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A day care consortium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
A Day Care Consortium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Tom Ecker
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I
n Cedar Rapids, we enjoy a great variety of business-education partnerships,” says Sue Pearson, long-lime volunteer coordinator for the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Community School District. “But the Five Seasons Day Care consortium is truly one of 2 kind. it is a unique partnership that combines the strengths of alI of the partners to provide a vital service to the community.” It all began five years ago when the Cedar Rapids school district entered into a partnership with St. Luke’s, one of Cedar Rapids’ two hospitals, to establish and manage the community’s first corporate clay care consortium-the Five Seasons Day Care Center. Although the partnership began with plans for only one day-care site for 20 children, there :lre now five sites, serving 671 children, with six corporate sponsors, along with the school clistrict ancl the hospital. Two additional sites will open next fall. The project began when Stephen Daeschner, the superintendent of schools, and Sam Wallace, the hospital’s president, after conducting staff surveys, found that quality day care was 2 major priority among their employees. Realizing this need existecl, and valuing the concept of collaboration as a successful business practice, they decided to esplore the estahlishnient of a day care center to serve their employees. There were two immediate obstacles to overcome: finding 3 site to house the project ancl provicling the necessary startup costs. The first obstacle was resolved easily hecause the school clistrict, through reorganization, had space availaMe at Arthur Elementary School. However, neither the district nor the hospital coulcl provide the startup funding. The solution was to seek a third partner, a corporate sponsor, whose employees woulcl also be able to participate in the program. It was agreecl th3t the sponsor woulcl provicle one-time startup funcling, the school clistrict would provide
the site ancl staff, and the hospital woulcl provide the health care, meals, bookkeeping services, and puhlit relations. All the costs of operating the clay care, except the initial corporate contribution, would be coverecl hy clay-care fees, which woulcl he competitive with other clay-care centers in the area. The goal was to I become totally self-supporting after the first year ancl then use profits to provide a sliding-scale fee schedule for families whose incomes would qualit+ for a subsidizecl rate. By the encl of the first year, enrollment hacl grown from 20 to a near-capacity 105 chilclren. Although the initial services included only preschool ancl clay care for children from 1S months to five years of age, other programs, such as summer clay camp, “clrop-in care,” and beforeancl after-school care, were addecl because of requests from parents. In 1990, the school district cleciclecl to reopen Grant Elementary School-which had been closecl and vacant since 1987-3s the Grant Early Chilclhood Center. The plan was to expand the very successful Five Seasons Day Care program into ;I seconcl building ancl add an infant care program, which would serve chilclren agecl six weeks to 18 months. Immediately, five aclclitional corporate sponsors were sought to provide the one-time startup funding at the Grant site. The five corporations agreed to share in provicling the money in exchange for the opportunity to have their employees participate in Five Seasons at either site. The startup money was to be considered a loan-not a contribution. If the clay-care program began to
A school district, a hospital, and some local businesses combine to ease the burden on working parents.
49
operate in the black, the school district and the hospital would begin returning the money to the sponsors. The Grant School site was large enough to include other school district early childhood programs, including public preschool for statefunded at-risk programs and special education programs For the handicapped. This combination would provide unique opportunities for integrated activities between district programs and Five Seasons. Enrollment at the Grant Early Childhood Center now totals 311. Five Seasons later entered into a partnership with the city’s largest employer, Rockwell Collins, to manage its existing day-care program. The Rockwell site, which serves only the children of Rockwell employees. is licensed for 250 children. Although it is considered a separate operation from the Five Seasons sites, management fees from Rockwell are used to provide additional clay-care services at the other centers. The Five Seasons Day Care program was further expanded in 1991 and 1992 to include extended programs at Johnson and Wilson elementary schools. These programs. which serve any of the elementary-age children from those schools, operate before and after school during the school year and aII day during the summer months. At Johnson there is also a preschool daycare program for children that participate in the school’s state-funded at-risk program. Ellen Wrzeski, the school district’s esecutive director of elementary education, has been a driving force in the establishment and growth 01 the Five Seasons Day Care program. She attributes the success of the venture to “careful planning, good communication, and a clear delineation of roles.” From the beginning, the organizing partners agreed that each would use its unique expertise to manage the day-care centers. St. Luke’s would develop all health policies and health education, prepare and deliver meals, develop all information and con~n~unication materials, and oversee the accounting function. The school district would provide the facilities, hire the director and staff for each site, administer personnel policies, and provide the purchasing function for the centers. Together the two partners agreed to work with the day-care directors to develop and administer curriculum and policies. A parent advisory council, made up of two parents from each participating company, was formed at each site to provide organizational input and parental involvement. “The development of the centers was based on clearly identified needs,” Wrzeski adds. “The services provided complement the mission of both St. Luke’s Hospital and the Cedar Rapids School District to meet the health and educational needs of the community.”
