Preschool struggles to stay in southwest Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - For two decades, Trinity Lane Preschool has operated out of a brick building on the southwest side of Cedar Rapids.

But with the building at 400 Third Ave. SW up for sale, directors of the preschool are starting to worry their students - many from low-income families - could be without a neighborhood preschool next school year.

'Ideally, we'd like to be here because we have such a long history here,” site director Dawn DuPont said, referring to the school's roots in the southwest side. 'We have kids who come here today whose parents came here. They're very loyal to this section of town.”

If the preschool has to relocate to another neighborhood, its 2-, 3- and 4-year-old students could have few options for child care in the area. said both DuPont and Carolyn Barnes, director of Trinity Lane Preschool and its sister site, Lovely Lane Preschool on the northeast side.

Trinity Lane Preschool is located in what the Center for American Progress has deemed a 'child-care desert,” a census tract where there are three times as many children as there are licensed child care spaces. The center's report found that nearly 1 in 4 Iowans lives in a child care desert.

Aside from the low availability of child care in the neighborhood, the costs of care also could be a concern. In a given school year, between 50 and 75 percent of Trinity Lane Preschool students qualify for income-based tuition, DuPont said.

The preschool regularly supplements about $13,000 in tuition per year for its some 65 students, she said. Some families pay $35 per month in tuition instead of $140, DuPont said, and have a $50 registration fee reduced to $10.

'Sometimes, even $10 is hard for our families,” she said.

The preschool's building is owned by Trinity United Methodist Church, which lost its church building to the 2008 flood. Its congregation since has merged with St. James United Methodist, Pastor Carol Sundberg said.

The church decided to sell the building because the congregation no longer had a need for the location, she said.

'It's so hard for them, and it's not something you wish to have happen,” Sundberg said.

'But we had two flooded church buildings” - both Trinity and the preschool - 'and it's not easy to recover from 2008.”

The preschool was a shared ministry project between Trinity United Methodist Church and Lovely Lane United Methodist Church, Sundberg said. Trinity United Methodist Church made the building's second-floor space available to the preschool rent-free.

As Trinity Lane Preschool searches for a new location, it's understood a rent-free arrangement likely won't be replicated, Barnes said.

'But we can't even come up with a place right now,” Barnes said. ' ... I never dreamed it would be so hard to relocate.”

The preschool has a lease on its current space until June. Until then, Barnes said she will keep searching. She plans to soon reach out to churches of other denominations for help.

Buying the building, listed at $499,000 by Skogman Realty, could be a last resort, she said.

l Comments: (319) 398-8330; molly.duffy@thegazette.com