By Summer Rogers
Daily Titan Staff Writer

Faded paint of child-sized footprints led the way on the cracked and uneven sidewalk to the entrance of the Cal State Fullerton Children’s Center.

From left; Madison Schindler, 4, and Keiva Quinn, 6, play with 'Moon Sand' during free-time at the Children's Center on campus. The center will be moving to a new location spring 2011. Photo by Todd Barnes/Daily Titan Photo Editor

“The peeling paint is a problem on all these temporary buildings, and these buildings are very old, and we have trouble getting that paint to stick,” said Betsy Gibbs, director for 35 years of the center.

Luckily for Gibbs, staff and children of the center will be moving into a brand-new building to be completed in spring 2011.

The center’s temporary location is in the corporation yard, (near the Parking and Transportation offices) and consists of two buildings, covering an area of roughly 7,000 square feet. The new center is over 8,000 square feet larger, with three new buildings covering an area of 15,320 square feet.

The new location of the center will be constructed in Lot A, which will create a loss of 350 parking spots.

To deal with the excess of cars, Parking and Transportation has, “Assisted parking in Lot A and Lot G; if necessary, (there is) off-site parking at the Meridian (as well as) 58 on-street spaces on West Campus Drive,” said Joe Ferrer, director of Parking and Transportation.

The new center has been a labor of love for Gibbs; she has attended every meeting concerning the project since 1997.

“The current capacity of where we are now is 90 children. The new facility will be one-third larger, at 122 children. The difference in the (current) facility is that it was never designed for children, and (the new) facility is being specifically designed to provide a quality early childhood environment. We’ve made the current facility homey and very successful, but it’s very old. It’s temporary, and it’s just not designed for what it’s being used for,” Gibbs said.

Similar to the current center, the new center will also include, “A lovely childrens garden designed outside the pre-school building; and a shared courtyard will house the centers pets,” Gibbs said.

The project is estimated to cost $9.3 million. Funding from the project has come from a $10 ($8 of which went to fund the new center) student fee increase that was voted into action in 1997 by Associated Students Inc. specifically for this project.

“No taxpayer, no state money, no state university money is going into the project; it is all coming from fees that were collected through these last 12 years and will continue to be collected until it’s paid off,” Gibbs said.

“We’re very grateful to all the support we’ve had from the Associated Students to make this work. In this program the children really progress and prepare for their further education,  but the other really important thing to keep in mind (is that) the parents, who are students, need this service to accomplish their education. It’s not just a nice program; it’s an essential program,” Gibbs said.

Ground breaking for the construction will be on Dec. 1 and will begin with a ceremony at 10 a.m. All students are welcome to attend.