50
Five Seasons continues to be a nonprofit, self-supporting operation. “It has to be,” Wrzeski stresses, “since we are not able to use any school district or hospital funds. The various funding streams, together with the fee structure revenue, must cover all operating expenses.” The Five Seasons Day Care partnership has been successful for the following reasons: 1. The partners have an ongoing commitment to collaborate in all planning and decision making. 2. Because of their professional orientation, the partners seek quality in :iII of their programming and staff development activities. 3. Both partners are able to access their unique resources, n+ich complement each other. 4. The school district is viewed as a highly desirable employer. nhich allows the day-care program to attract and retain exceptionally qualified staff members. 5. The use of existing school facilities has eliminated construction costs and kept renovation costs at a minimum. 6. Parental involvement is continually solicited to improve current services and plan new ones. In addition, there is a parent education component thal includes parent nights and otliei activities designed to enhance parents’ knowledge ad skills. 7. Besides the fees charged for day-care services, the program has tapped a variety of funding sources, including private corporate contributions, grants from the Iowa Department of Economic Development and the Iowa Department of Human Services, and child food rebates and atrisk funding from the Iowa Department of Education. Future expansion of the program will include moving the original Five Seasons Center from Arthur Elementary School to Garfiekl Elementary School. This will provide additional space for the preschoolers, plus space for infant care. Beforeand after-school day care will be continued at the Arthur site and will also be included at Garfield. Another expansion effort will include the establishment of a day-care center at Jackson Elementary School, to be reopened in fall 1993. The current fee structure is shown in the Table.
Table Five Seasons Fee Structure Infants (6 weeks to 18 months)
S95.00/week
19 months
WO.OO/week S75,00/week 532.50heek
to 2 years Over 2 years Lo school School age
hsiness
age
Horizons
/ Sepremher-Octolxr
1993
To help ease the burden for day-care parents, the school district encourages parents to enroll the day-care child’s siblings in the s3nx school, even if the fzuliily lives in a different neighborhoocl. There is ;I great lxnefit to ~1 klmily to have all of their chilclren-whether preschool or school-age-Xtencling school ;I1 the same site every day.
T
he Five Seasons Day Care program is meeting ;1n important neecl in our community-the need for clu;llity day c‘;Ire services, particularly for infants ancl toddlers,” s:~ys Wrzeski. “The program hns a great inlpact on the children’s clevelopment. It provicles 66
then1 with the early interaction necessary for their successful entry into the school system, and for success throughout their schooling years.” 0
i
Tom Ecker is an administrative assistant of public information at the Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Cedar Rapids district is a partner district of the Center for Leadership in School Reform, whose headquarters are in Louisville, Kentucky.
cc
I
n Cedar Rapids, we enjoy a great variety of business-education partnerships,” says Sue Pearson, long-lime volunteer coordinator for the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Community School District. “But the Five Seasons Day Care consortium is truly one of 2 kind. it is a unique partnership that combines the strengths of alI of the partners to provide a vital service to the community.” It all began five years ago when the Cedar Rapids school district entered into a partnership with St. Luke’s, one of Cedar Rapids’ two hospitals, to establish and manage the community’s first corporate clay care consortium-the Five Seasons Day Care Center. Although the partnership began with plans for only one day-care site for 20 children, there :lre now five sites, serving 671 children, with six corporate sponsors, along with the school clistrict ancl the hospital. Two additional sites will open next fall. The project began when Stephen Daeschner, the superintendent of schools, and Sam Wallace, the hospital’s president, after conducting staff surveys, found that quality day care was 2 major priority among their employees. Realizing this need existecl, and valuing the concept of collaboration as a successful business practice, they decided to esplore the estahlishnient of a day care center to serve their employees. There were two immediate obstacles to overcome: finding 3 site to house the project ancl provicling the necessary startup costs. The first obstacle was resolved easily hecause the school clistrict, through reorganization, had space availaMe at Arthur Elementary School. However, neither the district nor the hospital coulcl provide the startup funding. The solution was to seek a third partner, a corporate sponsor, whose employees woulcl also be able to participate in the program. It was agreecl th3t the sponsor woulcl provicle one-time startup funcling, the school clistrict would provide
the site ancl staff, and the hospital woulcl provide the health care, meals, bookkeeping services, and puhlit relations. All the costs of operating the clay care, except the initial corporate contribution, would be coverecl hy clay-care fees, which woulcl he competitive with other clay-care centers in the area. The goal was to I become totally self-supporting after the first year ancl then use profits to provide a sliding-scale fee schedule for families whose incomes would qualit+ for a subsidizecl rate. By the encl of the first year, enrollment hacl grown from 20 to a near-capacity 105 chilclren. Although the initial services included only preschool ancl clay care for children from 1S months to five years of age, other programs, such as summer clay camp, “clrop-in care,” and beforeancl after-school care, were addecl because of requests from parents. In 1990, the school district cleciclecl to reopen Grant Elementary School-which had been closecl and vacant since 1987-3s the Grant Early Chilclhood Center. The plan was to expand the very successful Five Seasons Day Care program into ;I seconcl building ancl add an infant care program, which would serve chilclren agecl six weeks to 18 months. Immediately, five aclclitional corporate sponsors were sought to provide the one-time startup funding at the Grant site. The five corporations agreed to share in provicling the money in exchange for the opportunity to have their employees participate in Five Seasons at either site. The startup money was to be considered a loan-not a contribution. If the clay-care program began to
A school district, a hospital, and some local businesses combine to ease the burden on working parents.
