Commentary–

The Children’s Adventure Center Turns 40

By Mae Schmidle

It was almost 1970 and definitely there was a change in the air and everyone was noticing. Newtown was growing and expanding, much like the rest of Connecticut. Working moms and two-car families were becoming the norm. Our first Planning and Zoning Commission was meeting regularly and the venerable old town meeting adopted our first comprehensive plan of development — a Community Development Action Plan (CDAP) — which was looking ahead and planning for the changing needs of our town.

And lo and behold, after two years of research and much study, one of the first needs to immediately surface from CDAP was the growing need to provide for early childhood education as the world continued to increase its educational information as well as to provide single mothers and working families with safe, professionally supervised child care.

Gone were the good old days, CDAP research indicated, when extended families where grandmothers and aunts and sisters took care of family youngsters, was rapidly becoming history. Going to Danbury for child care was not viable. Here and there was heard an echo of an ancient response… “we took care of our children and everyone else should take care of their own as well.” There was overwhelming support from local organizations and church groups who mobilized and organized to form a group to develop and initiate plans for what was to become the Children’s Adventure Center, CAC for short.

The consummate purpose of the Adventure Center, they determined, was to improve and accelerate the development and educational achievement of young children in a warm, friendly, and inviting atmosphere with a flexibility to make it possible to work with each child on a one-to-one basis throughout the course of the day. As they envisioned it, this would be a place that accepted children ages 3 through 5 regardless of race, color, creed, handicap, or national origin. All children would receive hot breakfasts, hot lunches, as well as snacks. The curriculum would emphasize cognitive skills, self-awareness, gross motor skills, reading and math readiness, social studies, art and music. Wherever possible, the CAC curriculum would dovetail with and prepare students for the Newtown school system.

The board having worked hard to develop the philosophy and purpose then turned to developing the mission of the center — “to provide quality care for children in an environment designed for the development of the whole child — socially, intellectually, emotionally, and physically.” Always recognizing a strong responsibility to single mothers and working families, a strident board of directors went on to search for grants and state funding so that tuition on a sliding scale could be possible for children who qualified.

Actually, these important goals were relatively easy to accomplish compared to finding a suitable location for the school with a less than meager budget. After considerable searching and a little persuasion, CAC was finally offered a wooden carriage house/barn (Wesley Hall) by the Methodist Church in Sandy Hook at a very nominal cost. Immediately, an army of volunteers, the famous Broom and Bucket Brigade, went into gear to scrub, paint, and redecorate what was once simply just an old wooden horse and carriage house. On October 20, 1969, the first few happy children arrived at Wesley Hall and were met by an even happier staff and board. A happy board of directors achieved their first goal but they realized a larger goal still loomed ahead of them — a new or permanent building and the land to put it on.

A gung-ho board of directors set out to raise real serious money for a new permanent location for CAC. The directors proceeded with the usual tried and true fund raisers — bake sales, a telethon, weekend labor events. and the old faithful rubber chicken dinners in addition to some major grant writing. Every single organization and church in town pitched in to help — it was a real community effort.

At about the same time, the town senior citizens were a little forlorn and felt that they also needed better and more adequate space for their growing activities and numbers. CAC welcomed the opportunity to share and soon the unprecedented concept of a preschool center adjacent to a senior center developed — a center with separate spaces but where youngsters could benefit from senior company and where seniors could enjoy preschoolers — an ideal cooperative effort.

Then began the long and tortuous path, including a failed referendum, that finally led to the construction of the Multipurpose Center on Riverside Road in Sandy Hook on leftover land from Sandy Hook School. Early April 1979, the Multipurpose Center was officially named and dedicated at a grand opening with at least 500 people, including leading state officials.

The ultimate preschool center that developed reflected the joy and love that went into the creation and building of a today’s world concept — the children loved it; the staff loved it — some staff members retiring after more than 25 years; the first director, Marjorie Maxwell, stayed 30 years; the children of some of our students have returned to teach here and not surprisingly, the board of directors showed the same dedication and devotion — at least one director serving since the inception of the center.

Throughout 40 years, part of the joy of CAC is when students become teachers and the teachers become parents and when student/teacher/parents all return to the Children’s Adventure Center and they all work lovingly to promote the goal and dream of creating an innovative learning and caring preschool. But an even greater joy is when CAC students, as they learn the invaluable academic knowledge they will need to be ready for life, and ready for the Newtown school system, are also learning love and sharing and kindness as well.

Imagine what another 40 more years of enriching early education can bring as CAC develops a new class of leaders and promoters for Newtown.

(Mae Schmidle is chairman of the board of directors of the Children’s Adventure Center.)