CLASSROOM COMPLEX OPENS CHILD-CARE CENTER INTRODUCES NEW BUILDING.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

GLENDALE - After more than a half-century of making do with World War II-era military barracks, the child-care center at Cerritos Elementary School finally has a state-of-the-art classroom building to call home.

Professional movers were busy Friday bringing furniture, books and boxes from the Cerritos Child Development Program into a $10 million classroom complex at 120 E. Cerritos Ave.

``We have been waiting for a long time. It's finally happening,'' said an excited Socorro Cornejo, who teaches preschool children.

Beginning today, 154 preschoolers and school-age children who attend the program will have classes in their new digs. Cerritos Elementary School students who are now housed in bungalows will move May 25 into new classrooms in adjacent buildings.

``We will have computers for each classroom. The classrooms are much larger, so there is more space for the children's movement,'' said Deidre Corwin, supervisor of the child-care program.

During a tour, Corwin showed off freshly carpeted floors, blue-tiled bathrooms equipped with kiddie toilets and windows built to the height of children. Reflecting the school colors, the new buildings are painted red and blue.

Outside the classroom buildings is a playground with slides, climbing bars and equipment, and even a small patch of grass.

``We've never had grass. We've never had a playground,'' said Corwin. Children now play in open space between the barracks and school bungalows.

Along with a new home, the child-care center will also get some new desks for teachers, cubbies for students and other furniture.

Teachers and parents spent their weekend unpacking the boxes and putting everything back in order.

But even as the massive relocation effort was under way, child-care staff kept the center open Friday, shuffling their classes from room to room as movers came through.

The largest child-care center in the school district, the Cerritos Child Development Program first opened in the 1940s, when women were called to factories to do their part for the war effort.

Today, the program provides child-care services to working parents on a sliding scale based on their income.

In the next few months, the barracks will be demolished. On its site another school wing featuring a library, cafeteria, multipurpose room and administrative offices will be built, scheduled to be completed by January.

Cerritos' reconstruction, totaling $13.7 million, is being paid by state funds and Measure K, a $186 million bond measure passed by Glendale voters in 1997.