The ups and the downs: SE Iowa providers navigate child care, pre-K challenges

Yahoo

2 days ago

OTTUMWA — One facility is cutting its student enrollment by more than half. Another facility can't seem to fill up. A third was a little nervous if the funding would ever come and had plans if it didn't.
Welcome to the world of child care and preschool in southeast Iowa.
The stories of Wigwam Daycare and Preschool in Bloomfield, Sieda Child Development Center and Pickwick Early Childhood Center are reflective of many characteristics of offering either child care, 3-year-old and 4-year-old preschool, or both, in what has been frequently dubbed "a desert."
The three entities aren't the same; Pickwick does not offer child care, but is a fully-funded preschool free to families. The others? They do everything in their power to provide for students and families when the going gets a little tougher.
Inside the Wigwam doors
The 3-year-olds gathered around teacher Mari Melvin to watch a YouTube video on a TV dangling from the wall. The 4-year-olds were coming back into the former Bloomfield Elementary School from recess.
They're all part of Traci Wiegand's passion, which will be restricted as she takes an enrollment of 140 students down to 60 in an effort to balance a philosophy of "quality over quantity" against the difficulties of maintaining child care and preschool.
"It was so hard. I was emotional because I've been doing this for almost 25 years. Some of these families I've known for years," Wiegand said of her decision. "You almost become part of their family. You develop a bond with them and their kids.
"And then the community feedback you're going to get, right? It took me a little bit of time to realize that Davis County not having daycare was not solely my problem, but I'd been doing it for so long, and had expanded to such a large size that I started bearing the weight of, 'If I don't keep making this work, then this community doesn't have daycare.'"
Wiegand is not alone in her predicament. Child care challenges have existed for decades, but were sharpened by the pandemic because of the "great resignation," which also affected the child care industry as providers struggled to find employees who would work for the typical low wages offered in the profession.
But the business is for-profit, so it does not have the Head Start funding for the preschool, even though it follows Iowa's early-learning standards.
"Head Start hires like a kitchen person, and that's the job. They know how many teaspoons of carrots are eaten, and they document that, send it in and that's where they get their funding," she said.
"We don't have time to do that. We're talking about paying somebody $11 an hour. We're requiring them to take care of our kids, and now we're going to ask them to do an hour or two worth of paperwork so that we can get this funding. It takes away from the quality of care that we're giving to the kids."
Wiegand is surrounded by a supportive and loyal staff, some of whom have taught in the Davis County Community School District, and has let go of unreliable employees. She said the decision to reduce the number of students and children began taking shape a few years ago.
"The last three years have been hard, and I think if you asked any of the staff here, they would tell you the same thing," she said. "And as the years have gone by, it's just gotten a little harder.
"I could have more kids than I currently have, and I know that I have quality people coming in here every day and not have to worry about a darn thing," Wiegand said. "I continue to love kids, and I love my program. It's not that we're not giving good care, but I'm hoping that we're going to do this for a year with 60 kids, and I hope it goes exactly the way I want to see it go, and then we'll evaluate again."
'Someone needs to do something about this'
When Sieda Community Action opened up its child care development center on the Indian Hills Community College campus almost two years ago, it came at the height of a fevered pitch that child care was scarce in the area, there were no simple solutions, but that private-public partnerships were perhaps just around the corner.
Sieda executive director Brian Dunn now wonders what the hype was about, because those complaints have been muted, for one reason or another.
"There was an assumption that people would line up. We'd heard it consistently that we're in a child care desert," he said. "Maybe we're in a 'quality' child care desert."
Sieda not only offers Head Start programming to seven counties in the area, but also provides Head Start and child care onsite. Dunn said Sieda has put a lot of its general fund into the child development center, but he and the staff see the bigger picture of preparing children for when they are ready to enter the school system.
Still, as with Wiegand's situation, the out-of-pocket costs can be problematic for families, though Dunn said Sieda hasn't turned anyone away for that reason.
"I talk about Sieda as being in the business of moving people out of poverty, not into it," he said. "Our biggest struggle is with child care assistance. You know, for many of these families, the reason they qualify for child care assistance is because they're low-income. That out-of-pocket [cost] is problematic for them, and a challenge for us."
As for what "quality" child care and preschool looked like at Sieda, those under Dunn had their own definitions.
"The safety of the children is the most important, but also having staff who understand how children learn, how their brains develop, and being able to provide the care that aligns with how they grow, develop and learn," said Ranae Banicky, Sieda's assistant director of the childhood development unit. "The quality is so important because the reality is, whoever is caring for your child during the day, the parent is not able to do that."
