Educare puts Springfield at early education forefront (Editorial)
Educare Springfield will be one of just 24 of its kind in the country as a model for early education done right. It took seven years of diligence by education, civic and political officials to make the $14 million Hickory Street facility a reality. It’s a miracle – well, almost. Mary Walachy, executive director of the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation that pioneered the drive for the project, said Educare Springfield looked doomed by cost factors until receiving $9.6 million in funding from an anonymous, out-of-state donor. The Sept. 17 groundbreaking was attended by a strong array of political people, with Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito among them.