Community Day School Association (CDSA) was founded in 1977 as a nonprofit corporation
dedicated to providing quality enrichment programs for children ages 5-12. CDSA provides
program services in multiple locations in the greater Seattle area. Montlake Elementary was the
first after-school program to open and was also the first private childcare program to operate
within the Seattle Public Schools (SPS). In 1981, kindergarten, before-school, and summer camp
programs were added. In September 1988, CDSA opened a second site in the newly remodeled
Leschi Elementary School. Leschi operated before and after school, and summer programs in a
spacious room designed specifically for childcare. In 1987, CDSA at Montlake faced a possible
closure when Montlake School was in need of more classroom space. Dozens of supportive
letters from concerned parents convinced the school, superintendent’s office, the school board
offices, and the mayor’s office that closing the CDSA childcare program was not the best solution
to the school’s space problem. Subsequently, two new portables were added to the school
grounds, allowing CDSA to remain in its space.
During the 1980’s and early 1990’s, CDSA lead the effort to continually improve and grow the
field of childcare. In 1990, CDSA Leschi was rewarded for such effort by Mayor Norm Rice
who declared August 24, 1990 to be “Leschi Summer Day Camp Day.” In 1993, the Leschi and
Montlake CDSA programs were accredited through the National Association for the Education of
Young Children (NAEYC). The Leschi location was subsequently chosen as one of seven pilot
programs in the nation to assess new processes designed to evaluate quality in school-age
childcare programs. The ASQ (Assessing Quality in School Age Childcare) assessment involved
a one-year intensive self-study and included a $1,000 incentive grant. Leschi was one of the first
school’s in the nation to be accredited by the new National After School Association (NAA).
In 1995, CDSA opened a site at Hawthorne Elementary in Seattle’s South End. Within the same
year, the Hawthorne site was awarded a grant through the Seattle MOST (Making the Most of
Out-of-School Time) organization. With this grant, an after-school tutoring program was
designed to serve children not attending after-school programs. Further expansion came in 1997
as CDSA opened a program at Madrona Elementary School in central Seattle. Both were fully
enrolled within one year of opening. Also during 1997, CDSA was chosen to receive funding
from United Way of King County as part of the “Pilot Cause Program” to continue and expand
after-school services. Consequently, Community Day School Association was designated by The
United Way of King County to act as a member organization and to receive funding for services
annually.
Over the years, CDSA has received many public and private accolades. One such accolade, City
of Seattle’s “Kids Place” award was granted in April 1998 for summer day camp projects
promoting peace. This award was won for the presentation of 1,000 folded paper origami cranes
to patients at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and for sending a peace quilt to CDSA’s
sister city; Tashkent, USSR. In February of 2000, CDSA’s Leschi site expanded its services to
include a preschool program, and CDSA’s Madrona site added a pre-Kindergarten program in
2002.
Community Day School Association was not only expanding its quality services to families
throughout the central area of Seattle, but also continuing to strive for full community integration
to support the growth of the children it served. In March 2001, CDSA entered into a new
collaboration with the SPS called “Alignment.” The alignment agreement had two essential
parts, SPS would award CDSA rent-free occupation of SPS space and CDSA would implement
daily curriculum that supported grade level standards and helped to raise standardized test scores.
This agreement came on the heels of a two year $17,000 Linkages Grant from the city to work
toward the goals of alignment. In May 2001, Community Day School Association was chosen by
SPS, to open a new site at Sanislo Elementary in West Seattle. In addition, the National School
Age Care Association (NSACA) awarded National Accreditation to the Hawthorne and Leschi
sites in June of that same year. Near the end of June 2000, the Madrona site closed for re-
modeling and re-opened in September of 2001 in a modern style, designated childcare space
within the Madrona school. In August of 2003, CDSA closed its operations at the Bush School.
CDSA continued its expansion and professionalism in 2002 as it moved its administrative offices
from a smaller office in Madison Valley to Mt. Baker. Additionally, CDSA continued to make
progress on development projects such as board development, organizational professionalism,
and fundraising. As on outcome of this effort, CDSA held its first annual fundraising dinner in
April of 2003. CDSA’s active board of directors has managed the annual fundraising dinner and
silent auction event, which raises $10,000 to $15,000 per year, since 2003. CDSA has now
moved its administrative offices to a new space in Beacon Hill, to accommodate the growth of
our agency.
CDSA has increased its fund raising efforts over the last five years in order to support its tuition
assistance fund which helps low income families attend high quality CDSA programs. Over the
last several years, CDSA has received support from: Northwest Children’s Fund, Medina
Foundation, Boeing, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle Foundation, Safeco, Nordstrom,
Sterling Realty Organization, City of Seattle’s Department of Community Technology and
Department of Neighborhoods, Foss Maritime, School’s Out Washington, King County Council,
Childcare Resources, and individual donors and in-kind contributions.
