The Monroe County Community School Corp. has closed its early learning center at Bloomington High School North and is consolidating services at its BHS South facility. Officials say the change will allow them to serve more children amid high demand and staffing challenges.   

Previously, North’s early learning center served about 23 children, and South’s, located at 401 E. Miller Drive, had about 32 children, for a total of 55 children.   

Tim Dowling, director of early learning enrollment for the corporation, said the new consolidated model will make room for 62 children.   

“It's a response to the community and the need,” he said. “We know for the community for infant and toddler care and just ensuring that we were using our available resources and available staff to serve as many infants and toddlers as possible.”  

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All the staff from North’s early learning center kept their positions and now operate out of South’s facility. Dowling said it was challenging at times to find qualified staff because of strict requirements; at least 50 percent of the staff at their centers must have a college degree or Child Development Associate credential.   

With the consolidation, there will now be fully staffed classrooms. Previously, classrooms were not fully staffed with three adults, and thus enrollment was limited.  

Now, Dowling said eight new infants and 10 new toddlers, some of whom had been on the waitlist for over a year, will be enrolled.  

“That was the most number of infants and toddlers we ever enrolled at the same time was when we made this consolidation,” he said. “We're able to open up those number of spots for new families.”  

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About 12 families who had kids attending North’s center are planning to stay with the program and attend South’s instead, either this summer or in the fall. Dowling said it is not a huge change for families.  

“A lot of them are already coming over here [to South’s facility] during the summer, because this is a year-long program,” he said. “So, traditionally, our families from North who want summer care come here already.”