Infants and toddlers could be new ‘students’ at Fort Worth ISD in the 2024-25 school year
The Fort Worth Independent School District is inching closer to opening its first early childhood learning space two years after voters approved a bond that sets aside about $13.8 million for four centers across the city.
The design phase for Morningside Elementary School’s early childhood center is almost 20% complete with plans to finish construction next summer and open next school year, according to Mike Naughton, the district’s executive director of facilities planning. Pfluger Architects was selected as the architect a year ago and Morales Construction Services was selected as the contractor in August.
“Our goal is to have construction substantially completed by the end of July, so in the summer of 2024, which should allow us to go and open the facility for the start of the 2024 school year,” Naughton said.
The $6.8-million project will consist of five classrooms focused on infants and toddlers up to age 3, but it remains to be seen how many children will be accommodated and whether an outside organization will operate the center. The construction will consist of renovating an existing annex building at Morningside, built in the 1970s, that is slated to be 9,217 square feet once it’s finished, Naughton said.
“We see this as being an opportunity to make sure that we’re providing students high-quality instruction and high-quality child care from the very beginning,” Olayinka Moore-Ojo, Fort Worth ISD’s executive director of early learning, told the Star-Telegram in early 2022.
Fort Worth ISD is following the lead of neighboring Crowley ISD, which has an early childhood center at its Hargrave Elementary School campus that’s operated by Child Care Associates, one of the largest child development organizations in North Texas. The federally funded Early Head Start program provides early learning and support at the center for infants and toddlers from low-income families.
Fort Worth ISD officials are looking at areas that are considered child care deserts, which have minimal to no access to high-quality, affordable child care. Morningside Elementary is located just north of the 76115 ZIP code, which has a maximum of five child care seats per 100 children of working parents, according to data from advocacy organization Children At Risk.
Students who attend high-quality early childhood education programs are less likely to be placed in special education classes or held back a grade in their academic career; they’re also more likely to graduate from high school, research shows.
This story was originally published October 9, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