49
operate in the black, the school district and the hospital would begin returning the money to the sponsors. The Grant School site was large enough to include other school district early childhood programs, including public preschool for statefunded at-risk programs and special education programs For the handicapped. This combination would provide unique opportunities for integrated activities between district programs and Five Seasons. Enrollment at the Grant Early Childhood Center now totals 311. Five Seasons later entered into a partnership with the city’s largest employer, Rockwell Collins, to manage its existing day-care program. The Rockwell site, which serves only the children of Rockwell employees. is licensed for 250 children. Although it is considered a separate operation from the Five Seasons sites, management fees from Rockwell are used to provide additional clay-care services at the other centers. The Five Seasons Day Care program was further expanded in 1991 and 1992 to include extended programs at Johnson and Wilson elementary schools. These programs. which serve any of the elementary-age children from those schools, operate before and after school during the school year and aII day during the summer months. At Johnson there is also a preschool daycare program for children that participate in the school’s state-funded at-risk program. Ellen Wrzeski, the school district’s esecutive director of elementary education, has been a driving force in the establishment and growth 01 the Five Seasons Day Care program. She attributes the success of the venture to “careful planning, good communication, and a clear delineation of roles.” From the beginning, the organizing partners agreed that each would use its unique expertise to manage the day-care centers. St. Luke’s would develop all health policies and health education, prepare and deliver meals, develop all information and con~n~unication materials, and oversee the accounting function. The school district would provide the facilities, hire the director and staff for each site, administer personnel policies, and provide the purchasing function for the centers. Together the two partners agreed to work with the day-care directors to develop and administer curriculum and policies. A parent advisory council, made up of two parents from each participating company, was formed at each site to provide organizational input and parental involvement. “The development of the centers was based on clearly identified needs,” Wrzeski adds. “The services provided complement the mission of both St. Luke’s Hospital and the Cedar Rapids School District to meet the health and educational needs of the community.”
50
Five Seasons continues to be a nonprofit, self-supporting operation. “It has to be,” Wrzeski stresses, “since we are not able to use any school district or hospital funds. The various funding streams, together with the fee structure revenue, must cover all operating expenses.” The Five Seasons Day Care partnership has been successful for the following reasons: 1. The partners have an ongoing commitment to collaborate in all planning and decision making. 2. Because of their professional orientation, the partners seek quality in :iII of their programming and staff development activities. 3. Both partners are able to access their unique resources, n+ich complement each other. 4. The school district is viewed as a highly desirable employer. nhich allows the day-care program to attract and retain exceptionally qualified staff members. 5. The use of existing school facilities has eliminated construction costs and kept renovation costs at a minimum. 6. Parental involvement is continually solicited to improve current services and plan new ones. In addition, there is a parent education component thal includes parent nights and otliei activities designed to enhance parents’ knowledge ad skills. 7. Besides the fees charged for day-care services, the program has tapped a variety of funding sources, including private corporate contributions, grants from the Iowa Department of Economic Development and the Iowa Department of Human Services, and child food rebates and atrisk funding from the Iowa Department of Education. Future expansion of the program will include moving the original Five Seasons Center from Arthur Elementary School to Garfiekl Elementary School. This will provide additional space for the preschoolers, plus space for infant care. Beforeand after-school day care will be continued at the Arthur site and will also be included at Garfield. Another expansion effort will include the establishment of a day-care center at Jackson Elementary School, to be reopened in fall 1993. The current fee structure is shown in the Table.
Table Five Seasons Fee Structure Infants (6 weeks to 18 months)
S95.00/week
19 months
WO.OO/week S75,00/week 532.50heek
to 2 years Over 2 years Lo school School age
hsiness
age
Horizons
/ Sepremher-Octolxr
1993
To help ease the burden for day-care parents, the school district encourages parents to enroll the day-care child’s siblings in the s3nx school, even if the fzuliily lives in a different neighborhoocl. There is ;I great lxnefit to ~1 klmily to have all of their chilclren-whether preschool or school-age-Xtencling school ;I1 the same site every day.
T
he Five Seasons Day Care program is meeting ;1n important neecl in our community-the need for clu;llity day c‘;Ire services, particularly for infants ancl toddlers,” s:~ys Wrzeski. “The program hns a great inlpact on the children’s clevelopment. It provicles 66
then1 with the early interaction necessary for their successful entry into the school system, and for success throughout their schooling years.” 0
i
Tom Ecker is an administrative assistant of public information at the Cedar Rapids Community School District, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Cedar Rapids district is a partner district of the Center for Leadership in School Reform, whose headquarters are in Louisville, Kentucky.