Students with children in the Periwinkle Child Development Center attended The Board of Education meeting April 20 with a hope of making one last plea to save the center.
PCDC is a program that benefits not just parents at LB, but also allows students in the educational programs here to complete there practicum under trained profesionals. However, by the end of the meeting it was apparent to the parents that showed up to the Calapooia Center on the Albany Campus they were speaking in vain.
Unfortunately, this is the last term that the PCDC will be in operation, after over 20 years of service to our students and community. In the fall, Head Start is set to take over the child care area, though the contract has not yet been signed.
There is a group of students that are not willing to let this go lightly.
Melissa Hite, Caila Williams, and Melissa Bledsoe have made repeated attempts to save the PCDC. They have presented alternative plans and possible funding options to LBCC administration. These three parents have been able to pursue their college career and dreams as a result of the resources PCDC provides.
They have been working around the colck with ideas on how to save the center and showed up Wednesday to pitch one last-ditch effort to the board.
Williams is a third year student here at LB and is now dual-enrolled and has two daughters in the program at PCDC. She spoke first and posed some interesting questions to the board. She raised the point that other community colleges (Lane and Chemeketa) have faced similar fates to their child care centers but ended up saving them through student fees. “If students would help support our cause can we save at least one room in the center?” Williams asked.
PCDC is a program that benefits not just parents at LB, but also allows students in the educational programs here to complete there practicum under trained profesionals. However, by the end of the meeting it was apparent to the parents that showed up to the Calapooia Center on the Albany Campus they were speaking in vain.
There is a group of students that are not willing to let this go lightly.
Melissa Hite, Caila Williams, and Melissa Bledsoe have made repeated attempts to save the PCDC. They have presented alternative plans and possible funding options to LBCC administration. These three parents have been able to pursue their college career and dreams as a result of the resources PCDC provides.
They have been working around the colck with ideas on how to save the center and showed up Wednesday to pitch one last-ditch effort to the board.
Williams is a third year student here at LB and is now dual-enrolled and has two daughters in the program at PCDC. She spoke first and posed some interesting questions to the board. She raised the point that other community colleges (Lane and Chemeketa) have faced similar fates to their child care centers but ended up saving them through student fees. “If students would help support our cause can we save at least one room in the center?” Williams asked.
Hite spoke next, she said LBCC “need to allow the students to make a choice”. She asked “why the center was not a part of the general fund that all students pay into.”
Head Start (the proposed replacement program for PCDC) still has not signed a contract with LBCC. With fall term right around corner her fears are that they will not be ready in time.
Bledsoe was last to speak on behalf of the center and was hoping to leave a lasting impression with some photos of the children that are being affected as a result of the center closing. She passed out photos, which were displayed on poster board, to the Board to look at while she made her speech. Fewer than half the Board members looked at the photos.
Bledsoe asked the Board directly “is there a deadline?” The board was silent. and she carried on with the same thought in mind that the previous two speakers, wondering what if.
The citizen comments part of the agenda ended with no comments from the Board on any of these students emotional attempts to save their center.
The meeting continued, but during the board comments' section Hal Brayton (Board Member) reminded the students that “in tough times tough decisions have to be made.”
The citizen comments part of the agenda ended with no comments from the Board on any of these students emotional attempts to save their center.
The meeting continued, but during the board comments' section Hal Brayton (Board Member) reminded the students that “in tough times tough decisions have to be made.”
LB is in the midst of many cuts and sacrifices are being made campus wide. Many of them may or may not have affected you. For many student/parents of the PCDC, these cuts are not just hurting their options to stay in school they are in fact “devastating” says Williams.
At a glance;
Online Poll: Go to the Commuter website and take a vote on the issue.
At a glance;
Online Poll: Go to the Commuter website and take a vote on the issue.
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