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| Day care at high school works for teachers and students | Friday, March 3, 2006 |
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| Tyler B. Reed 508-626-4423 | Metrowest Daily News |
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FRAMINGHAM -- Down the hall from the bustle of Framingham High School's
cafeteria is a new classroom with extra-thick walls, a fireproof door,
three tiny toilets and cribs on wheels.
It's home to the school's youngest daytime inhabitants: nine babies and toddlers. They are the tiny sons and daughters of teachers -- and one student -- who pay $60-a-day for on-site day care. The day care in the school's half-renovated H-wing also is a laboratory for high school students who have taken early childhood development courses and are planning careers in the field. The day care is in its first year and already has a waiting list stretching to September 2007 for babies who haven’t even been born yet. The vision of two former school administrators, ex-Principal Ralph Olsen and former human resources Director Don McCallion, the on-site care option is touted as a way to attract young teachers who can arrive and leave school with baby in hand. It’s the only program of its kind in MetroWest, according to Ellen Makynen, the head of the family and consumer sciences department at the high school. "The teachers win because the kids are here," Makynen said. Two full-time employees staff the day care and at least two students are on hand every period of the day to help. For the students, who are earning high school and future college course credits, the experience is invaluable. "This is what I'm going to be doing in college," said senior Kerry Hanley, who held in her lap a brown-haired baby that giggled and gurgled with one finger in its mouth. "I've always liked kids. I was always the one playing with the babies at family parties." By the end of the semester, Hanley will have earned credits toward an associate's degree she is planning to begin at Massachusetts Bay Community College in the fall. An arrangement between the high school and MassBay lets students earn credit through work toward early childhood education degrees. The students who work in the day care for credit must have taken the full-year child growth and development course and worked in the district's BLOCKS preschool classrooms. "You make a difference," said Ashley Gilpatrick, a senior who plans to work in a day care for a year or two after she graduates to save money for college. "When they're upset, you can do something for them to make them happy." The day care classroom was built during the high school’s on-going renovation, which is scheduled for completion in May. Before the renovation, the room was used to store cafeteria food. Toys, mats and rattles are scattered across the floor. A special door was built to withstand heat during a fire. In an adjoining room are the cribs, which are on wheels so the adults can push the babies outside in an emergency. The $60 per day cost covers the day care's expenses, including the two employees salaries, Makynen said. The cost likely will inch up as the employees’ salaries increase. "This is not free. Teachers pay a lot for this," Makynen said. Still, they line up for the chance for on-site care. At any given time, up to five adults and students could be providing care for the nine babies. "School districts have a lot of young teachers," Makynen said. The idea behind the program is "recruiting would be easier if you could say, yeah, and we have day care here at the high school.’" |
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