On Wed., Feb. 12 the town of Smiths Falls celebrated the reopening of the original site of the Child Development Centre at 43 Thurber St. 

“The child development centre was closed for a little over a year and nobody thought it would reopen this quickly,” Mayor Shawn Pankow said. “I’d like to thank Tammy (Shepard, Executive Assistant at Lanark County Family and Children’s services) for enabling the rebuilding of this site.”

Director of Community Services Art Manhire, who was also present at the reopening, pushed for the project to have a quick turn-around as daycare spots are lacking in town. 

“I know when the new site opened at St. Francis all the spots filled up quickly,” Mayor Pankow said. “It really opens the doors for more of our families to have an opportunity for their children to get a really quality early childhood education at a registered facility.” 

Two registered early childhood educators, Brighton Cassidy, 21, and Autumn Hewitt, 23, will be working at the same site they attended as youngsters in the late 1990s. 

Cassidy’s own daughter who is 18 months old will be going there too.

Article by Emilie Must