LLC Faculty Disagree w/Decision to Find Third Party Vendor for Child Care Lab

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Published on October 17 2013 3:51 pm
Last Updated on October 17 2013 3:51 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

Members of the Lake Land College Faculty Association asked the Board of Trustees this week to keep the college's Child Care Lab under the college's direction.  The Board voted earlier to fund the lab through year's end and seek a third-party vendor to operate the lab after January 1.

An 18-month study of the lab was conducted by a task force that included some of the faculty members present for this week's Board meeting.   More than a dozen staff members were on hand to support keeping operation of the Lab in-house. 

Radio/TV and Speech Communication Instructor Greg Powers was a member of the task force and said the group had outlined a scenario approved by the College Board to reduce costs for the child care lab.  Powers said the Board and Administration's action circumvented the plan in place.

Powers also noted that the Child Care Lab has provided hands-on instruction opportunities for qualified Lake Land students.

Another task force member, Sociology instructor Stephanie Medley-Rath presented a new proposal to reduce the college's subsidy for the Child Care Lab in half, to just over $41,000.  The proposal would reduce a full-time employee to part-time and eliminate a part-time position.  It would also involve parents of the child enrolled in the Child Care Lab to donate supplies for the lab.

Board members offered no comment following the presentation.

The Child Care Lab has been operating for several years.  At the time it was opened, the Lab was promoted as a way to let mothers attend school while their children were receiving care, and was also a resource for staff members who had children needing care.