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Clear Creek Amana opening preschool center in Tiffin
Clipper Early Childhood Academy will be new home for two programs

Jan. 27, 2024 5:30 am
TIFFIN — A new preschool center is opening this fall in Tiffin as students outgrow facilities in the Clear Creek Amana Community School District.
The center — which will be operated by the Clear Creek Amana Community School District — will replace preschool at North Bend and Tiffin elementary schools, opening up space in those buildings for the growing student body there.
The new center will continue to be a half-day program, with morning and afternoon preschool and before and after school child care. As before, the move, it will not charge tuition.
The district purchased the Little Clippers Child Development Center, 415 Deer View Ave. in Tiffin, in December 2022 for $1.75 million. The purchase was funded by Secure an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE), a capital projects fund allocated to school districts based on enrollment that can be used for the purchase and improvement of grounds and buildings.
The building will be renamed Clipper Early Childhood Academy, and will open this fall as a preschool center for 3- and 4-year-olds.
Ben Macumber, Clear Creek Amana preschool director and principal of Amana Elementary School, said children with access to early learning are more prepared for kindergarten. They have increased vocabulary, language, math and social skills, more positive relationships with classmates and score higher on school-readiness assessments.
Emily Henry, a preschool teacher at Tiffin Elementary School, will be teaching this fall at Clipper Early Childhood Academy. Preschool is a “critical learning period” for kids, she said.
“There’s going to be a lot of advantages in having preschoolers together and being able to focus on their needs and what’s best for them,” Henry said. “Leaving Tiffin Elementary will be sad. I’ve made connections with families there and other staff. It’s always great to continue to see the kids in the hallways when they go to kindergarten.”
Little Clippers to continue offering child care
The Little Clippers business provides child care for families with children from 6 weeks to 12 years old. The business will continue operating in Tiffin in a new facility later this year at 809 Buck Street.
Amanda Rairden, owner of Little Clippers, said it’s “bittersweet” to leave the facility constructed when she opened her business in 2009. She does not anticipate a disruption in its services to families.
With Tiffin, North Liberty and Coralville recognized as among the fastest-growing cities in Iowa, the Clear Creek Amana district estimates growing enrollment of 150 to 200 students per year, and the 10-year enrollment outlook estimates 300 to 350 students per grade level.
Projected elementary student enrollment also will be over capacity for all elementary buildings in the district by the 2026-27 school year.
The district is in the process of constructing its sixth elementary school to alleviate crowding in its other schools. It also will be the district’s largest elementary, with a capacity for 600 students. The school will sit on 30 acres of land west of Coral Ridge Avenue and east of the intersection of Interstate 380 and Highway 6 in Coralville.
Cedar Rapids full-time preschool center
Most preschool programs within school districts are offered at elementary schools. The Cedar Rapids Community School District opened its first preschool center — Truman Early Learning Center — in the fall of 2022.
Truman, where there is no tuition to attend, is unusual in that it is a full-day program open to 4-year-olds. The district was able to do this with the help of short-term pandemic relief funding — which is set to expire in September.
After two years of the program at the Truman Early Learning Center being funded by federal dollars — the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief — the district will have to resort to state funding, which now funds preschool at half the usual per-pupil rate.
To continue operating a full-day preschool program, school officials are hoping the Iowa Legislature will fully fund the program.
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