It’s May Be Costly, But You Get What You’re Paying For

Even the infants get lessons here.

Teachers bend tiny limbs to the delicate lilt of Mozart, a lesson in motor development that looks like baby mamba.

Jan Swanson’s North Wall Child Development Center is Spokane’s only nationally licensed day care and, with its well-educated staff and carefully formulated curriculum, its the Nordstrom of the child care industry.

In keeping with that reputation, the center also is one of the most expensive - about $500 a month per child. Swanson, and other industry officials, say you get what you pay for.

“I don’t get many parents swallowing hard” about the price, said Swanson.

So while a collaborative of private businesses, not-for-profit organizations and neighbors work to bring affordable in-home day cares to Spokane’s North Side, Swanson’s center is already considered a model of a different kind.

Swanson recently was named the region’s Early Childhood Professional of the Year by the Eastern Washington Association for the Education of Young Children. Her accreditation by the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs means smaller teacher-student ratios and an inspector’s stamp of quality.

Swanson, who has a masters degree from Whitworth College in teaching gifted students, said she developed the center 16 years ago after she was unable to find a day care she’d send her kids to.

“We couldn’t find it, so we created it,” said Swanson, who owns the center with her husband.

She emphasizes education of children over simple day care. All seven teachers at the 80-student center have bachelor’s degrees and are paid roughly what a public school teacher would make. All 18 of her part-time assistants are students at area colleges majoring in education or child development.

Classes for children ages 3 to 5 are taught using the multi-age instructional theory, which emphasizes students working together in a creative atmosphere. Posters, placed at children’s eye level, encourage students to explore.

“Choo-choo, off to the zoo” reads one poster cheerily. Last week, students took a round of field trips, capped by a Friday afternoon excursion to Chuck E Cheese.

“I consider the infant room a school, because their brains are growing faster than anyone else,” said Swanson. There are no playpens in sight.

Most of the children come from two-income homes in north Spokane and Mead, and one former customer drove her child from Coeur d’Alene. Swanson takes one low-income student, but she, like other providers, balk at poorer families because the state does not reimburse her full costs. And, with a long waiting list, she can be selective.

Indeed, several of her children are gifted. They have a special biweekly class that challenges their creative brains.

As director, Swanson handles administration and complicated state licenses. But she still enjoys the kids.

As students prepare for lunch, a girl wanders up to her, crying. A playmate stole her swing.

“You just want to a hug, don’t you?” said Swanson, ducking down to the girl’s level. The girl, her pudgy chin tucked in her chest, nodded, her upper body swaying forward.

“We want to make this like a home,” said Swanson.

, DataTimes