While the San Diego City College campus has been closed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, construction workers have been making continued progress on the new Child Development Center.

“It is pretty much done,” said Berta Harris, Director of the Child Development Center. “We are just waiting for furniture.”

The long-anticipated facility will expand the child development department’s lab school, adding one extra infant classroom and one additional toddler classroom to meet the current high demand for those age groups.

“Right now, we are providing remote services,” she added. “Everybody is interested in the reopening. But we don’t have any dates yet.” 

The new building will provide a bigger outdoor space, as well as more administrative and communal space for teachers and an entire second floor devoted to observation rooms.

“We set it up so that the doors from the classrooms to the outdoors just open all the way up, so it’s like a whole wall that’s open to the outside area,” Harris said.  “It’s especially hard to have this new building and to know that children won’t be there yet.”

While the center remains closed, teachers prepare and provide children and their families with curriculum bags and conduct Zoom sessions with preschoolers.

“They love seeing each other,” Harris said.

The Child Development Center provides an infant and toddler program for children 6 months-3 years of age and a preschool program for children 3-5 years of age.

The Center at City College is one of the three San Diego Community College District Child Development Lab Centers.

Staff Writer Christina Painton contributed to this report.