Early childhood care provider PC Tots is opening a new full-day preschool for kids ages 3 to 5 years old.
The new facility will be in the Park City Library on the third floor where the Park City Cooperative Preschool was for decades. PC Tots Executive Director Sue Banerjee said it’s the ideal space since it’s been used as a preschool for decades.
“A lot of the facilities were already put in place, for example, you know, little wash stations for children to wash their hands, even little bathroom facilities that are structured and made for little children.”
But there are a few things the organization plans to add. Since the preschool is open from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., kids need cots to take naps. There’s also a courtyard area and Banerjee says they want to add a shady space there.
“There's a courtyard area and a sweet little garden area where the children can get their hands dirty in the dirt, we've got cute little garden beds, that the cooperative preschool was using and kindly left for us to take over,” Banerjee said.
She said they are hoping to work with Summit Community Gardens and EATS so they can host cooking classes in the garden area.
The new facility can accommodate 20 students, which is only about 20% of the space the organization needs.
“We've got a very large waitlist of almost 100 kiddos, it's going to help with that but not clear the waitlist as much as we want,” Banerjee said.
PC Tots also increased its tuition in July of 2023. That’s because the federal funding set aside for child care facilities during the pandemic was not renewed. Banerjee says they are trying to fill that gap with fundraising, but they do have a “healthy reserve.”
For 3 to 5-year-olds in preschool, tuition is $1,600. Banerjee said help is available.
“A majority of our families don't pay that. 80% of our families receive some sort of tuition scholarship, based on where they are on area median income.”
The scholarships are possible thanks to PC Tots' own fundraising efforts. Families with less than 100% of the area median income can qualify.
