The ‘Little House’ has been a lot of things for Days Creek Charter School. It’s housed superintendents; it’s been a rental property; it’s been a business office; and now it’s a music studio.
If interim superintendent Joe LaFountaine has his way, it will become a preschool.
The three-bedroom house on the northeast corner of campus is an oddity. No other school in the county has a residence on its main property, although it used to be common for frontier schools, according to LaFountaine.
LaFountaine lives in Roseburg
and expressed no interest in living on the property, as some Days Creek superintendents have. But, he was intrigued by the idea of a school for students not yet in kindergarten.
“Right now the school board is seriously looking at making it a pre-school ready to launch in 2025,” LaFountaine said. “We have about a dozen students interested in pre-k.”
There has been a lack of preschool options in South County, and LaFountaine said that adding one at Days Creek could increase enrollment.
In the meantime, Stephanie Angle has been using the building to hold elementary music classes. Students take the short walk out the elementary entrance and by the playground to get to the house.
Music hadn’t been offered since Angle resigned in 2020, but now students take weekly trips to the ‘Little House’ along with their rotation of ‘specials’ (Art, PE and Library).
¨It can feel quite lonely and it’s a little small and loud at times but I think it’s a fun idea,” Angle said. “I think the kids really like it.¨
Students will put on a production of ‘Nanny Claus’ on Wednesday in the school’s Christmas program.
Angle played violin in mariachi band. She took two college classes on teaching band. She started off on piano with a teacher at home and in the fifth grade started playing flute. Angle has four children who attend Days Creek and two more who aren’t school aged yet.
The ‘Little House’ wasn’t always suitable for residency or as a classroom.
In 2019, Mr. Agee’s shop classes helped remodel the property after it was used as a rental.
“We removed all of the wall coverings in two bedrooms, we added new sheet rock on the interior and outer parts in the two bedrooms,” Agee said. “The condition now is in good condition.”
Agee said it took two months to complete the remodel, which allowed then-superintendent Steve Woods and his wife Terri to occupy the property.
“The hardest part was herding the squirrels and keeping all the students engaged in the project,” he said.
Agee said the next step will be to add sound absorbing material to the structure while it’s being used as a music studio.
