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The Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska plans to expand its Head Start program in Wrangell to 30 kids from the current 20 spots — and add child care services for the community.

The borough assembly on May 27 approved a no-cost lease on two unused classrooms at the back of Evergreen Elementary School for the expanded Head Start program.

With its new quarters, Head Start will move out of the building Tlingit & Haida occupies across the street from the school, behind the old hospital, and that space will become home for the child care program.

It will be the only licensed child care center in Wrangell, where families depend on friends and family for day care services.

The expanded Head Start program should be ready for the new school year that starts Aug. 26, and child care services also could start in the fall, though that will depend on some remodeling of the space and state licensing, said Coven Petticrew, senior director of early education with Tlingit & Haida in Juneau.

Petticrew and Kayla Tripp, interim director for Head Start at the Southeast Alaska regional nonprofit, were in Wrangell last week, meeting with borough officials and checking out the spaces at the school and Head Start building.

The plan is to start with eight kids in child care, ages 18 months to 3 years old, Petticrew said, with the possibility of expanding to 16 kids if there is demand and Tlingit & Haida can hire enough staff.

State licensing requires two staff for every eight kids in day care, he said.

In time, perhaps the program could be extended to provide “wrap-around” care, “so that mom and day can finish working” and pick up their kids at the end of their day, Petticrew said.

The additional hours — and possibly opening up child care to kids up to 5 years old — would depend on demand and staffing, he said.

“We’ve been working with Tlingit & Haida and the Wrangell Cooperative Association” to put everything together for the Head Start move and the new child care services, Borough Manager Mason Villarma said at the May 27 assembly meeting.

Assembly members unanimously approved the lease of the school classrooms.

“This is a really big win for the community,” Villarma said.

The lack of child care services has long plagued working-age parents in Wrangell.

“Working at the hospital, this has been one of the biggest hurdles” to recruiting new employees, said Assembly Member Jim DeBord.

“We knew we had extra room at the school,” Mayor Patty Gilbert said in an interview after the assembly meeting. “We moved fast.”

The borough owns the school buildings.

Tlingit & Haida will pay toward utilities at the school, Villarma said.

Borough support for the programs is essential, Tripp said.

In Craig and Klawock, the cities are providing land for Tlingit & Haida to build early learning centers, she said.

The regional nonprofit operates 12 Head Start classrooms in 10 Southeast communities, she said, with space for 188 students.

Its only child care program is in Juneau, Tripp said. Wrangell would be the second. “We saw the need.”

Tribal citizens can apply for assistance to pay for child care services. Children of tribal citizens will be given preference for the slots, she said, though they hope to have enough room to accommodate other children too.

Each of the two Evergreen classrooms will house 15 students in Head Start, which serves 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds Tuesdays through Fridays. The program is free.

Tlingit & Haida, which has four employees at Head Start in Wrangell, will need to hire an additional lead teacher and two more aides to handle the expansion to 30 kids, Petticrew said.

Tripp said she is not too worried about hiring more staff in town. “There is no shortage of interest. … Wrangell has long been the most active in applying.”

The current Head Start building will need a little work to enlarge the kitchen and food-preparation area to serve more kids, Petticrew said. That would include Head Start and day care.

State licensing officials will need to make an on-site inspection of the day care space before it could take in children, he said.

Tlingit & Haida would like to hire three staffers for the day care operation, Petticrew said. While state licensing requires only two staff for eight kids, he said a third staffer would allow for sick days, meetings, even phone calls during the day without running afoul of the minimum staffing level in the room.