HOPEDALE - A new private kindergarten program will bring students back to the former Hopedale Elementary School next month.

An existing childcare center operated by the Hopedale Medical Complex will expand to include a kindergarten. Mark Rossi, chief operating officer for the medical complex, said a waiting list of families for daycare services prompted the decision to lease the school building from the Olympia school district.

"The main reason we did this was our daycare was bursting at the seams," said Rossi.

The full-day kindergarten will offer students an option not available from Olympia schools. "We felt there was a demand for full-day kindergarten and the Olympia school district is not able to offer it," said Rossi.

The Hopedale school building will house the new kindergarten program and an expanded pre-school program.

Families who are Hopedale residents or employed by the complex will pay $3000 a year for the kindergarten program. Non-residents and those who do not work for the complex will pay $3600 per year. Financial assistance is available for families.

The kindergarten will open Sept. 5 with 9 students and the pre-school with 30.

Students at the expanded Miss Mona's Childcare, Pre-School and Kindergarten also will have access to services, such as swimming, at the complex Wellness Center.

The use of the former elementary school is a temporary measure, said Rossi, until renovations are complete on a wing of the Commons East facility at the medical complex. The kindergarten and daycare will be located under one roof early next year in a facility that can accommodate up to 100 children.

The curriculum for the kindergarten will follow state standards and be implemented by a certified teacher. Parental involvement in the new school is encouraged, said Rossi.

The private status of the school will allow for elements prohibited in public schools, noted Rossi, such as bible studies, if parents and staff agree to include such components.

Program Director Teresa Marcum said the response from parents to the kindergarten program has been favorable. A small number of the students enrolled in the pre-school and kindergarten programs come from families employed at the medical complex, said Marcum.

A focus on the educational needs of the small rural community is not new to Rossi. As a member of Vision 25, a support group for the effort to reopen the Hopedale School after its 2004 closure, he has been an advocate for local schools.

The temporary rental agreement would allow the school to be used by the Olympia district in the future, said Rossi.

The practice of healthcare facilities partnering with daycare operations is not a new trend, according to Rossi. If a new hospital is constructed in Hopedale in the next four to five years, childcare and education will be a part of it, he said.

"It's a sign of the times," Rossi said of the need for childcare services.