Happy Days to become full daycare center

Happy Days Learning Center will be moving into the old Revenue Building come July of this year, which will allow them to offer full daycare services to the Ely community.

The move has been a few years in the works, as securing funding and finding the right people to make the move happen took time and energy.

“The new center allows us to expand from just being a preschool to a full daycare center,” said Kathleen Floberg, the director of Happy Days Learning Center. “It will allow us to serve kids from six weeks up to kindergarten age.”

Floberg anticipates the projected opening date inside their new building will be July 8.

Happy Days Learning Center currently provides childcare for 10 preschool-age kids out of one room at First Lutheran Church. Their new space at the old revenue building will allow them to roughly quadruple capacity.

“We’ll have three different rooms at our new building,” said Floberg. “We will have an infant room, a toddler room, and a preschool-age room. All the rooms will have a curriculum as part of it. We’re going from being licensed for 10 preschool kids to being licensed for 46 across the three rooms.”

Though Happy Days just opened enrollment for the childcare services offered out of their new space, they are well on their way to being full.

“We have filled a lot of the spots, and we just opened up open enrollment,” said Floberg. “The need is certainly there in the community. Which is a big reason we decided to expand.”

While they are filling up fast, Floberg wants people to know they are still accepting applications.

Happy Days is offering part-time and full-time care out of their new building.

“For the preschool room, the part-time options are Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or Tuesday and Thursday,” said Floberg. “The reason for having those limited enrollment options for preschool is to help the teachers and the students fall into a really good schedule with the learning process and the activities they’re doing.”

For infants and toddlers, you can choose full-time or a combination of days, and it doesn’t have to be that set Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Tuesday and Thursday.

“We’re fitting everyone in as best as we can and just trying to stay flexible for people’s schedules to accommodate what families need for care for their kiddos,” said Floberg.

Floberg’s passion for childcare started when she had her first child a few years ago and realized there weren’t any childcare businesses available in Ely for her to send her kid.

She then quit her job and started her own daycare out of her home and is now the director of Happy Days.

Happy Days’ mission aligns with her own, which is to nurture children in an enriching early childhood environment, meeting their developmental needs through play, exploration and education.

Floberg hopes the expansion of Happy Days to the whole daycare center in the larger building will help alleviate the childcare shortage in Ely.

“All the childcare places in town are full and have wait lists,” said Floberg. “It’s a long wait list for most places because a spot only opens up when a six-month-old turns into a one-year-old or something similar, and that still only opens a single spot.”

According to Floberg, good childcare is the cornerstone of child development and a necessity for a growing and learning child.

“It’s so important for any child, but especially infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to have a caring, consistent place to go where they’re cared for,” she said. “There is so much research out there about the benefits consistent caregivers give to young children.”

Though the move to the new building was a necessary one, the transition from First Lutheran Church to the old revenue building has been a huge undertaking.

“Fortunately, everyone involved has been totally committed to making the move happen,” she said. “We’re just so fortunate we have this board. The Happy Days board is amazing and the reason this got done.”

Happy Days is currently in the process of hiring staff and recruiting positions for their daycare and are carefully selecting and screening qualified applicants.

“We’ve got some awesome candidates and some great people who have signed on with us, and we’re hoping to continue to find people who are excited to work at the center,” said Floberg. “Our current teachers, Tara and Annie, do such a fantastic job. The impact they have on the kids is really special. We can’t wait to add to our team.”

Happy Days charges $40 a day for full-time care, $50 a day if they are toddlers, and will charge slightly more for part-time care if the child is sent in only two or three times a week.