Katie Thompson, the child care center coordinator, pointed to simply addressing the needs of each child.
"I think meeting each child where they're at. I know it sounds cliche, but each child is so different, and you have to be able to provide for that individual," she said. "Nutrition is huge, especially for a lot of our Head Start students. You'll find there's food insecurities, so we provide nutrition needs under the Child and Adult Care Food Program under the USDA, and it opens lines of communication with the families. That way, a parent is comfortable with letting their child spend 10 1/2 hours a day with you.
"I'm in the thick of it every day. It's always going to be about the kids. That's what keeps me coming here," Thompson said.
Still, Sieda's child development center has rarely been completely full. Some of that, however, could be by design as teachers must follow federal Head Start guidelines for teacher-to-student ratios.
"With our licensing oversight, we have to be very mindful of maintaining ratio," Thompson said. "So that'll always play into it."
Dunn is satisfied with the arrangement Sieda has with IHCC; the lease on the building being used runs out at the end of 2026.
"Nobody is making money. [Indian] Hills has been a fantastic partner for us," he said. "I think a couple of assumptions were made is that if there was such a great need for child care, that people would be lined up to send their kids here. The community rallies and says, 'Somebody needs to do something about this,' and we step up.
"What we need is community support. We need money, because that was one of the things when we decided to move forward with this responsibility, was that there would be community support for that as well. And that has not panned out as we hoped. But there is a synergy here in that we understand kiddos in that we can help families understand development milestones or refer parents if they need additional support. I think we have the best staff out here."
Pickwick Early Childhood Success
It's safe to say the administration at Pickwick Early Childhood Center had a little bit of angst for much of the early part of the year.
Would the Iowa Legislature deliver on some sort of renewal of the Shared Visions grant program, or would the Ottumwa Community School District need some other funding sources for Pickwick?
"We had structured a committee to look at viable options and begin to brainstorm what-ifs?" principal Kim Ledger said. "What is our backup plan to continue to provide this service to our community if the funding doesn't go through? We had talks on the table about plan B and plan C."
The legislature, at the end of the session, managed to extend the program for one more year, rather than the usual five-year cycle. Ottumwa is the largest beneficiary of the program in the state, with $579,000 coming from the grant, which "is meant to help supplement preschool options for lower-socioeconomic" families based on household income, which is the top qualifier for the grant.
Pickwick offers a fully-funded 3-year-old preschool, and moved into its current building in 2018, essentially consolidating preschool in the community. However, Pickwick takes in children from outside the school district, and officials believe the skills taught "travel well" to other school districts in preparation for kindergarten.
"The state has standards for literacy, math, every subject area, and the child should be able to know and to this," Ledger said. "We have that in preschool too and it's Iowa's early-learning standards. The work we've done is align our curriculum, resources and assessments to those standards that we know will spiral into state standards for kindergarten.
"So if we're doing that good work, the skills should travel. There is some uniformity to it."
Pickwick currently serves 401 3- and 4-year-old children, but also has a junior kindergarten and kindergarten, and 26% of those used a dedicated bus service to Pickwick.
However, like Wigwam and Sieda, Pickwick's overall goal is development of the entire child, not simply the academic standards.
"I think one of the things that sets Pickwick apart, aside from full-day preschool, is really looking at the whole child, the social and emotional side," district director of curriculum Maria Lantz said. "I think that's something Pickwick does really well, and we're really proud of that. Some places do some academics, but it's not the majority of the work. We really balance that social and emotional piece with that academic piece."
Ledger has spent time in other school districts as well, but said there isn't a competition for who offers the best preschool. In fact, many are up front and make referrals if needed.
"You know the Sieda Head Start people will say, 'Here are some students who are coming your way. Can I share that information with you?' And I say, 'Absolutely.' I do feel like there is a collaborative relationship," Ledger said. "If a student residentially is in the district, but chooses to open enroll to Cardinal or Davis County and is eligible for an IEP (individualized education program), then the home principal gets invited to that meeting.
"So I attend meetings for students who may reside in Ottumwa but open-enroll to Cardinal. I'm part of that time and helping make those decisions for that child, but I don't serve that child. We're like colleagues and we call upon each other for whatever they might need."
Ledger believes in Pickwick's philosophies, but acknowledged others as well.
"Seton Catholic is a great option. Cardinal is a great option. Sieda Head Start is a good option," she said. "I know a lot of people in lots of different places. Like, if I can't serve your child, I hope that another district can.
"If we aren't the right place, then let me help you find the one that is right. I want that child being served."