The Riverview Early Childcare Center board of directors has purchased the property where the Webster City Day Care Center was operating, and will be expanding this facility.

The Webster City Day Care Center is no longer in operation. The building ownership was officially transferred to the Riverview board and they took possession on April 20. While work has commenced to clean out and reconfigure the existing space, most of the children who were cared for by the center are now at the Riverview site on North Des Moines Street.

According to board member Janet Adams, there is adequate space at the Beach Street location to make a number of changes.

“When we were doing the fundraising to build at Hospital Hill, we found we needed to come up with some other options,” she explained. “It was suggested we do something different.”

Freeman-Journal photo by Kolleen Taylor
The hallway at the Riverview Early Childcare center is perfect for small children, and is kept tidy and easy to navigate at any age.

The former site of the HyVee store at 1317 Beach St.had a lot more property to expand the childcare center. This will allow them to provide a much larger space, additional classrooms and updated infrastructure.

When they have completed the process of expanding the facility at 1317 Beach St., the new facility will have licensing that will allow between 180 and 200 children at that location.

Most of the children who were attending the Webster City Day Care have been absorbed into the Riverview Day Care facility for now. When the work is completed, which is anticipated to be 2027, they will all be in the one facility on Beach Street.

The Riverview building will then be sold, she said. The current facility has a number of issues that they can resolve in the new location.

“Some things are not really fixable,”explained Adams. “It was better to start with the Webster City Daycare building, because we had no place to expand (at their present site on Des Moines Street).”

Freeman-Journal photo by Kolleen Taylor
The classrooms are well decorated, neat and orderly, at least until the children take over the space.

But for now the Riverview location is working well for them.

“We are using the space for other things,” she explained, “We have repurposed rooms for the time being.”

Guidelines for childcare facilities are regulated to guarantee safety and welfare for the children and reassures parents of the care their children are receiving.

“The department of Social Services allowed us to do this temporarily,” explained Adams

“There will be a facility called a multipurpose room that will be added to the east,” Adams said. “It will be a place where the students can go when the weather is bad outside. There will also be two rooms for each age level.”

Freeman-Journal photo by Kolleen Taylor
The plaque on the wall inside the doors show Riverview School was built in 1957.

Walking through the Riverview Day Care Center, it was easy to observe the building was well used. Made predominantly of concrete block material and built in 1957, the rooms are large and well-lighted. It’s clean. The children are smiling and happy.

“Right now we have a staff of between 35 to 40 people,” explained Adams. ” The older they get, the more children you can have for each teacher.”

Infants, she explained takes more adults per child.

Staffing, she explained, fluctuates with enrollment. “Finding staff and keeping staff is a challenge,” said Adams.

Rosie Messerly is the director of the Riverview Day Care Center. She has been there over 20 years, and has no plans to leave.

Adams has been on the board for the Riverview Early Childcare Center for 15 years.

Other board members include Jessi Sukraw, President, Nick Lincoln, Maggiore Breitencamp, April Maas, Rachel Paskey, John Harrenstein, Dick Anderson and Joe Studer.

“We are most proud of the fact that we have a curriculum at each age level, safety is very important, entry is very secure, and topnotch staff,” said Adams.

The Riverview Early Childcare Center is a 501(c)(3) organization, and always is in need of additional funds.

“We raised enough money to remodel the building,” said Adams. “We will still need to do some things; we will have to purchase some things for the new rooms.”

She explained more that money is always going to be an issue.

“Childcare centers are notorious for operating right on the edge. We have to stay on top of it,” One of the major issues is that they are trying to keep the fees affordable for parents.

“We have a great childcare need in our county, and this center will help some, but won’t solve all the needs,” said Adams. “We have to have quality child care.”