Allan Appel Photo
The “mood meter” was off the charts Thursday, overwhelmed with good feeling as guests and dignitaries cut the ribbon on a brand new early-education center in Fair Haven Heights.
The ceremony happened Thursday morning as more than 100 people, including little kids and mayoral candidates, gathered to celebrate the opening of a new $3.6 million facility for infants and toddlers. It’s called the Friends Center for Children, nestled beside a city park atop East Grand Avenue.
Executive Director Schiavone surrounded by her kids, did the honors.
The building, paid for through $1.4 million in privately raised money $2 million from the state bond commission, will allow the Friends Center to increase its capacity from 16 families to 78.
Beneath a picture-perfect sunny sky, Executive Director Allyx Schiavone declared, “Welcome to our new home. What’s your mood today?”
Guests were invited to use the “mood meter,” a board with axes indicating energy level and positivity. People place magnets in the quadrant that represents their mood.
The building is designed with “model simplicity,” said Migliore-Dest.
After a groudbreaking in last December, the new center took barely 10 months to complete. It was so efficient that state Sen. Martin Looney pondered whether the state should turn some construction projects over to the Quakers.
Schiavone politely declined the offer.
Although the tuition is pricey — $18,200 for infants and toddlers and $16,000 for pre-schoolers — nearly all of the currently enrolled 42 kids receive some form of assistance, said Schiavone. She has led the effort to create the new early learning center, for kids of all religious persuasions.
Nearly all of the kids currently enrolled are from New Haven, and many from the Fair Haven area, added Schiavone.
Speaker after speaker, including Sen. Looney, spoke about how crucial early childhood education is not only for kids and families but for society as a whole. “So many children come to school ill-prepared, and turn off. This will help deal with that issue. They will be cherished in this atmosphere, and ready for school. There is great joy here,” Looney said.
“The achievement gap starts before kids go to school,” declared mayoral candidate Toni Harp. (Her opponent, Justin Elicker, was in the audience.)
The new superintendent of schools, Garth Harries, praised the investment in the youngest of students and praised the Friends’ school for advancing the idea that “our goals are not only academic. Our goals are [also] to develop values, and people,” he said to great applause.
Then he praised the new, svelte, green facility, which boasts a roof garden and electric car plug-in station. “Can I use the nap facilities?” he quipped.
Amy Migliore-Dest (pictured) — a parent, New Haven school teacher, and Friends board member — visited the center with her 2‑year old son, Finn. They stopped Inside the infant/toddler “Truth” room. Each of the rooms is named after a Quaker value.
The head teacher in the room, Jennifer DiGioia, said that kids were acclimating to the new space with projects on how to identify and express feelings through using the mood meter, and “reading” books that show babies’ faces.
Parents are encouraged to use the mood meter board too — just as Schiavone urged all visiting dignitaries to do — in order indicate how their kids are at drop off time.
Migliore-Dest, a parent at the school since the new facility was just an idea, said what sets the school apart is not only the great ratio of teachers to kids, but the always-positive attitude, the relevance of emotional education, “and meeting each kid where they are.”
Migliore-Dest, an art teacher at the Engineering, Science, Math University School (ESMUS), added, “Language, sociability, it makes such a difference to have that as a foundation at an early age.”
Christmann by the rain barrel and water table that the kids like to play with.
After the ribbon-cutting, parent Carolyn Christmann said that one of her sons was a late walker and talker. She said the staff worked with him in a “seamless way.” That included talking to the child’s doctor, speech therapist, and others, and going “above and beyond.”
The result: a boost in social development and learning.
The school, which had just six teachers less than a year ago, now has 16 and will eventually grow to 21 to serve the 78 kids. Schiavone said the growth will be deliberate, to maintain tone and values.
Although all the infant/toddler slots are taken, the school is looking for pre-school kids and their families to join up. In the Quaker spirit, each adult in the family must also contribute an hour and a half of cooperative time. That could mean doing jobs ranging from helping with the newsletter to working in the classroom.