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Roaring Fork Schools names Adele Melnick as director of new Basalt Early Childhood Education Center

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Newly named Basalt Early Childhood Education Center Director Adele Melnick.
Roaring Fork School District/Courtesy

The Roaring Fork School District announced Friday that Adele Melnick will serve as director for the district’s new Basalt Elementary Early Childhood Center opening in the fall of 2024.

A year-round center that will serve infants to five-year-olds throughout the district, the center will look to create a high-quality and inclusive early childhood center that will reflect the diversity of the Basalt Community, according to a Roaring Fork Schools news release.

Melnick, who currently serves as director of Growing Years School in Basalt, has been a part of the Roaring Fork community since 2001. With more than 17 years working in early childcare, Melnick said she is eager to transition into her new role.

“I am honored and excited to be joining forces with the Roaring Fork School District and Basalt Elementary School to maintain a year-round, high-quality early childhood center within the Town of Basalt,” Melnick said in the news release. “My goal has always been and will remain to create quality early childhood experiences for all children within our community.”

The program expansion, which is the result of the Roaring Fork Schools early childhood strategic plan, identified key initiatives that include:

  1. Strengthening high quality inclusive programs to meet the needs of all students.
  2. Ensuring early childhood programs reflect the diversity of our community.
  3. Growing programs to provide year-round, infant-preK care where possible.

While both the Growing Years and Basalt Elementary School Early Childhood Programs will continue existing programs and operations during the 2023-24 school year, Growing Years will also sustain services through summer of 2024. 

A planning team including Melnick will be put in place during the 2023-24 school year to be ready for a fall 2024 opening of the Basalt Elementary School Early Childhood Center. 

Basalt Elementary School Principal Grant Waaler said Melnick will bring a lot to the table to ensure the success of the Early Childhood Program.

“Adele has been a valued and integral part of the Basalt community for many years. Through her expertise, professionalism, and big heart she has built an early childhood program of excellence,” Waaler said in the news release. “I am thrilled to have her leading this new center, and I look forward to the advantages this brings for our preschool students as they prepare to enter Basalt Elementary School.”

The Roaring Fork Schools will next be in search of an assistant director in the coming weeks to support the 2023-24 Basalt Elementary School Early Childhood Program and work alongside Melnick before the program’s fall 2024 launch.

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