LEONARDTOWN, Md. — St. Mary’s County officials on Tuesday celebrated a new early learning center aimed at addressing a shortage of affordable, reliable childcare while helping recruit and retain county employees.
The St. Mary’s Early Learning Center, operated by the St. Mary’s County Family YMCA inside the former Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy building, is expected to open in late August.
The county invested $3.2 million to renovate the 9,800-square-foot building after acquiring the former Leonard Hall property. Rather than operating the center itself, commissioners approved an agreement earlier this year for the YMCA to oversee daily operations, staffing and programming.
The center is licensed to serve 105 children from birth through age 4. The facility includes eight classrooms divided among infants, toddlers, 2-year-olds, and preschoolers ages 3 and 4. As of Tuesday, the YMCA had hired 24 employees for the early learning center, including the center director, while continuing to recruit classroom aides.
The YMCA initially accepted registrations from county employees under the county’s priority enrollment policy before opening enrollment to the public. The center is expected to operate from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., although those hours could expand in the future if community demand warrants additional services.
While the center will serve the broader community, it is designed first and foremost as a public employee recruitment and retention tool. Available spaces are offered according to a priority system that gives first consideration to sheriff’s deputies, first responders and other essential county employees before expanding to additional public employees and remaining slots are offered to the public.
While the YMCA does not have a webpage set up for the center yet, parents interested in enrollment are encouraged to email the Center Director Malissa Stavish directly for information.
Contact the St. Mary’s Early Learning Center Director, Melissa Stavish, at mstavish@ymcachesapeake.org.
County commissioners joined representatives from the YMCA, state and local officials and community partners for a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the facility’s opening.
Childcare As A Workforce Recruitment Strategy
St. Mary’s County Commissioner Eric Colvin said the new early learning center was created primarily as a workforce initiative and that the concept originated to improve recruitment and retention of county employees, particularly in public safety positions.
“Where it really comes from is an idea from our sheriff’s office to aid with recruitment and retention,” Colvin said. “We struggle to compete with other areas salary wise alone, and this adds another perk for people to come and work here and be of the county.”
Colvin said county officials recognized that access to reliable childcare was an increasingly important factor for employees deciding where to work. While the county cannot always compete with neighboring jurisdictions on salary alone, he said offering priority access to childcare provides another incentive for employees considering careers in St. Mary’s County.
“They’re still responsible for paying for the childcare,” Colvin said. “But to be able to say, ‘Here’s a spot that’s set aside for you,’ and just being able to find reliable, safe childcare is a concern for all parents everywhere.”
Colvin said partnering with the St. Mary’s County Family YMCA allowed the county to rely on an experienced childcare provider rather than creating and operating its own program, helping the center open more efficiently while benefiting from the organization’s expertise and established reputation.
“The YMCA brings expertise and name recognition, and I think they’ll be able to do a good job with it,” Colvin said. “Having reliable childcare allows people to be able to work when they’re confident about where their children are.”
Colvin described childcare as an important economic development issue, and said childcare shortages often disproportionately affect women. He said expanding access benefits both families and employers.
“If we can retain employees, it saves our taxpayers money across the board,” Colvin said. “It saves time and it provides better services to our community — that’s the goal.”
St. Mary’s County Commissioner Mike Hewitt also said the new early learning center was developed to strengthen the county’s ability to recruit and retain employees in an increasingly competitive labor market, particularly as the county competes with Naval Air Station Patuxent River and government contractors. He said often during recruitment, prospective employees would have to delay their start dates or even decline a job because they were concerned about childcare availability in the county.
“We were trying to attract and retain employees, and we had people who wanted to take a job, but they were concerned about their childcare,” Hewitt said. “They were concerned about where they were going to have their child.”
Hewitt said rather than attempting to operate a childcare center themselves, the county partnered with the YMCA because of its experience as the largest childcare provider in the state, and its ability to establish operations without the learning curve a government-run program would face. Reflecting on his past experiences in business development, Hewitt said he often sought industry experts to help with development, rather than attempting certain projects himself.
“I found the experts who could do a particular job, and I partnered with them because they came in already knowing a winning plan,” Hewitt said.
That idea helped the county rapidly deploy a childcare model for employees instead of building a plan from the ground up. Hewitt described the early learning center as a public-private partnership that allows the county to focus on its workforce goals while relying on the YMCA’s expertise in childcare operations, staffing and program management.
Hewitt said the center is intended to provide reliable childcare close to employees’ workplaces, offering parents greater flexibility and peace of mind while supporting the county’s broader economic development efforts. He also said officials hope the program can eventually expand beyond traditional daytime hours to better serve employees who work evening or overnight shifts.
“This is a pilot. This is the first time we’re getting into this,” Hewitt said. “Let’s see what this does.”
While the center gives priority enrollment to county employees, Hewitt emphasized that tuition would remain comparable to private childcare providers. He said the county’s benefit is providing employees with priority access to available spaces at a time when childcare shortages remain widespread.
He noted the real value of childcare was, “the retention of corporate knowledge and qualified help,” Hewitt said. “Sometimes people come to St. Mary’s County but after a year or two years, they look at their quality of life.”
