Nebraska

Daily Nebraskan
Parents give new child-care center plan mixed reviews
LINSEY MARSHALL
October 13, 2005

Tish Roland has been requesting a new on-campus child-care center for years.
But the director of University Child Care didn’t expect to lose her job once that wish was granted.

Now that the university has agreed to relocate the child-care center to campus, many more adjustments, including staff changes, will accompany it – and many parents are not happy.

Christine Jackson, vice chancellor of business and finance, and Bruce Currin, assistant vice chancellor for human resources, held a meeting Wednesday at the child-care center, located in the YWCA at 14th and N streets, allowing parents to express their opinions about the changes.

Jackson said at the meeting that the university issued a request for proposals on Oct. 3, setting guidelines for vendors who wish to take over the responsibility of funding and managing the university’s child care.

Vendors can submit bids until Nov. 15, Jackson said, and the best candidate will be chosen in early 2006. The new vendor will assist with renovating the new location in the Whittier Building at 22nd and Vine streets, with hopes to open the facility in late summer 2007.

UNL owns the building and will fund the renovations through private donations totaling $1.8 million, Jackson said, but the new vendor will manage the staff and program.

Roland said because the building will be rent-free for the vendor, more money will go back into staff salaries and the program itself. UCC is paying $70,000 a year to rent its current location from the YWCA, she said.

Jackson said the vendors must be accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children or a similar national accreditation program to be chosen for the new facility, something the UCC facility cannot claim.

And upgrading the facility to meet the new guidelines, she said, would mean hiring new staff.
Roland said many of the staff members only hold an associate’s degree in early childhood education – not the bachelor’s degree the new program requires.

Some of the staff will be able to interview for positions in the new program, Roland said, but many will find themselves without a job when the transition is complete.
“It’s hard for all of us to lose our jobs,” she said.

Many parents with children at UCC voiced concerns over the future of the current staff because the children have grown attached to their teachers.

“We have great teachers who only have an associate’s degree but years of experience,” said Tara Moore, a junior English major who has a child at UCC.

Nicole Wallen-Thompson, a senior horticulture major with a 2-year-old son in the program, agreed.

Several parents said at the meeting they are worried about the turnover rate at UCC now that staff members who already know they don’t qualify for the new program are beginning to look for new work. And some called the proposal “all business, no humanity.”

Many parents also expressed their unhappiness with the new location on the other side of campus. From the current UCC site, children can walk to the various downtown museums and even the Capitol building – something they won’t be able to safely do from the new locale.

Wallen-Thompson said her son has already benefited from the downtown field trips and the staff members.

“He can count in Spanish and English, he can sing every song … and he’s only 2,” she said. “I have a friend with a 3-year-old who can only do half of what he can do.”

But Jackson said the new location was chosen for many reasons. The new building is between East and City campuses, has a large yard for an outdoor play area and offers 13,000-square feet of interior space for classrooms, she said.

Parents affiliated with the university will have top-priority at getting their child a spot in the program, Jackson said.

But that means parents without university ties may not get their children back into the program, even if they have been loyal customers for years.

Many parents at the meeting said they found out about the university’s decision in the newspaper – making them wonder if the university’s financial priorities will lose their children in the shuffle.

Jackson said while many expressed various concerns about outsourcing, the move already has proved to be a successful route for the university in other areas.

Concessions at athletic events and the university bookstore are both examples of outsourcing on campus, Jackson said.

“Some things are just not our expertise,” she said.

Roland said even though the transition to outsourcing may be difficult, the brand-new facility will benefit the children in the long run.

“We are being positive about this whole thing,” she said. “It will be a neat center.”