LaunchPad Proposes Pilot Child Care Center At Claypool Elementary School
January 25, 2020 at 5:07 a.m.
By Jackie [email protected]
Sherry Searles, LaunchPad director, was one person from several organizations that spoke at an event Thursday talking about child care at the school.
“The school system is not funded to run a childcare center,” Searles said. “But because there are some spaces available in this school, they said, ‘We can look at providing some space to you at no cost to you.’”
“This is really a partnership and collaboration between the whole community,” Searles said, adding the goal is to create a sustainable child care center model they can take to other areas like Silver Lake that also need child care.
“We’re all very excited about the discussion of a preschool daycare coming into Claypool Elementary and the area,” said Claypool Elementary School Principal Melissa Rees. “My team and I, we just know how important early childhood education is and that means getting kids in here as soon as possible.”
Searles said there are 256 children in the Claypool-Silver Lake area under 5 and the program at the school would fit 52 children.
The child care program that is proposed would use four rooms at Claypool Elementary. One room would fit eight infants with two teachers. There would be a toddler room with 10 children, a prekindergarten 1 and prekindergarten 2 room. Prekindergarten 1 would be for children 2 to 3 years old, and prekindergarten 2 would be for children 4 to 5, with 14 children in one room and 20 in another, Searles said. The child care would operate year-round from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and would be closed only on major holidays.
Searles said LaunchPad hasn’t identified the provider of care yet, but she said they see the child care center at Claypool Elementary as open to any child who wants to go there.
Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Rob Parker said, because it’s in Claypool, it will be more convenient for families from the southside of the county to go there.
“This represents the largest region of the county that doesn’t have any child care center,” he said.
After the meeting, Parker said they are looking at starting the program around the start of the 2020-21 school year. However, they still have to finalize the provider and the provider has to hire staff. He did say if they don’t start the program this year, LaunchPad will have to give the grant money LaunchPad received back.
The employees for the child care center would be separate from Claypool Elementary’s staff since the school is not funded for early childhood care.
Searles said LaunchPad is looking to businesses to invest since unemployment is low.
She also said they are looking to raise $800,000.
When asked how money they have secured, Parker said he didn’t want to say secured, but did say that when they go after grants, they can have conversations ahead of time and they’ll “get a good feel” if the program is going to get the grant or not. He said he feels very confident that they have raised a good portion of the $800,000 goal.
“I feel very confident at the end of this cycle, we’ll be around halfway there,” Parker said.
Searles said with all the grants they have out, they’ve already had conversations about them, but LaunchPad still has to go through all the hoops.
Searles also talked about a fail safe in case things go wrong in the program.
“We are looking to hold back that first year of income,” she said, so it can be held in reserve in case things “get rough down the road as we’re getting started.”
Parker and Searles also talked about pricing for families. While prices have not been set yet, there are factors that will go into it.
“When we look at that budget, part of what we’re budgeting is an amount of money we want to set aside for families who want to come here but can’t,” Searles said, stating the program does have a voucher system so parents can sign up to get child care vouchers. However, she did say many times, there is a waiting list for the vouchers.
“So what we want to say is, ‘Oh, you qualify for vouchers, but you’re on a waiting list, let us help you with that until you can get off the waiting list and onto the vouchers,’” she said. “We do want to give low-income families the opportunity to use the program as well for it not to be out of their reach.”
Parker said to get the most out of the voucher system, the program will have to set the prices at market rate, and that’s set by the state.
“Market rate for Kosciusko County is not cheap,” Searles said. “So we’re looking at a variety based on the child, ranging from $135 a week to $280 a week for infants. So very expensive. So we’re securing some funding to help with that.”
“It’s a great start, but it’s not all that we need,” said Searles. “We have had seven child care programs close in the last five years in the county. The reason for those closings is all financial. It is very difficult to sustain a child care center. The average wage for an early child care professional is $9.45 an hour. You can make $11 at Walmart.”
