HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) – A long-standing child care center and preschool in Harrisonburg is preparing to close this summer. The Roberta Webb Early Education Center will close on June 28th.
“Roberta Webb has been in this community for over 30 years and has been an active program. We have had good times and we have had bad times, but we will continue to get better.” Roberta Webb said Angela Rouse, executive director of Webb. Early education center.
For 30 years, this early education center has served the Northeast Harrisonburg community by providing affordable child care and education for children ages 3 to 5 through a partnership with Harrisonburg City Public Schools and JMU. has provided services to.
With continued financial difficulties and Rouse's retirement approaching, the nonprofit's board of directors decided this summer that it was time to close the center.
“One of the biggest hurdles for us is recognizing that we need more bricks and mortar, that we need to raise teacher salaries, and that these things are not opportunities that are going to happen right away. while combining and blending funds,'' Rouse said.
Rouse said in response to the center's closure, the board is reevaluating and exploring other ways to improve early childhood education in the Harrisonburg area in the future.
“We wanted to rethink, one, how we use space and two, what we can do in our community. It's about advancing early childhood education in a way that leverages local funding and local businesses to make early childhood education more successful.And then we had to implement a lot of other things,” Rouse said.
Roberta Webb receives funding in part from JMU, Harrisonburg City Public Schools, The United Way, and local donors.
“As far as our board of directors is concerned, they will disband and go on with their normal lives, but I understand that there is an opportunity for me to help and consult so that others do not find themselves in this situation. ” Rouse said. “So while we won't see Roberta Webb in the community when it comes to new changes, I hope I can be a light on different ships.”
Roberta Webb started with a goal to help families in the Northeast Neighborhood community of Harrisonburg. Currently, only two of her 30 students live in the area. Immanuel Mennonite Church, which is home to the education center, will be able to use the space to support the community in other ways.
“We know we've lived up to our mission because they (the board) have served families in this community for 30 years and their mission statement has always been 'for the Northeast community.' Now they can say with satisfaction, “We accomplished our mission,'' knowing that they have expanded further and gone far beyond that.'' said Rouse.
The center is working with currently enrolled families with children who will not reach school age next year to help them find other child care options.
“This year, 28 of our 30 students will graduate and go on to Harrisonburg City Schools. So we have two families, and we have the same curriculum in terms of using the same curriculum and supporting the families. We plan to assist in transitioning to other childcare centers with the same intentions,” Rouse said.
Ms Rouse said the closure was bittersweet as the center had long been a pillar of the community. She said its staff and board want to be intentional for families and hope something positive can be built from the closure.
“Whatever shape the next time is, we need to take the opportunity to pause and do better next time. But we've had our good times, we've had our bad times, and now we've made it through. We’re able to put it all together and serve people in a complete way,” Rouse said.
Ms Rouse said she hoped taking a step back would benefit early childhood education in the future, given the challenges the center has faced in recent years.
“Early education has been asking us for years to pivot to what's next, but we've realized that what we're doing is spinning our wheels. That spin is… Wait, if we're really good leaders, we'll have a better chance to come down and serve.'' So I think what I would like to see is us taking a step back to know how to reimagine how to make this better for the community,” she said.
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