Alan Sorensen Havre Daily News asorensen@havredailynews.com
Montana State University-Northern’s 20-year-old child care center will be no more when school opens in the fall. In a letter he sent out to people who have or are using the center, Assistant Dean of Students Bill Lanier said the university was closing the center as of Aug. 6. “This was not an easy decision,” Lanier said the letter, “but because of reduced campus enrollment, increased costs, facility concerns, our child care operations are not financially self-sustaining so it has become necessary to discontinue this service.” In the letter, Lanier urged parents and guardians to contact Child Care Link Director Karen Thomas at District IV Human Resources Development Council for information on Havre-area child care providers. The closure of the Northern child care center will add to what Thomas said is an already desperate situation in Havre. “We were just heartsick when they closed,” Thomas said. “We have had five closures since the first of February. That was slots for 72 children.” Thomas said Northern’s license, which Lanier said the school had renewed earlier this year, allows for up to 42 children at its center. He said the center charged the same per child as other centers. Lanier, who raised money through pledges and donations for the center a few years ago by having his hair cut, said the center served approximately 20 families. “Most of them are students,” he said. “We have a few people who were former students community members now, and one staff member, and approximately 30 children.” Lanier said the school first opened the day care in 1987 in the married student housing complex on the hill. In 1994, the center was relocated to the former honors house on Buttrey Drive, just behind the north wing of Morgan Hall, the men’s residency hall. The center remained there until 1996, he said, when Mary DuBay wrote an infant grant that opened the center to children 0-2. The older children, ages 2-12, remained in the honors house and the infant center was established in married student housing. “I think it was last year, we combined the kids in the house down below,” Lanier said. “We put them together to cover the costs.” He said the younger children were placed upstairs and the older downstairs. When the heating system began to fail, Lanier, who had long hair at the time, raised money to help cover the costs of replacing it by taking pledges and donations on his haircut. The building has deteriorated even more since then, he said. Lanier said the school hasn’t decided yet what to do with the facility’s equipment. “We haven’t really discussed that a lot, because we’re more concerned for our students who use our service, the children who are in there and then our staff,” he said. “We’re more concerned about people than the physical items.” He did say, though, that he assumed the big equipment would be moved up to the married student housing. Thomas said Child Care Link will doWhat it can to help parents find alternative care, but said the situation in Havre is not good. “We’ve had three new providers start a business, but that only represents 24 places for children,” Thomas said. “We have one business expanding and others starting, but still, we’re losing the battle here.” She said parents in need of child care can get referrals and information about a scholarship program operated through the state from Child Care Link. She added that Child Care Link also helps people start up child care businesses. “We run a four-hour orientation required by the state to get them up and running,” Thomas said. “And if they have a friend or relative who can watch the child, we help with that.” HRDC’ Early Head Start and Head Start programs are day care alternatives, too, but there again space is limited she said. “Early Head Start is for children 0 to 3,” she said. “The Havre program is licensed for only 20 children.” Debbie McCormick, president of the Hi-Line Child Care Association, said the Northern center offered a unique, irreplaceable service. “It’s going to really hurt the students,” she said, “because a lot day cares, myself included, don’t want to accept the students’ kids because it’s just an hour here and an hour there and then their schedules change during the year. “I think it is going to be really detrimental to those students,” she added. “There’s a shortage of day cares already, so to have a big center like that close, it’s going to be hard for people to find child care.” The Hi-Line group also encourages others to get involved in child care. “Through our association, we send out invitations each year to all providers and we do provide free training with the membership dues,” McCormick said. “We get providers’ names out there by doing community events.” McCormick said she invites people to call for more information at 265-7946 weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Thomas’ number is 265-6743, ext. 110. Thomas said Northern’s center will be hard to replace. “It has been a boost to our child care community and I heard great things about them,” Thomas said, “so I am sorry they are closing.”
