Valley Looking At Child Care Options
October 20, 2021 at 2:22 a.m.
Valley Looking At Child Care Options
By Jackie Gorski-
According to information provided at the meeting, the child care center would be for staff children only and the location for the center is still to be determined.
Meagan Wilks, director of special services for TVSC, said child care is coming harder to find in the community. She said she has three young children. Two are in school and the third is 2, “so we had a hard time finding a babysitter at the beginning of this year. It’s just very scarce.”
Other school corporations in the area have been looking at child care needs and have been implementing staff child care centers, Wilks said. Staff have expressed to her the need for child care. She has heard of people driving 15 or 30 minutes out of their way to drop off their children.
“It just seems to be a need, so that’s why we’re looking at that here at Valley,” Wilks said.
It is expensive to start up a staff child care center, but Wilks said TVSC has been given a grant from the Kosciusko Community Foundation for startup costs for the center.
“So this was just our opportunity to look at it a little bit deeper and see if it’s something we want to do here,” Wilks said.
TVSC staff were surveyed to see if the center was something the school corporation needed, she said. There was an interest in the child care center. Eighteen staff members took the survey, which resulted in 26 potential children, ages 6 weeks to 4 years old.
“Twenty-six kids. That’s a lot of kids that need somewhere to go. So we just saw there was a need,” she said.
The majority of the children would be 2 years and under that people would need child care starting the beginning of next year.
Wilks said a planning committee has been developed to ensure that all necessary steps are being taken.
Superintendent Blaine Conley said the committee is working on a budget and the committee wants to make sure the Board is comfortable “in terms of what we’re doing as a school corporation.”
Board President Tom Bauters asked, with 26 children, how many people are needed to take care of them?
Wilks said that’s one of the things that’s being worked on because there’s a definite ratio they have to follow.
Bauters said he imagined the younger the child is, the more help that’s needed. Wilks said in infants, there’s a ratio they would follow. Every year, that ratio might shift. She said there’s lots of young staff members, so “they’re starting families.”
Board member David Lash asked if the center would be children up to 3 and then they would go into preschool. Wilks said what they’re thinking is the center could feed into the Mentone Readiness Preschools so those 3- and 4-year-olds would go into preschool and then afterward go to the staff child care center.
Board member Todd Hoffman asked if TVSC would have transportation for the center. Conley said the committee is looking into that.
In other business, the Board heard an update about the construction project at the high school from Fanning Howe.
Michael Schipp, principal project leader at Fanning Howe, said Fanning Howe has had 19 separate meetings with staff member. Those meetings don’t include meetings with coaches. Fanning Howe had a meeting at the high school, where they talked with 17 coaches, representing 20 sports.
Fanning Howe addressed some needs after the meetings, which included a sink and dishwasher in the training room. Other changes included a recessed entry, drinking fountains and views to the field house in the Hall of Champions near the field house.
In the agriculture area, changes included adding a planning office. In the agriculture classrooms, an exhaust and kitchenette will be added.
Shipp said his pool expert was able to take a look at the high school’s pool and changing the depth to the required 4 foot can be done.
Fanning Howe is planning on updating the Board on the project in November.
The Board also adopted the 2022 budget. The total budget is $24,789,746. The debt service fund is $2,986,242. The education fund is $13,248,077. The operations fund is $8,555,245.
The Board also approved several donations, which included $24,000 from Bib’s Billfold. The donation came from the 2021 Sweet & Sassy Golf Classic and to be used for student needs funds, teacher grant funds and the teacher/staff recognition fund
According to information provided at the meeting, the child care center would be for staff children only and the location for the center is still to be determined.
Meagan Wilks, director of special services for TVSC, said child care is coming harder to find in the community. She said she has three young children. Two are in school and the third is 2, “so we had a hard time finding a babysitter at the beginning of this year. It’s just very scarce.”
Other school corporations in the area have been looking at child care needs and have been implementing staff child care centers, Wilks said. Staff have expressed to her the need for child care. She has heard of people driving 15 or 30 minutes out of their way to drop off their children.
“It just seems to be a need, so that’s why we’re looking at that here at Valley,” Wilks said.
It is expensive to start up a staff child care center, but Wilks said TVSC has been given a grant from the Kosciusko Community Foundation for startup costs for the center.
“So this was just our opportunity to look at it a little bit deeper and see if it’s something we want to do here,” Wilks said.
TVSC staff were surveyed to see if the center was something the school corporation needed, she said. There was an interest in the child care center. Eighteen staff members took the survey, which resulted in 26 potential children, ages 6 weeks to 4 years old.
“Twenty-six kids. That’s a lot of kids that need somewhere to go. So we just saw there was a need,” she said.
The majority of the children would be 2 years and under that people would need child care starting the beginning of next year.
Wilks said a planning committee has been developed to ensure that all necessary steps are being taken.
Superintendent Blaine Conley said the committee is working on a budget and the committee wants to make sure the Board is comfortable “in terms of what we’re doing as a school corporation.”
Board President Tom Bauters asked, with 26 children, how many people are needed to take care of them?
Wilks said that’s one of the things that’s being worked on because there’s a definite ratio they have to follow.
Bauters said he imagined the younger the child is, the more help that’s needed. Wilks said in infants, there’s a ratio they would follow. Every year, that ratio might shift. She said there’s lots of young staff members, so “they’re starting families.”
Board member David Lash asked if the center would be children up to 3 and then they would go into preschool. Wilks said what they’re thinking is the center could feed into the Mentone Readiness Preschools so those 3- and 4-year-olds would go into preschool and then afterward go to the staff child care center.
Board member Todd Hoffman asked if TVSC would have transportation for the center. Conley said the committee is looking into that.
In other business, the Board heard an update about the construction project at the high school from Fanning Howe.
Michael Schipp, principal project leader at Fanning Howe, said Fanning Howe has had 19 separate meetings with staff member. Those meetings don’t include meetings with coaches. Fanning Howe had a meeting at the high school, where they talked with 17 coaches, representing 20 sports.
Fanning Howe addressed some needs after the meetings, which included a sink and dishwasher in the training room. Other changes included a recessed entry, drinking fountains and views to the field house in the Hall of Champions near the field house.
In the agriculture area, changes included adding a planning office. In the agriculture classrooms, an exhaust and kitchenette will be added.
Shipp said his pool expert was able to take a look at the high school’s pool and changing the depth to the required 4 foot can be done.
Fanning Howe is planning on updating the Board on the project in November.
The Board also adopted the 2022 budget. The total budget is $24,789,746. The debt service fund is $2,986,242. The education fund is $13,248,077. The operations fund is $8,555,245.
The Board also approved several donations, which included $24,000 from Bib’s Billfold. The donation came from the 2021 Sweet & Sassy Golf Classic and to be used for student needs funds, teacher grant funds and the teacher/staff recognition fund
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