Encore Dance Studio will open a space on G Street in Gearhart.

WARRENTON — Encore Academy, a private performing arts school, will add 20 preschool spots for the upcoming school year, effectively doubling the program’s size in an attempt to meet demand for child care in the region.

Denele Sweet started Encore as a dance studio, but saw an opportunity to expand into a school during the coronavirus pandemic. The school, which blends dance and academics and serves students through high school, opened in 2021 and received accreditation in 2022.

The preschool at Encore Academy has a longer history — it was established over a decade ago, and serves about 20 children. Like older students, preschoolers learn traditional skills, but also have time allotted in their days for beginning dancing and tumbling.

Noting an increase in demand for spots for younger children, Encore hired an additional staff member to add a preschool classroom beginning in the fall.

Courtney Bangs, the school’s academic director and a Clatsop County commissioner, explained that she and Sweet have also kept an eye on developments in the child care landscape throughout the region.

Bangs noted the recent news about the potential closure of Peace First Early Learning Center in Astoria, which serves more than three dozen children. She explained that Encore has sought to maintain its part-time preschool program in response to closures elsewhere.

“We are constantly chasing community needs … we’re just trying to be responsive to the ever-changing landscape,” she said.

Access to child care has long been a concern in rural parts of Oregon, including Clatsop County. Options have increased somewhat for preschool-age children, but the county remains a “child care desert” for infants and toddlers. And, because of difficulty finding employees and the high costs associated with providing care, child care centers are often highly fragile businesses.

Sweet and Bangs think Encore has been able to succeed due in part to its wide range of offerings.

“Our space is utilized 12 hours a day,” Bangs said. “If we were holding space for something part time, I don’t think that we could pay the bills. But because we’re multiuse and multipurpose … it provides a stability and a security that I don’t think other child cares have because they are solely focused on one thing.”

Sweet also noted that Encore has been operating long enough — and with enough consistency — that it has earned the trust of the families it serves.

“They know we’re not closing tomorrow,” she said. “If our numbers drop in our preschool, they would drop, but we wouldn’t close, because we have other programs that offset.”

The school has also benefited from a level of staff consistency rarely seen in preschools. Most of Encore’s faculty members have been there several years and wear many hats. Bangs, for example, serves as academic director and also teaches math and science and coaches gymnastics.

Encore is unique in the child care landscape for its offerings. Sweet explained that small class sizes allow teachers to easily accommodate different learning styles. The curriculum’s focus on incorporating movement into the school day is also a huge appeal to many families.

“We offer something completely different than just your average, your normal child care,” Sweet said.

The school’s small size allows for adaptability. Low demand for high school classes means that that program will be scaled back, allowing the school to concentrate resources in areas with higher demand, such as the preschool.

“I think at the end of the day we’re responsive to the community,” Bangs said. “And so if we have a waiting list, we make space because we have the three buildings here. And so whatever the need is, we try to accommodate it.”