North Hills : Construction Begins on Day-Care Center

Shaquita Junious, 17, a Monroe High School junior and the mother of a 3-month-old son named Vaquel, says it’s tough to stay in school, while tending to the constant needs of her baby.

“You’re worried about every little thing that goes wrong, “ she said in an interview. “One time I was in class and I found out my son was sick. I had to rush home. You miss a lot of school that way.”

But life is expected to be a little easier for Shaquita and about 35 other teen-age parents attending Monroe in the fall. They will be able to care for their children without leaving the North Hills campus.

After more than two years of delays--caused by problems obtaining a building permit and the heavy rains earlier this year--construction of the new Monroe High School Child Care Center has begun.

With help from a group of Cal State Northridge interior design students, the center is expected to be completed in November, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said.

“Some of our [parent] students have absences that are so horrific, they can’t possibly do well in class,” said Monroe High Principal Joan Elam. “This center will keep them in school . . . and will provide them with early childhood education.”

For a while, the prospect of a child-care center on campus looked bleak. The $68,000 in federal grant money the school had available for the project was not enough after the rains caused major damage to the 3,300 square-foot portable building that was to be converted into the child-care center. The building was donated by the Long Beach Unified School District.

Had it not been for students in CSUN Family Environmental Science class, most of the project’s budget would have been swallowed by the needed repairs, Elam said.

But, by volunteering to develop the center’s interior design, the CSUN students saved the school district $10,000 in contracting costs, officials said.

“After the rain caused all that damage, we offered them our services,” said Roberta Mauksch, the CSUN students’ professor. “The class gained valuable work experience from the project.”

The CSUN students developed blueprints for a center with nursing facilities, an exercise room and several play areas.

“We had to make things simple for the teachers who will work here,” said Patricia Artigas, a CSUN senior. “We left a lot of walls empty for the kids to be creative on. This way, everybody’s lives will be easier.”

Shaquita couldn’t agree more. Examining the recently completed foundation for the child care center, she imagined how her days at school will be once the project is complete.

“I’m going to be here after every period,” she said. “I can just run here and ask my son ‘Are you OK?’ and then run back to class.”