New day care center to open in Christiansburg
Main Street Child Care and Preschool plans to open at 100 W. Main Street in Christiansburg by the end of January. Photo by Travis Williams| The Burgs
CHRISTIANSBURG — The building that formerly housed Main Street Baptist Church and has been vacant since April 2011, may be filled with children by the end of the month, as Main Street Child Care and Preschool prepares to open.
Operational manager Nita Stallard said that pending the proper state and local permits, she expects the center, located at 100 W. Main St., to open by the end of January.
The facility, which is slightly more than 19,000 square feet, will offer a variety of nonfaith-based programming for newborns through 13-year-olds, including before- and after-school programming for school-aged children, Stallard said. It will also be a state-certified preschool, she added.
The center will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and an on-site cafeteria will be available to provide full-time students with breakfast, lunch and two snacks each day.
Ricky Smith, CEO and financial manager, stressed that while child care would be a part of the center, the facility would be about more than babysitting.
“Our main goal here is we’re not a day care, we’re a learning center,” Smith said. “We want to teach the kids.”
As a part of that philosophy, Stallard said her staffing process has focused on hiring teachers with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Each day’s program will be broken down into a variety of programming aimed to foster each child’s emotional, social, cognitive and physical growth.
Providing such a center at an affordable rate was also a primary concern for Smith and Stallard, who both said they wanted to focus on helping lower-income families.
In an effort to do this, Stallard said the center’s weekly rates were set at between $10 and $20 cheaper than similar child care facilities in the area.
Though weeks away from opening, Stallard said the school is currently accepting enrollments. She added that she believes the center can serve up to 200 children.
For more information about the center, call 392-0543 or email MaintStreetDayCare@yahoo.com.
The Roanoke Times | 381-1643
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Nita is a great person and a great childcare manger she was even the best at operating a childcare center. She wonderful with kid parents and employees.
Comment by pete johnston — April 16, 2013 @ 1:32 am