On Friday, July 13, the Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa school district was notified in a letter that Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc., of Crookston would discontinue offering day care services as of August 24, 2018.
The letter states, "This is Tri-Valley's official written notice that we will cease operating the Jaguar Kids Connection child care program on August 24, 2018. This decision was made due to enrollment and budgetary concerns that the program has been faced with."
The letter then outlines a new lease agreement with B-B-E that ends on August 24 to encompass the same building areas it has been using over the past 18 months.
After that, the letter outlines a lease agreement for the period of Aug. 25, 2018 to March 31, 2019 that includes these spaces in the elementary school: CM office, laundry room, common areas, Tri-Valley storage shed and playground shed, Tri-Valely infant and toddler and preschool playgrounds on the property as well as TVOC cabinets, sinks, countertops in six classrooms.
The letter ends as follows: "Additionally, Tri-Valley is planning to provide Migrant and seasonal Head Start services to children and families in Brooten in the summer of 2019. We will be providing you with more details about our facility usage needs to support this programming at a later date. Tri-Valley is hopeful to enter into a contract, with B-B-E schools, from April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2020."
The final paragraph states: "We expect the long-standing collaboration between Tri-Valley and the B-B-E school district to remain strong through this transition as we work together to provide quality child care for the children and families in the community."
Respectfully, /s/ Jason Carlson, Chief Executive Officer.
Tri-Valley's website link: Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc.
Some background on the Tri-Valley and B-B-E district collaboration
Back in 2001, Tri-Valley began offering summer migrant Head Start services and has continued doing so into this summer. As the letter stated, their intention is to continue that into the future.
On Sept. 19, 2016, the B-B-E school board approved entering into an 18-month contract with Tri-Valley to assume responsibility, management and operation of the Jaguar Kids Connection child care. That contract began on January 1, 2017 and ended on June 30, 2018. At the June 18, 2018 meeting, the school board approved a six-month contract dated July 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 that included a 90-day "out" clause. Also, Tri-Valley recruiters have periodically visited the B-B-E day care site at the elementary school and the local community to curry more enrollment.
At the July 16, 2018 school board meeting, board members approved a resolution stating their support to continue day care services at B-B-E schools. A few brief ideas were discussed to improve the operation of the day care going forward. More information will appear in the July 19, 2018 issue of the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper.
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