New choice for children

By GINGER MIKKELSEN

VIEW STAFF WRITER

Las Vegas is not a 9 to 5 town. For many families finding child care to fit round-the-clock schedules is challenging.

Children's Choice Learning Centers are out to tackle that challenge. Children's Choice opened its second Las Vegas location at Boulder Station Nov. 29. The first Las Vegas center opened at Texas Station in July.

The 19,380-square-foot Boulder Station location is just outside the casino in the southeast parking lot at 4185 Vegas Valley Drive. Inside there is room for 302 children ages 6 weeks through 12 years.

Cloud filled ceilings arch overhead down each hallway. Children's Choice vice president of operations, Fran Jackson said children notice right away that each cloud is in the shape of an animal, but many adults don't.

Down the halls there are several nursery rooms for babies and toddlers and classrooms for older children. School-age children have a fully stocked commons area.

In the school-age room, children from ages 5 though 12 can play Foosball and air hockey. They can also watch movies on the big screen TV or work on arts and crafts.

There is a karaoke machine and a box packed with dress up clothes for the theatrically inclined child, and there are books and comfortable reading sofas for the more studious.

Internet-ready computers are available in the tech center, and building supplies and toys of every variety fill the rest of the room.

The room also has direct access to the outdoor playground with a basketball court, scooters, slides, monkey bars and grass that Jackson is determined to keep green.

When the day's play is over, many children spend the night in the center's sleep rooms.

Sick children are also welcome at Children's Choice. The Sniffles and Snuggles program provides child care for children with minor illnesses or injuries. Jackson said every precaution is taken to keep illness from spreading.

Sick children come in through a separate entrance, and airflow to the sick rooms is separate from the air to the rest of the center. Children with colds are put in one room, children just getting over chicken pox in another, and a nurse oversees their care.

Security is tight at Children's Choice. Every door and window has a lock and an alarm. Monitors above the front desk rotate images from the 52 cameras throughout the building.

Parents and children enter the building through a set of double doors. Parents must enter a personal identification number to open the second door.

On the center's opening day, security and sickness were the last things on the mind of children at the center. Three-year-old Tela Mason dodged from one toy to another with her Grandmother Dru Harvey behind her.

"It is great," Harvey said of the center. "I can just bring her here instead of taking her all the way across town. This is more convenient for me."

Boulder Station employee, Frank Zurita helped his two little boys -- Frankie, 6, and Eddie, 5 -- cut the ribbon to officially open the new location. Frank Zurita said before the center was completed he and his wife juggled work schedules and had family and friends watch their children.

"We're really picky," Zurita said. "We really care about how our children are taken care of."

The center may be on site at Boulder Station but it's open to any employer who would like to provide extended child-care options to employees. The center has contracts with several local hospitals, utility companies and call centers.

Contracting must be through employers, since Children's Choice only accepts payment through payroll deductions. Center director Linda Bouch said the center is there to provide care for any business, large or small. She added some of their contracts serve only 4 or 5 children for sick care.

Rates for standard care vary depending on the child's age and the number of hours for which they are cared. The rate for a school-age child for 9 hours is $17 per day. Care for an infant for 9 hours is $27. Sick care is $30 per day.

Children's Choice CEO Jeffrey Seeberger said the Kansas City, Mo., based company is planning additional centers in the Las Vegas market, including two under construction at Palace Station and Sunset Station.

For more information about Children's Choice Learning Centers, call the Boulder Station center at 431-0907 or the Texas Station center at 638-0086.