For some students and teachers in the Guadalupe Union School District, the start of a new year also means a new school.
The eight classrooms at the Guadalupe Early Learning Center will be filled for the first time on Jan. 14 when students return from winter break, Superintendent Emilio Handall told the Sun. Serving up to around 200 students, the site is one of the city’s only options for the parents of young children.
“It’s something that’s been sorely missing in Guadalupe, where we consider it a child care desert, if you will,” Handall said.
The center was specifically designed to help 2- to 5-year-olds grow academically and socially, preparing them for kindergarten. It’s a colorful campus, Handall said, with windows to let in the natural light and open spaces that students can safely explore.
In 2018, when Handall started with the district, he remembered encountering kindergarteners who didn’t have any schooling experience. They were behind not only intellectually, but also socially.
“We want to be able to build their minds and their bodies in the earliest age,” the superintendent said.
Before the new center, transitional kindergarten (TK) students and preschoolers went to elementary schools where the infrastructure wasn’t built for young students. The playground equipment was too big, Handall explained, and the restrooms weren’t the right fit.
“I’m super happy to finally be able to open this particular campus that is much more suited to meet their needs,” Handall said. “My hope is that the staff that have been serving our TK students will find it to be a much more enjoyable experience for them professionally.”
During winter break, TK teachers from Mary Buren Elementary School moved their classrooms over to the Early Learning Center, which was built near the district’s new junior high school. At the start of the next academic year, the superintendent hopes the preschool program will be up and running, too.
Costs for the Guadalupe Early Learning Center, totaling around $10 million, were covered by federal and state grants. The district also pitched in a few hundred thousand dollars to get the project going, Handall said.
On Jan. 14, district officials and community members will celebrate a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Early Learning Center, located at 375 Arroyo Seco Road.
This article appears in January 8 – January 15, 2026.
This is wonderful news for the Guadalupe community! Having a dedicated early learning center serving up to 200 TK and preschool students sounds like a huge step forward, especially since options were previously limited. I’m curious how the new facility’s design specifically supports the unique developmental needs of such young learners.