GARDEN GROVE : Center for Latchkey Children to Be Built

To help provide about 100 latchkey children with a place to go after school, the Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education has voted to allow the Girls Club to build a child-care center at a local elementary school.

At its last meeting, the board voted 4 to 0 to approve the lease of 25,000 square feet at Clinton Elementary School to the Girls Club. Under the agreement, the district will lease the playground space to the organization’s child-care program for $1 a year for 20 years.

Education board member Lynn Hamtil abstained from the vote because she is a member of the club board as well.

Last September, the Girls Club won a California Youth Authority grant of $300,000 to build the new center.

“It’s a win situation for everyone,” said Pat Halberstadt, executive director of the Girls Club. “Everybody gains at relatively little cost to the community.”

The board’s decision will permit groundbreaking on two new buildings as early as March, she said. The two buildings will have a combined total of 2,900 square feet and should open by September.

“The whole idea is to make it accessible to school kids so they can literally walk across campus to get there,” Halberstadt said. “They’ll be in a safe place until their parents get off work. We have wanted to be in that neighborhood for such a long time because there’s such a need there.”

For parents, the cost of child care at the new facility would range from nothing to $80 a month, depending on what parents are able to afford, Halberstadt said. Tutoring, music, sports and reading programs will be available.