Nine slots available to start, with plans to expand to 30 children

By Emma Maple

CLALLAM BAY — A childcare facility has opened in Clallam Bay to help address the area’s childcare desert.

The Clallam Bay Early Learning Center (CBELC), located on the grounds of the Clallam Bay School, is designed to serve the Clallam Bay and Sekiu communities.

Before the childcare center opened Monday, Program Director Cassie Davidson said the closest childcare facility was at Neah Bay, which had a waiting list, or in Forks.

At first, the CBELC will only accept nine children between 36 months and 6 years old. There are still slots available, Davidson said, and parents can enroll their children through the Clallam Bay Early Learning Center website.

Davidson’s background in childcare is aided by the nine years she spent as special education director at Crescent School District. She said she wanted to open a daycare/learning center because she wanted to support kids who have behavioral issues and “get them the tools to be successful in a general education classroom.”

“I’m hoping that, through my program, we can work on teaching those kids how to have more tools in their toolbox,” she said.

The education program Davidson will use will focus on the social-emotional aspects of life and learning through play, she said.

Given the proximity of the Clallam Bay School and the Clallam Bay Corrections Center, Davidson said, “a lot of people were expressing that they needed a daycare in the area.”

When Davidson first considered leaving teaching to open a daycare, all the pieces began to fall into place. Through connections, Davidson learned that Lorie Fazio and a team at the Clallam Economic Development Council (EDC) had been working for about two years to establish a daycare in the area due to the childcare desert they had identified.

Davidson connected with the EDC and they worked toward their common goal.

The Clallam Bay School District, Marie Keller from Imagine Institute and other organizations and community members also were essential to getting the daycare established, Davidson said.

Registration for the daycare costs $100 annually, and the current rate for a full day (four or more hours of care) is $1,480 a month for toddlers and $1,260 a month for preschoolers.

Preschoolers are 30 months to 6 years, or whenever they begin school, while toddlers are 12 months to 30 months.

Four hours or less of care is 60 percent of full-day rates. State subsidies for childcare are accepted.

Once the center gets established and Davidson hires more teachers, she said the plan is to have space for up to 30 kids – 13 toddlers and 17 preschool-age kids.

The center will be open from 5:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.