Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Helen Carreker (left) and Debra Yoffie are key participants in organizing the remodeling project at Saratoga Parent Nursery School.
It takes a village to remodel the Saratoga Parent Nursery
By Leigh Ann Maze
As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, a phrase the parents at the Saratoga Parent Nursery School are taking to heart in their day-to-day activities and in the remodeling of their co-operative school and adult education center.
In a true community collaboration, parents, teachers, Design Response, West Valley College and community members are working together on a complete remodeling of the 52-year-old two-bedroom house.
Design Response, a nonprofit organization that provides space planning and interior design to other nonprofits throughout Santa Clara, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties, chose SPNS as one of its clients this year. A team of 12 WVC volunteers was assembled in May and since then has been planning the new nursery design under the motto, "The children's space for growing roots and sprouting wings." The group includes five interior-design students; Diane Hurd, director of the Interior Design Department; two consultants from the Child Studies Department; and input from the Landscape Architecture Program. Architect Steve Benzing with Warren, Heid & Associates in Saratoga also is donating his services to the project.
"The WVC team was chosen to research designs specific to the education of young children," said Helen Carreker, program coordinator for Design Response.
The goal of the design team is to create a space that will promote a safe and healthy environment where the children feel welcome.
"This is the first step away from home for a lot of kids, and we want them to feel one hundred percent comfortable in coming here and at the same time start freeing themselves from Mom and Dad, taking a few risks and doing things independently," said Debra Yoffie, who is a parent, the chair of the SPNS remodel project and a member of the Design Response Board of Directors.
Although the square-footage will not be increased, some serious re-arranging will make the space more conducive to children's learning, moving and exploring. SPNS will also be brought up to code with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
"We want to turn this space into a place that is truly for little people," said Julia Soldan, a parent and an SPNS fundraising volunteer.
The design team recently chose Pete Taormino of Taormino Builders in San Jose recently as the contractor for the project. Construction is scheduled to take place from May 20 through mid-August, while the children are out of school.
"For the students at West Valley, it's an excellent learning opportunity and an experience at doing a real design project," said Celine Pinet, an interior-design faculty member at WVC.
While the WVC team finalizes the design, parents are working on logistics, keeping the SPNS membership informed and raising money to pay for it. About $50,000 is already in the coffers, and $100,000 more must be raised by the end of February. For 34 years until 1995, the SPNS's main fundraising event was the annual Art and Wine show SPNS hosted in Wildwood Park. After questions arose as to whether a fundraiser involving alcohol was appropriate for a preschool, the SPNS had to turn elsewhere for its school fundraising efforts.
Fundraising packets were sent to SPNS's 60 member families and more than 800 alumni members. Parents on the fundraising committee are talking with corporations, the real estate community, banking and financial institutions, and restaurants within the school and Saratoga community, seeking donations of money or equipment.
"I think this facility will be a model for other communities wanting to bring a facility like this up to current codes and to the latest research in really enhancing the education of young children," Carreker said.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