A Focus On The Whole Child
Melissa Stavish, director of the St. Mary’s County Early Learning Center, said the center is designed to provide high-quality early childhood education that focuses on the development of the whole child while giving families confidence that their children are learning in a safe, nurturing environment.
“We’re able to bring in children to offer high-quality childcare with a learning aspect that will focus on the whole child,” Stavish said. “We’re able to offer that to families in the local area.”
Stavish said the center will use the Creative Curriculum, a nationally recognized, play-based educational program that supports children’s social-emotional, cognitive, literacy and physical development from infancy through age 4. Rather than emphasizing academics alone, she said the curriculum is designed to meet children where they are developmentally while preparing them for kindergarten through age-appropriate learning and repetition.
“We focus on the whole child. It’s so important to focus on social-emotional as well as cognitive, literacy, gross and fine motor,” Stavish said. “They need support and guidance because they’re learning things that they don’t know how to control, and it’s our job to support them and help them through those emotions.”
Stavish said parents will receive regular communication from teachers through a digital app, including messages, photographs and developmental assessments that track each child’s progress while keeping families engaged in their child’s learning. She said the center will also provide morning and afternoon snacks, employ experienced childcare professionals and maintain on-site security to give parents additional peace of mind.
“We will be sending home messages and pictures on a regular basis so the parents can see the things that their children are doing and learning,” Stavish said. “We have high-quality staff, security on site and a communication app where parents can directly communicate with their child’s teacher.”
Stavish clarified that although enrollment is now open to the public, the county’s priority enrollment system will continue to give preference to county employees whenever space becomes limited, reflecting the center’s original purpose of supporting the county workforce while expanding childcare availability for the broader community.
“If it becomes a point where there is only one space available, then we will prioritize the county employee,” Stavish said. “This was built to open up spaces for the county, and so we want to make sure that all of our county employees have that space and that availability, but also we are opening up to the public.”
Looking ahead, Stavish said a successful early learning center is more than filling classrooms. She hopes to build long-term relationships with families while creating an environment where children feel safe, supported and excited to learn.
“Success looks like whole families coming through here, seeing the families year after year after year,” Stavish said. “We hope to be full of happy, laughing and learning children.”
A Natural Fit For Childcare
Jennifer Lehn, executive director of the St. Mary’s Family YMCA, said operating the St. Mary’s County Early Learning Center was a natural extension of the YMCA’s longstanding experience in early childhood education and childcare.
“We are proficient in childcare needs as an organization, and something like this is natural to the YMCA to take on,” Lehn said.
Lehn said the center will support children’s development from infancy through preschool while preparing them for kindergarten. She emphasized that the YMCA’s goal is to create a safe, nurturing environment where children can learn, develop social skills and build school readiness.
“The level of care that we’re going to provide, the level of safety, it’s a very serious job that requires a lot of safety, but a lot of caring as well,” Lehn said.
Beyond serving children, Lehn said the center will allow more parents to remain in the workforce while providing stable employment opportunities for local childcare professionals.
“Childcare is needed in every walk of life,” Lehn said. “We’re just providing that opportunity for parents to be working parents instead of having to stay home or quit their jobs.”
Modernizing A 1905 Landmark
Leslie Artis, a construction superintendent for Centennial Contractors Enterprises, said renovating the former Leonard Hall Junior Naval Academy into the St. Mary’s County Early Learning Center required a comprehensive overhaul of the building, including new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, complete hazardous materials abatement, and structural improvements completed over approximately 10 months.
Artis said crews encountered numerous pre-existing conditions throughout the building that required significant demolition before construction could begin. The project included replacing all HVAC, electrical and plumbing systems, removing an oil tank, installing new windows and roofing, opening interior spaces by removing walls and bringing the entire facility into compliance with current building and accessibility standards.
“We had many challenges to overcome, including pre-existing conditions that we had to work around,” Artis said. “Passing those inspections were huge milestones. Working with each of the contractors in the different phases of the project and just getting it done.”
Members of the Centennial project team said the building underwent complete asbestos abatement, including floor tile, ceiling tile and pipe insulation removal, as well as limited lead paint remediation before renovation work proceeded.
Artis said the project reached substantial completion in time for the ribbon-cutting ceremony, with only final punch-list items and inspections remaining before turnover.
“We stripped the building to its core, replacing every major mechanical system, reconfiguring classrooms and updating the facility to meet modern accessibility and life-safety standards,” Artis said.
The renovation transformed a building originally constructed in 1905 into a modern childcare facility while preserving its structure for a new community purpose.
Opening To Families Across The County
The facility is expected to employ roughly 30 childcare professionals while serving families across the county. County employees receive priority enrollment under a commissioner-approved enrollment policy intended to improve recruitment and retention, particularly among first responders and other critical public employees. Remaining spaces will be made available to the broader community according to the county’s priority enrollment system.
Under the lease agreement, the YMCA will manage day-to-day operations while the county remains responsible for major building maintenance and capital improvements. The center joins the new Lexington Park Family YMCA, expected to open in August, as one of the organization’s newest facilities in St. Mary’s County.
Got a tip or photo? Text us at 888-871-NEWS (6397) or email news@thebaynet.com.
Join The BayNet Membership for exclusive perks and zero ads.
Don’t miss a story—sign up for our newsletter!
