in our district, and it allows us to add another facility for Park District programs.”
The Great Adventures preschool is open to children ages 3 to 5. Its philosophy is to let children explore, create, discover, problem solve, and communicate to develop age-appropriate skills, the release said.
Experienced staff members will use a progressive program that exposes students to colors, shapes, numbers and letters. Whole group and small group activities encourage academic and listening skills along with social interaction, according to the release.
Classes begin in early September and run through mid-May
For more information on the Plainfield Park District, call (815) 436-8812 or visit www.plainfieldparkdistrict.com. For more information on the Great Adventures Program, call (815) 254-2992 or e-mail greatadventures@plainfieldparkdistrict.com.
In This article
-
Plainfield Park District
23729 W Ottawa St, Plainfield, IL -
Sigler Family Eye Care
24023 W Lockport St, Plainfield, IL -
Plainfield Pediatric Dentistry
24023 W Lockport St, Plainfield, IL
Ben
8:17 am on Friday, July 22, 2011
Dose this mean that the millions of dollars we spend on education each year... our schools cannot educate our young children... so our city government has to spend more of our tax money to help our schools get the job done.
CONGRATULATIONS: Village of Plainfield, you have just proven what the rest of your tax payers have know for years... Our School are wasting millions in an attempt to educate our children... they still have not learned how to do the job right in over 100 years.
Thank You Plainfield Government for proving our case.
Ben
Eyes on Plainfield
9:35 am on Friday, July 22, 2011
Ben...just an FYI: Plainfield schools (Dist 202), Plainfield Park District, Plainfield Library and the Village of Plainfield, Plainfield Fire, along with Plainfield Township are stand alone individual entities.
Each governmental agency has a hand in the property tax "cookie jar" and develops individual rules via municipally elected trustees.
The biggest "waste" occurs when each "hand" doesn't know what the other "hands" are doing and as is occurring on a more frequent basis, without regard to the current economic situation.
Mom of 2
9:07 am on Friday, July 22, 2011
The park district is expanding their preschool for 3-5 year olds. Our public school system is not responsible for educating 3-5 year olds unless they are at-risk of have special needs. This has nothing to do with Plainfield public schools not being able to educate our children. By the way, your spelling is spot on...thank a teacher for that!
Grouchy Grammaw
5:09 pm on Friday, July 22, 2011
I hope the Plainfield Park District and the Plainfield Township Board will co-ordinate their plans, as they both are looking to expand their facilities for seniors. This downtown facility will be much more accessible and useful than the Township location which can be reached only by car. We seniors are very appreciative of any consideration, but common sense tells us that we don't need to duplicate space offerings, especially in these hard times. Let's spend ALL tax money wisely.
Peter
7:23 am on Monday, July 25, 2011
Dear Grouchy Grammaw, you're right the Park DIstrict & Township are looking to expand their seniors facilities, that's why both (Park District & Township) got together to build one senior center.
William Beagle
8:02 am on Saturday, July 23, 2011
I hope that the Park district has considered the parking in dowtown and especially in that block as the weekends will now be even more difficult for anyone to find a parking place. What are the hours going to be? Has the building adequate sprinklers to house a Child care facility? Are there approved exits and escape routes for the kids? Just a few questions to ponder! What about the Green space that is required by Child care facilities, is there enough? How can a variance be issued when it comes to Child Safety?
Eyes on Plainfield
10:14 am on Saturday, July 23, 2011
Good points on what is required of a "Child Care facility", including available parlking (as parking is ongoing problem in downtown Plainfield).
The needs and concerns of a growing population of seniors (the largest voting block, by the way) should be addressed as the tax burden and basic cost of living appear to be increasing while our property values are on a decline.
Peter
7:45 am on Monday, July 25, 2011
Mr Beagle & Eyes on Plainfield, you both have made great points, all those issues has been addressed by the Park District, it would be nice to see more of you at the board meetings, next meeting this Wednesday 6:00 pm