Searles said early child care is a high stress job and the state is requiring more and more credentials to be in those positions. In order to pay those educators more, the center would have to raise the rates for parents. “And then it becomes unaffordable to parents.”
“And so the saying is ‘Teachers can’t afford to stay, parents can’t afford to pay.’ And that’s why seven programs have closed in five years. That’s why the system is really failing. That’s why we don’t have enough child care, not only in this county, but all over the state, really all over the state,” Searles said.
“We are lacking in child care in this county,” said Searles. “The statics show us that there are 3,000 children under the age of 5 whose parents work, whether that’s a single-parent home or a two-parent, but about 3,000 children in the county who need child care. And we also know there are about 1,200 known spots of child care in the county. To be a known spot, we can go to all the licensed centers and registered ministries that happen at churches or even licensed home providers and count up all those spots and come up with about 1,200.”
Searles said they know there’s some “really great care” outside of licensed and registered child care centers, like a neighbor or a grandparent, but “we know there are many places that are not safe, many places that are not where children are not getting what they need.”
Searles said there are some parents that drop off their children and pray all the way to work their child is going to be OK.
“And that’s not the way it should be,” she said.
She said 90% of a child’s brain develops by the time the child is 5.
“And more and more studies are coming out saying it’s that birth to 3 that’s even more important. And so we need high-quality environments for our children at a very young age,” she said. “We’re not just looking at seats, we’re looking at creating high-quality - the best - child care - that’s out there.”
The issue the county is having with childcare also affects the county’s businesses.
Businesses are having trouble attracting and retaining their workforce because they don’t have child care, Searles said.
It’s been very hard to find workers, Parker said. “We’re trying to attract talent into Kosciusko County for our county to continue to grow.”
Most economists believe when unemployment is low is when it’s under 4 to 5%. “We’ve been there for a long time,” and that’s what’s causing “all these issues” with workers and attracting workers to the county, Parker said. The unemployment rate in the county has been under 3% for almost five years.
Parker said the child care center at Claypool is one way to attract more workers into the county.
Sherry Searles, LaunchPad director, was one person from several organizations that spoke at an event Thursday talking about child care at the school.
“The school system is not funded to run a childcare center,” Searles said. “But because there are some spaces available in this school, they said, ‘We can look at providing some space to you at no cost to you.’”
“This is really a partnership and collaboration between the whole community,” Searles said, adding the goal is to create a sustainable child care center model they can take to other areas like Silver Lake that also need child care.
“We’re all very excited about the discussion of a preschool daycare coming into Claypool Elementary and the area,” said Claypool Elementary School Principal Melissa Rees. “My team and I, we just know how important early childhood education is and that means getting kids in here as soon as possible.”
Searles said there are 256 children in the Claypool-Silver Lake area under 5 and the program at the school would fit 52 children.
The child care program that is proposed would use four rooms at Claypool Elementary. One room would fit eight infants with two teachers. There would be a toddler room with 10 children, a prekindergarten 1 and prekindergarten 2 room. Prekindergarten 1 would be for children 2 to 3 years old, and prekindergarten 2 would be for children 4 to 5, with 14 children in one room and 20 in another, Searles said. The child care would operate year-round from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and would be closed only on major holidays.
Searles said LaunchPad hasn’t identified the provider of care yet, but she said they see the child care center at Claypool Elementary as open to any child who wants to go there.
Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce CEO and President Rob Parker said, because it’s in Claypool, it will be more convenient for families from the southside of the county to go there.
“This represents the largest region of the county that doesn’t have any child care center,” he said.
After the meeting, Parker said they are looking at starting the program around the start of the 2020-21 school year. However, they still have to finalize the provider and the provider has to hire staff. He did say if they don’t start the program this year, LaunchPad will have to give the grant money LaunchPad received back.
The employees for the child care center would be separate from Claypool Elementary’s staff since the school is not funded for early childhood care.
