Ann Moore: Eager to learn sign language alongside the babies in her new classroom. Coming soon to a theater near you is a classroom of babies learning ASL alongside their ABCs.That is, a former theater — the old Cine 4 movie theater at 25 Flint St., which on Monday, Oct. 21 will reopen as four infant-and-toddler classrooms as well as a new administrative hub for Friends Center for Children.Dozens of educators, advocates, parents, and politicians gathered on Friday morning for a ribbon cutting in honor of the newly-renovated building. They filled the plush seats of the building’s one remaining movie screening room, which will continue on as a community film-watching space, according to Friends Center founder Allyx Schiavone. Then, after an array of speakers and a short movie about Friends’ teacher-housing program, visitors had a chance to explore bright, nature-centered classrooms with cribs and changing tables, blocks and books and toys, cubbies and whiteboards. The building now contains four classrooms as well as administrative offices and a staff lounge. It will create 13 new jobs, according to a press release, and open up 32 infant and toddler childcare spots (not all of which have been filled yet).A future phase of the renovation will bring even more classrooms, along with a library and mobile bookspace.“From blockbuster movies to building blocks for kids: look at what you have done,” said Mayor Justin Elicker.On Friday, Schiavone framed the center’s expansion as one step toward a more sustainable model for childcare that works for staff and families of all income levels, not just the wealthy.She described a daunting tightrope that many childcare providers aim to walk: compensating employees fairly while making tuition affordable to families, often with limited governmental funding. According to Child Care Aware, the average wage in the childcare field is $32,700 in Connecticut — almost exactly the amount it costs, on average, to send two Connecticut children to a childcare center.She said that buying and rehabilitating an old building, as opposed to paying rent for classroom space, is a step toward minimizing costs for the childcare center — and enabling solutions to that scarce-funding bind like a new rent-free teacher housing program, a weekly food rescue operation, and a sliding-scale tuition structure.Over the course of Friday’s remarks, politicians and administrators repeatedly sung the praises of Friends educators and all childcare workers — who typically earn very low wages while caring for kids at their most critical developmental stage, years that have the potential to shape kids’ future health, academic, and criminal justice-related outcomes. “They are brain builders,” Schiavone said of early educators. A field that overwhelmingly hires women and people of color, the workforce faces ​“longstanding biases” that devalue their profession.Allyx Schiavone (right) presents an award to early educator and ASL advocate Val Shaw for 11 years at Friends. New Friends teacher Kiyla Anderson, ready to get started. For the last several weeks, a trio of teachers — Val Shaw, Ann Moore, and Kiyla Anderson — have been preparing their classroom for what will eventually be eight young children.“I’m just ready to get the kids in,” said Anderson, a new teacher at Friends.Anderson and Shaw have been visiting the homes of their future class. The home visits help with transitions, ensuring that kids see a familiar face when they go to daycare for the first time. They’re also helpful for the teachers: ​“You learn the temperament of the child,” Shaw said. She connects especially well with the shy and nervous kids. ​“I believe in observing a child’s energy and feeding off of how they’re doing.”Shaw, who’s been a Friends Center teacher for the last 11 years at the organization’s East Grand location, brings a love of American Sign Language (ASL) to the classroom. Back when she operated her own in-home daycare, she recalled, ​“I wanted to find a way to bridge communities.” She earned her ASL certification — and now incorporates the language into her day-to-day work as an educator.One of Shaw’s co-teachers, Moore, has been helping to set up the classroom with sign-language blocks, labels, and magnets. She’s thrilled about the idea of learning ASL. ​“I’m excited for that!” she said. ​“I’m gonna be learning as well as the new babies. I think that’s awesome.”Moore is a new teacher at Friends, having worked for 38 years at a hospital-affiliated preschool that recently closed. By now, her earliest class of students are in their forties. She’s seen some of them get married, have children; she likes to keep in touch. ​“That’s the best part,” she said. ​“To watch them grow up.” Politicians including Mayor Justin Elicker, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, and State Sen. Martin Looney celebrated the ribbon cutting. Shaw, Moore, and Anderson's gleaming new classroom.