Pitt Center assistant director Robin
Herman, director Fredelle Schneider
and infant/toddler and transition
coordinator Katie Gorbach at the
center's new toddler gym.
rtit":1 0:0 ,4; * W il:r tr 4,Q00
„„,
DIANA LIEBERMAN
Staff Writer
F
our million dollars pays for a lot
of school bells and whistles at tt.
Sarah and Irving Pitt Child
Development Center — along
with 15 classrooms, a sprinkler system,
toddler gym, music room, child-sized
kitchen, science and computer labs,
and three playgrounds.
The improvements bring the Pitt
Center into the 21st century, said
David Sorkin, executive director of the
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit.
The renovated facility, located at the
West Bloomfield JCC, opens Aug. 28
with an enrollment of 155, the largest
opening day enrollment in the 45
years the JCC has provided child care.
"Our goal was 168, and we're opti-
mistic it's going to go up," Sorkin said.
"This building dates from 1975 and
there's been a significant change in
space and code requirements since
then."
Because of the renovations, the Pitt
Center, which serves children newborn
through kindergarten, expects to be
granted a license for 250 children by
this time next year.
Sorkin estimates that another 150
preschool and kindergartners from
other schools will attend the childcare
center's afternoon enrichment pro-
grams. These include once-a-week
Hebrew or Spanish, hockey and story-
telling-puppetry with Maureen
Schiffman. A computer education
company will provide lessons and a
dance class is a possibility.
The Pitt Center is named in honor
of its major benefactors, Irving Pitt,
founder of the Murray's Discount
Auto Store chain, and his wife, Sarah,
Bloomfield Hills residents.
"Our family feels very strongly relative
to education and youth, and the Pitt
Center combines the two," said their
son, Murray Pitt, also of Bloomfield
Hills "We also feel very strongly that the
Jewish Community Center has done so
much over the years.
"Because the program is so well
known in the community and because
it received national accreditation, we
are proud to be associated with it."
Religion In A Diverse Setting
The Pitt Center raised the Jewish
community's eyebrows several years
ago with the decision to admit non-
Jewish children.
But, said Fredelle Schneider, JCC
child care director, this has become a
non-issue.
BRING ON THE KIDS page 32