Update: Rockingham Community College to close day care : News-Record.com : Greensboro & the Triad's most trusted source for local news and analysis

WENTWORTH – Rockingham Community College will close its five-star child development center on May 28 because of low enrollment and rising operating costs.

College President Robert Keys announced the decision to the Board of Trustees this week. The center opened on campus in 1990 to provide child care for parents taking college courses.

The six full-time and seven part-time child development center instructors and staff members have been notified of the closing date. Parents were notified of the decision today.

“This was an extremely difficult decision to make,” said Keys, according to a college press release. “I truly regret it, but when we looked at the numbers, we realized this decision was unavoidable.”

Sixty-six children are enrolled at the center, about half of the facility's operational capacity. Only 21 of those children belong to college students. The center also saw a 50 percent drop in three years in the number of faculty and individuals in the community using the center.

"I believe the economy is driving this trend,” Keys said. “Parents are finding the cost of child care too expensive for their budgets.”

Keys said because of rising costs, fees would have to double to operate the center at its current capacity.

uptown

January 14, 2010 - 12:42 pm EST

This article is a LIE! The parents were not notified until Thursday morning to begin with and my understanding is that the staff employee's didn't know until Wednesday afternoon. They didn't waste any time getting it in the paper. The other lie is that it is not being closed because of low enrollment, they want it for the Adult High School kids! They will probably close the Senior Center too! That building was built just for the daycare and the seniors, now they want to close it!! The fees do not have to be as high as they say since they barely pay the workers much over minimum wage! High School should be where it was intended to be-------in the high school! And college kids at college! They are trying to make the college a high school and now everything out there is going to be torn up and abused like kids do in public school! Wait and see! When will these people stop running over everyone and lying?? They are putting many parents---students and community parents in a terrible position of having to find daycare for their kids! Some of them will have to quit work! Some of them have been at the daycare off and on since it opened in 1990! Not to mention some of the employees have been there since it opened! Some are close to being able to retire but now will lose everything just because the "powers that be" want an Adult High School there and they could care less about the kids or employees! I think a whole new administration is needed at RCC----local people that care about the college and people! The administration there now is mostly from out of state and could care less about anything but getting their way and think that we are just a bunch of "southern hicks"!

Morgan Josey Glover

January 14, 2010 - 2:55 pm EST

It is correct that parents were notified today. I misread the press release and corrected that sentence.

January 14, 2010 - 3:24 pm EST

By the way, I spoke to President Keys and he said that the college has not yet decided what to do with the center after it closes.

January 14, 2010 - 4:51 pm EST

He knows. He just isn't telling it yet! Wait and see!

bigcountry

January 14, 2010 - 12:05 pm EST

I do not know much about the daycare and never had a child there but think it is something should be saved. There are ways to eliminate costs and to keep it open. It's obvious from the article that RCC did not try to save it or work toward a solution. This is the first that anyone has heard of it and the easiest solution is to close it? I agree with "Uptown" that the college must want this area for some other reason and that the daycare stands in their way. Maybe they should take money from the great "McMichael Civic Center" that is never going to be used and have money for the daycare. I also agree high school kids should be at high school. Let them graduate early and then start their college career. Our county along with this state and this country is headed in a direction that it will never recover from.

HotRodLincoln

January 14, 2010 - 12:32 pm EST

They spend over $500,000 a year on athletics. They're begging for 12 million for a Civic Center. But they don't have money to operate?
Get out your calculator, 66 x the $500 a month to keep a kid in the daycare comes to over $33,000 a month.
The RCC board of trustee's are snake charmed and the county commissioners are worthless for letting them start this early college crap. It's ruining our college.
This is all about where are they putting the early college students and they are ashamed to tell the truth about it.
I hope they can't figure out who wrote this!!!!

katkit

January 14, 2010 - 1:34 pm EST

I find this shameful. To continue to fund athletic programs that are of little interest to anyone beyond the few that play on the team while sacrificing a facility that has been a godsend to so many students struggling to make it through school is shortsighted and disgraceful. If the powers that be wanted a child care center they would find a way to make it work. The ugly truth is that someone looked around the campus and decided that the space would be perfect for the high school and the child care center became an easy target. I agree with the previous poster. High school students belong in high school.

