Same Price as Pewaukee Universalist Towers:
NEW ULM - Martin Luther College (MLC) will build a new Early Childhood Learning Center on the site of the current center in New Ulm, MLC officially announced, following an MLC Governing Board meeting over the weekend.
Dr. David Wendler, Vice President for Academics, summed up the significance of the project.
"One focus of MLC is early childhood education," said Wendler. "The construction of this new building will facilitate the instruction of young children in our community, the preparation of future early childhood teachers, and the continuing education of in-service early childhood teachers and caregivers."
The present building will be torn down June 1, and construction of the new facility will start July 1. The building is expected to be ready for occupancy Jan. 1, 2013.
During the construction phase, children currently enrolled at the center will be accommodated in classrooms on the main college campus, with access to self-contained green space and the college gymnasium.
The $2.8 million project will be funded through donations. MLC is launching a fund-raising campaign to ensure its completion.
MLC, run by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), trains early childhood, elementary and secondary teachers for service in both private and public schools. New teachers receive state certification.
Open to families with young children regardless of religious affiliation, the early childhood learning center helps meet community needs, while also as a training site for MLC's early childhood majors. The center seeks to provide quality education based on current research in the field.
Early childhood education is the fastest-growing area of service in WELS, say college leaders. The number of children enrolled in WELS preschools nationwide has doubled over the past ten years, from 6,241 to 12,327. The number of early childhood majors trained at the college has nearly doubled over just the past five years, from 62 to 112.
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GJ - Anticipating another bazingo, I looked up all the teachers leaving their jobs at Wisconsin Lutheran High School (WELS, Milwaukee). According to this report, three are retiring and six more have had their positions eliminated. But the WLHS Contact full-color slick magazine is hailing their work as gonzo successful. They are "making disciples," which anyone with an IQ above room temperature can guess. And their tax-supported (voucher) student population is growing. In fact, the voucher kids seem destined to take over the entire school in time.
However - live by taxes, die by taxes. The school has noted that the money given for the vouchers has been frozen while costs go up! Although the school budget is now 40% voucher lubricated, that only means a growing cash flow problem in the future.
The formerly successful alumni basketball game has fallen on hard times. As one graduate said, "It is not my school anymore." Academic standards have fallen.
But the school was never very Lutheran, so no loss in doctrinal standards is anticipated. When a group of graduates were asked about the Book of Concord, one said, "A manual for repairing jets?"
WELS is doing what the LCA did. They are hailing their school as being oh-so evangelistic and missional.
