New Day Care Opening in La Grange

A new day care in the La Grange area is set to open later this year. Little Leps Academy, owned by Amanda Muras, is currently registering youngsters.

Muras is also hiring employees. She plans to open Little Leps Academy in October.

“We have a new child care facility coming to La Grange, and we desperately need it,” Muras said.

Despite the name, Little Leps Academy is not affiliated with La Grange I.S.D. The facility will be located at 5524 North US 77, about four miles north of La Grange. It’s the former location of the Texas Quilt Barn. Muras is remodeling the building Rates will be $200 a week for infants, $190 a week for children ages 12-23 months, and $185 a week for 2 to 5 year olds. She will also offer an afterschool program for $100 a week.

“I’m also looking for businesses to sponsor the playground,” she said.

Muras has more than 10 years of child care experience. She is currently completing a bachelor degree in psychology with an emphasis in early childhood development. Muras has been operating an inhome daycare business. She decided to open a daycare center after Remnant Academy in La Grange closed earlier this year.

“The amount of kids that need care here is crazy,” she said. “I got to the point where I was maxed out with the number of kids I’m regulated by the State to have. People are always messaging me, saying they need child care and they don’t know what to do. Then Remnant closed and it got even worse. So I thought it would be awesome to open a child care center. I have tons of experience. I have the background and education. It’s needed here.”

Muras said Little Leps Academy will eventually be able to accommodate 100 children.

For more information about registration or job opportunities, visit the Little Leps Academy Facebook page.

There might be another childcare facility coming to La Grange in the near future. The La Grange Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is in negotiations to offer space in an EDC-owned building to a childcare provider.

La Grange City Manager Jack Thompson told the Record last Friday that the provider currently operates three childcare locations.

“In negotiations with another daycare to come in,” Thompson said. “It’s still preliminary, but we’ve got some basic terms agreed upon. We’re working out the development agreement. It’s not a done deal, but it is strongly in the works.”

If everything works out, Thompson said, the facility could open in January or February of next year.

“I’m really proud of our EDC,” Thompson said. “Once we found out that Remnant Academy was closing their doors, that became a big priority for the EDC – to attract and bring in another daycare. They worked really hard at bringing a lot of daycare operators in. We interviewed several and this group made the most sense for us. We wanted somebody with experience in operating a daycare, with a good track record and reputation. This daycare operation checked all those boxes for us. They’re excited about coming to La Grange. Now we’re just working on the actual agreement.”

Muras said she also applied for assistance from the EDC. However, Thompson said the EDC could not assist Little Leps Academy because the facility will be located outside the city limits. The EDC can only assist businesses within the city limits, Thompson said.

“I’m glad to hear she’s moving forward,” Thompson said. “Even if the Remnant didn’t close, we were in a daycare drought. We could really probably use three or four daycares. It was already a big need before, and it became a super big need when Remnant went away.”