Day care may face closure

Lauren Vane

The child care center at Golden West College currently provides

affordable day care for the children of 76 student parents and

faculty members. Now, for the first time in its nearly 30-year

history, the independent child care center faces potential closure or

the possibility of being contracted to an outside agency.

Now that the center’s years of deficit have put a general squeeze

on the college’s budget, a task force has been appointed to

reevaluate the program and explore options for the future of the

child care center that is a valued resource for many student parents.

Although the Coast Community College District board has not taken

any action on the issue, students expressed their concerns to

trustees about the fate of the child care center at the May 18 board

meeting.

The college is entertaining three options: Close the center,

contract operations out to another agency or continue to operate the

center, taking on increased deficit, said Vice President of Student

Services Monte Perez. The latter is no longer an option, Perez said.

The center has run a deficit of $44,000 over the past three years

and now requires an estimated $250,000 to pay for necessary

refurbishing and increased staffing needs, Perez said.

The college is in a tight situation, but they should close down

the child care center, Perez said.

“We don’t want to do that, but we do need a solution,” Perez said.

“We can’t go on like this where every year we have to kick in $40,000

to $50,000 from the general fund.”

The deficit has previously been covered by the school’s general

fund, an increasing problem due to extra pressure added by state

budget shortfalls.

“So the issue for the college is where do we get that money, where

do we set the priorities,” Perez said.

To recommend board action on the future of the child care center,

Perez is organizing a task force, made up of student parents,

faculty, administration and classified representatives. The task

force will hold its first meeting June 1 and will present a

recommendation to the board June 15.

Nursing student and parent Gina Stubbert, who will serve as a

parent representative on the task force, is one of those fighting for

the center to remain open.

“It means a second chance for me to go to school; it’s a second

chance for me to succeed,” said Stubbert, whose two children, now

ages 7 and 4, have both attended day care at the center.

Having her 4-year-old son near to her is important, said Stubbert,

who sometimes has lunch with her son between classes.

Parent and faculty member Cecelia Galassi feels the same way.

“I wanted my daughter to be near me and in a friendly place, a

loving place,” Galassi said.

The affordable cost of day care at the center is also a draw and

important reason why the center should remain independent and free

from outside management, Galassi said.

“We understand that making it a chain means that prices will go up

way beyond what they are, and for many students they won’t be able to

manage those prices,” Galassi said.

Day care at the center currently costs parents $195 per month for

up to five hours a week, $355 per month for care from 8 a.m. to 4

p.m. and $486 per month for care from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Perez said.

The child care center, a facility comprised of three classrooms

and a playground, can hold up to 125 children, Perez said. Current

enrollment includes 73 preschool-age children and eight infants and

toddlers, Perez said.

The child care center is an auxiliary organization within the

college and it must pay for itself, Perez said. But that hasn’t

happened over the past two to three years and the school has covered

the deficit with its own dollars from the general fund. Raising child

care fees could be an option to solve the problem, Perez said.

“We as a college love it [the child care center]. We think it’s

great. It’s just a matter of how we make it work and pay for itself,”

Perez said.

In addition to paying off its deficit, the center needs to remodel

and to hire more staff members in order to maintain proper

staff-to-children ratios.

Perez’ recommendation is that the college find a way to avoid

closing the center. Child care is an important factor in community

college graduation and retention rates, Perez said.

“Students are parents and these parents, many of them, would not

be able to come to school unless they had child care support,” Perez

said.

-- Michael Miller

contributed to this article.