Searles said LaunchPad is looking to businesses to invest since unemployment is low.
She also said they are looking to raise $800,000.
When asked how money they have secured, Parker said he didn’t want to say secured, but did say that when they go after grants, they can have conversations ahead of time and they’ll “get a good feel” if the program is going to get the grant or not. He said he feels very confident that they have raised a good portion of the $800,000 goal.
“I feel very confident at the end of this cycle, we’ll be around halfway there,” Parker said.
Searles said with all the grants they have out, they’ve already had conversations about them, but LaunchPad still has to go through all the hoops.
Searles also talked about a fail safe in case things go wrong in the program.
“We are looking to hold back that first year of income,” she said, so it can be held in reserve in case things “get rough down the road as we’re getting started.”
Parker and Searles also talked about pricing for families. While prices have not been set yet, there are factors that will go into it.
“When we look at that budget, part of what we’re budgeting is an amount of money we want to set aside for families who want to come here but can’t,” Searles said, stating the program does have a voucher system so parents can sign up to get child care vouchers. However, she did say many times, there is a waiting list for the vouchers.
“So what we want to say is, ‘Oh, you qualify for vouchers, but you’re on a waiting list, let us help you with that until you can get off the waiting list and onto the vouchers,’” she said. “We do want to give low-income families the opportunity to use the program as well for it not to be out of their reach.”
Parker said to get the most out of the voucher system, the program will have to set the prices at market rate, and that’s set by the state.
“Market rate for Kosciusko County is not cheap,” Searles said. “So we’re looking at a variety based on the child, ranging from $135 a week to $280 a week for infants. So very expensive. So we’re securing some funding to help with that.”
“It’s a great start, but it’s not all that we need,” said Searles. “We have had seven child care programs close in the last five years in the county. The reason for those closings is all financial. It is very difficult to sustain a child care center. The average wage for an early child care professional is $9.45 an hour. You can make $11 at Walmart.”
Searles said early child care is a high stress job and the state is requiring more and more credentials to be in those positions. In order to pay those educators more, the center would have to raise the rates for parents. “And then it becomes unaffordable to parents.”
“And so the saying is ‘Teachers can’t afford to stay, parents can’t afford to pay.’ And that’s why seven programs have closed in five years. That’s why the system is really failing. That’s why we don’t have enough child care, not only in this county, but all over the state, really all over the state,” Searles said.
“We are lacking in child care in this county,” said Searles. “The statics show us that there are 3,000 children under the age of 5 whose parents work, whether that’s a single-parent home or a two-parent, but about 3,000 children in the county who need child care. And we also know there are about 1,200 known spots of child care in the county. To be a known spot, we can go to all the licensed centers and registered ministries that happen at churches or even licensed home providers and count up all those spots and come up with about 1,200.”
Searles said they know there’s some “really great care” outside of licensed and registered child care centers, like a neighbor or a grandparent, but “we know there are many places that are not safe, many places that are not where children are not getting what they need.”
Searles said there are some parents that drop off their children and pray all the way to work their child is going to be OK.
“And that’s not the way it should be,” she said.
She said 90% of a child’s brain develops by the time the child is 5.
“And more and more studies are coming out saying it’s that birth to 3 that’s even more important. And so we need high-quality environments for our children at a very young age,” she said. “We’re not just looking at seats, we’re looking at creating high-quality - the best - child care - that’s out there.”
The issue the county is having with childcare also affects the county’s businesses.
Businesses are having trouble attracting and retaining their workforce because they don’t have child care, Searles said.
It’s been very hard to find workers, Parker said. “We’re trying to attract talent into Kosciusko County for our county to continue to grow.”
Most economists believe when unemployment is low is when it’s under 4 to 5%. “We’ve been there for a long time,” and that’s what’s causing “all these issues” with workers and attracting workers to the county, Parker said. The unemployment rate in the county has been under 3% for almost five years.
Parker said the child care center at Claypool is one way to attract more workers into the county.
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