After nearly 20 years, the town of Century’s only daycare is scheduled to close by July 17.
Parents and staff at Camp Fire Century Youth Learning Center say the news came as a shock and with only about a week’s warning, they’re now scrambling to make other arrangements for child care and employment.
Tracy McCurdy, a teacher, drives an hour from her home in Alabama to bring her 19-month-old son to the daycare while she and her husband work.
She once worked here for several years and says it’s the only place she trusts to care for her son who was a “NICU baby.” He’s doing well now, and she wants to make sure that continues.
“I drive an hour to get here to make sure that he’s taken care of like he needs to be,” McCurdy said. “I don’t go back (to work) until August. Who’s going to take care of my child for me so I can go back to take care of other people’s children?”
The Camp Fire Century Youth Center opened in 2008 and it serves a diverse population, including many low-income families and private-paying parents.
The center’s director says it’s the only trusted and affordable daycare option in the immediate area, serving children ages 1 to 5, because the staff is trained and provides structure and curriculum-based learning.
Teacher Mallory Smith says the closure is “devastating.”
“We have to send families far and wide to find different daycare centers where they trust people to watch their kids,” Smith said, “and many of the parents, they’re not happy about it because they trust us with their children.”
Vanna English is the child care facility’s director.
She has worked at Camp Fire’s Century location for eight years and said the email administrators sent giving them only a week’s notice isn’t fair to staff or families who rely on them for child care.
Five staff members, including teachers, the director and the assistant director are all losing their jobs.
“Several parents came in very emotional due to our staff being the only ones that they trusted their children with up this way,” English said. “Having to even take them 30 minutes down the road was an inconvenience for parents that have to teach in the school system and be late to work just to try to find daycare and affordable daycare, especially with this area being low income.”
She said the primary reason administrators gave for the closure is a lack of funding. She said some parents couldn’t afford the recent rate hike when Camp Fire increased its rates by almost 25%.
She said the cost varies according to the age of the child, but parents of a 1-year-old child pay $185 a week.
“I feel like it’s a funding issue,” English said. “The prices being the major problem in this area because the parents are getting a high daycare bill if they’re not getting a subsidy from the state to help.”
Calls for comment about the closure to Camp Fire administration were not immediately returned.
Staff and parents say they’re willing to pitch in to keep the daycare open, everything from fundraising to mowing the lawn.
They hope the decision is reversed.
“I hate to see it closed,” McCurdy said.
Mollye Barrows is an award-winning investigative reporter for the Pensacola News Journal covering legal justice and government accountability matters.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Century’s only daycare abruptly closes. Parents, staff are scrambling
Reporting by Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal / Pensacola News Journal
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By Mollye Barrows, Pensacola News Journal | USA TODAY Network