In the spring of 2005, the CDSA board’s strategic planning process for the next three years
identified expansion of preschool services as a top goal. Soon afterwards, CDSA won funding
from the City of Seattle’s Families and Education Levy funded program called the Early Learning
Network (ELN) Steps Ahead program. In the fall of 2005, CDSA opened one new school age
site at Maple School on Beacon Hill and four new pre-Kindergarten programs at Hawthorne,
Highland Park, Maple and Sanislo schools. Three of the four new early learning programs were
ELN funded. In 2006, CDSA had six school age programs at Hawthorne, Leschi, Maple,
Madrona, Montlake, and Sanislo schools and six pre-Kindergarten programs at all the sites above
except Montlake. In 2007, two school age programs were added in the Beacon Hill area at
Kimball and Beacon Hill Elementary Schools, with a new pre-Kindergarten program opening at
Beacon Hill in fall of 2008.
In the 2004/2005 school year, four CDSA sites went through the National School Age Care
Association (NSACA) accreditation or reaccredidation process. Hawthorne and Leschi earned
reaccredidation good for three years while Sanislo and Madrona earned national accreditation for
the first time. Five of six school age programs are accredited. New programs will begin the
accreditation process over time, as requirements are met.
In 2004-2005, Community Day School Association served over 300 families at five sites in seven
different school age and preschool programs. Approximately 50% of the families served were
low income and over 60% were families of color. CDSA persists in its mission to serve children
from all backgrounds and to make the biggest impact possible on the mental, social, and
emotional growth of the children within the Seattle community. The main goal identified in the
2005-2006 board retreat was to further the CDSA’s mission by expanding to new sites that would
broaden diversity. CDSA also chose to move toward opening more early learning, kindergarten
readiness programs recognizing the need to get children ready for school. The Seattle Public
Schools, parent feedback and regional and national studies all discussed the importance of serving
the 3 and 4 year old pre-kindergarten child in a more conscious way.
CDSA opened three new preschool programs; two in West Seattle and one on Beacon Hill. All
four of these new programs are located in diverse areas with high Asian and Latino populations.
This meant that CDSA’s demographics of serving primarily African American and Caucasian
students were expanded to represent others and especially to increase its English Language
Learner (ELL) client base. In response, CDSA hired more teachers from those communities who
spoke several languages and began translating its materials.
In addition to the growth in Early Learning, CDSA opened new school age childcare programs in
Maple Elementary on Beacon Hill in September 2005, and Beacon Hill Elementary in September
2007. Construction on a brand new dedicated childcare space at Maple for CDSA was completed
in April 2006. This brought the total number of programs operated by CDSA to 7 preschools and
9 school age childcare programs. The neighborhoods where CDSA now has programs include
Montlake, Capital Hill, Central Seattle, South Seattle, Beacon Hill and West Seattle. CDSA was
asked to open another school age program in West Seattle in September 2006.
With this expansion, the organization more than doubled in size. CDSA received funding from
the Medina Foundation to begin having its pre-Kindergarten programs go through the National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) process to become accredited.
CDSA also received an Artist in Residence grant for school age programs which taught children
African Dance and Drumming. The grand finale of the grant was a performance of children
drumming and dancing at CDSA’s 4th annual dinner and dessert auction in April 2006. CDSA
raised over $15,000 at the event, its largest fund raising success to date. CDSA’s United Way
funding continues to provide support for homework help and social skill development. This year,
United Way agreed to add a third outcome “Getting Children Ready for Kindergarten” and
increased its funding. To provide administrative support to an organization this size, CDSA
added a Director of Operations and Associate Director position and brought accounting services
in house. In the 2006-2007 year, CDSA operated school age childcare programs in nine schools;
Beacon Hill, Hawthorne, Highland Park, Kimball, Leschi, Madrona, Maple, Montlake and
Sanislo. CDSA now operates seven kindergarten readiness programs at Hawthorne, Highland
Park, Leschi, Madrona, Maple, Beacon Hill which was added in fall of 2008, and Sanislo (only
the Sanislo pre-Kindergarten ELN program is not on site at SPS).
The Madrona preschool program was chosen to be a part of the ELN City funded program in
2006. Beacon Hill, Leschi and Hawthorne preschools were approved in July 2008 to become part
of the city of Seattle’s ELN/Step Ahead preschool program as well.
CDSA began its thirty-first year of operation this year (1977 to 2008) and its Executive Director,
Caryn Swan Jamero, completed her sixteenth year. CDSA has had only two Executive Directors
in thirty-one years.