January 14, 2010 - 2:04 pm EST

One other comment that is of interest to the daycare----I heard that SEVERAL parents have been to RCC daycare lately that were looking for daycare for their kids & was told there were full & couldn't take the kids. Now I know this is hearsay but if it's true, WHY couldn't they take them?? The article says they aren't full but people are being told they are??? How can they be expected to produce the revenue needed if they don't take kids that need it? There is a BIG need for daycare in Rockingham County & now they want to close this one!? Also, they intend to close May 28, 2010----there is a waiting list at ALL daycares of 6 months to 1 year---mostly 1 year! For a situation like this, that is a VERY SHORT notice!! I guess they need time to have whatever renovations that need to be made, done by the time fall semester starts! Where is this money coming from?? I am sure this daycare closing affects none of the administrators so I guess they don't really care as long as they get the space for what they want! And YES, they DO fund too much money to the atlethic program! There again it comes down to ALWAYS having money to do what THEY want and not what necessarily should be!! The people in Rockingham County should see what's being done at RCC before they give to them so freely!! You might keep your money!!

Freedomvoice

January 15, 2010 - 11:02 pm EST

You are catching on. Now let see how many go to the polls in November and vote stright Demcrat ticket. I find this so stupid that people vote for a group instead of a person. When you vote group you have no idea who you put in office. This is the product of liberal education. Yes in a few short years your job will be worth less than it is today. Why because too many people getting the same piece of paper. Schools are not teaching but socializing children and now they call it college but what is taught at the community college level should be taught at the high school level. Yes this county is spending money like it is water and the dollar is going down in value because of it. Something of benefit is never on the agenda of the Government. Common sense is too hard. They worry too much about how they speak and say things but never worry about how to do things. We have lost it totally in this county to the peanuts being thrown at us from the Federal level, to the state level, and then dumped into our laps to pay for the foolishness. Vote them out. Vote for repeal of laws and taxes and lowering of taxes. Take care of yourself and don't depend on the Government to do it for you. You see what they do with the money.

January 16, 2010 - 2:52 am EST

Did you comment on the wrong article by accident? What you posted has nothing to do with the issue here.

cbpowers

January 14, 2010 - 2:18 pm EST

I was completely caught off guard this morning when we received the news of the center's closing. I hope everyone understands that we are loosing an incredibly valuable resource in our community. Five star daycares are few and far between in this area. My heart goes out to the teachers and administrative staff as well. Our son has been with the center for five years and everyone there has been like family to us. This is going to be a difficult transition on us all.

scorpio_mom

January 14, 2010 - 2:29 pm EST

Thank goodness I go to GTCC so I don't have to worry about my kids losing their daycare. You RCC students with kids may want to consider here. The learning program is amazing.

1tooter

January 15, 2010 - 8:54 am EST

I respect the fact that people have their own opinions on a subject such as this. Many, if not most of the opinions expressed here, are emotionally-based, which is understandable in light of the circumstances. However, there is a lot of information passed off as 'fact' that is grossly incorrect. This does not help in the discussion of ideas.

January 15, 2010 - 12:15 pm EST

Simply writing off opinions as "emotional" is not helpful to the "discussion of ideas" either. If you have facts, please feel free to enlighten us.

ImConfusedAboutThat

January 15, 2010 - 10:56 am EST

This is interesting. This is a 5-start child development center, Their webpage on RCC's website says one of 12 in the State -"On June 13, 2003, the RCC Child Development Center was chosen as one of 12 statewide winners of the North Carolina Early Childhood Professional Development Award."?

So you close it down without first trying to boost enrollment? You put all these individuals out of work and as Keys said in his release, front page of their website, wanted to give advanced notice so they could seek other employment - in this economy? What happens to the funding from the State - $20,000 a year plus prorated amount based on colleges FTE's, plus the dollars from the parents/guardians?

Will HeadStart will loose funding also? This is a major economic impact on this communty - jobs lost, more than just the eight listed on their webpage, but maybe from HeadStart, maybe from the families who no longer have child care? Wow, it appears there could have been a better answer than just closing this five star child development center - BTW - it's more than just day care, take a look at their curriculum.

Only thing Im confused about now - Why such an abrupt decision, unless the rumors are true - needed room for the high schoolers. Oh, and maybe it'll turn into a locker room for the athletics department - since it's so close to the fields.... No, I'm still confused....

news-record.com

NEWS