Preschool teacher Heather Johnston chats with Elizabeth Chu, 4, top, while Ryan Smolinski, 3, plays with blocks at the YMCA Preschool Friday afternoon. The preschool is housed in the Vandenboom Child Development and Activity Center.

MARQUETTE — Efforts to reuse the Vandenboom Elementary School have so far been productive with non-profit groups partnering the Marquette Area Public Schools to provide additional opportunities for youth. “There’s a lot of interest in the building, outstanding things going on,” said Marquette Area Public Schools Superintendent Jon Hartwig. “Everything going on there, it’s all about the development of young kids.” The school has been renamed the Vandenboom Child Development and Actvity Center, with the last classes held there last June. “In the short term, I am just as pleased as can be that we did not close that building or raze it or board it up,” Hartwig said. Hartwig said federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is currently available, in the short-term, to offset costs to maintain and staff the building, along with rental income from non-profit organizations using the facilit.