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Head Start preschool to move to site near of Decker

Facility to be built in new Fort Dodge industrial park

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson David Brighton, executive director for Your Own United Resources, Inc., explains some of the preliminary plans for a new Head Start preschool facility to be located east of Fort Frenzy in the Crosstown Connector Industrial Park in Fort Dodge.

Your Own United Resources Inc. — Head Start Zero-Five is planning to build a new state-of-the-art Head Start preschool facility in Fort Dodge, according to David Brighton, executive director.

The new preschool, which will house students ages 3 to 5 years old, is to be located just east of Fort Frenzy in the Crosstown Connector Industrial Park, also referred to as the Decker Industrial Park.

Head Start Zero-Five is partnering with the Guderian Trust and Woodruff Construction, of Fort Dodge, to complete the estimated $3 million project, according to Brighton.

Your Own United Resources Inc. is a single-purpose, nonprofit, private corporation that has been in Fort Dodge since 1965.

It has served Hamilton, Humboldt, Webster, and Wright counties since that time.

The organization received federal funding for the new preschool, Brighton said.

The funding came in after the set of Head Start standards were revised by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Brighton, who succeeded Bonnie Calvert as executive director in June 2016, said the standards require preschool facilities to have a certain amount of square footage in them. A number that the current Head Start facility, located at 214 S. 13th St., doesn’t meet.

“Our rooms are too small, so we either had to remodel our current facility or build a new facility,” Brighton said. “It was in our best interest to build a new building.”

The current building is going to be converted into Early Head Start classrooms and a day care facility.

The majority of the new classrooms will be about 1,000 square feet per room with a restroom within each one, Brighton said.

Head Start-Zero Five has about 18 students per classroom.

The new building will feature eight classrooms, a large gymnasium and administrative offices.

“I think it’s something our community has needed for a long time and will give our students an opportunity to better develop,” Brighton said.

Because the project is federally funded, Head Start Zero-Five is still seeking a matching donation from the community.

The local match needed is about $500,000, Brighton said.

“We are looking for donors who will be willing to sponsor a classroom and put their name on a classroom supporting Head Start,” Brighton said.

Another revision to the Head Start standards is the amount of time students will spend in the classroom.

“They are extending the school day,” Brighton said.

Starting in the 2017-18 school year, 40 percent of kids will go from spending 4.75 hours a day at school to six hours, according to Brighton.

The new facility is likely to have increased technology and safety features as well, Brighton said.

One of those features is a thumbprint security system.

“The entryway will have a thumbprint to get into to the room,” Brighton said. “It keeps record of everyone that comes in and out.

“There’s going to be two layers of security to get into the classroom,” Brighton added.

Visitors will first have to buzz in to gain entrance into the main building and then provide a fingerprint to enter classrooms.

The school will also have a reinforced tornado shelter within the building.

Construction for the project is slated to begin in the spring and is anticipated to conclude either sometime late in 2017 or early 2018, Brighton said.

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