BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Rainbow Center families are being told the Bradford School District plans to end involvement with the daycare program and turn it over to Episcopal Children’s services.
A letter from Superintendent Will Hartley went out to families on Tuesday. School board members will consider the recommendation at their June 16 meeting.
While it will be a transition, it might not be a major one. According to the letter, the school district would lease the Rainbow Center facility to Episcopal Children’s Services.
“This would allow for ECS to operate a daycare center on the premises, ensuring that quality care and education would continue to be available for families in our community,” Hartley states in the letter.
ECS currently runs a Head Start early learning program for ages 3-5 at the RJE Center, whereas the Rainbow Center provides daycare for families from birth to 3 years before they transition to voluntary prekindergarten at one of the elementary schools.
Hartley explained to the Telegraph that the reasons for ceasing district involvement in the Rainbow Center are budgetary.
“We’ve tried and tried every year to figure out how to break even down there, and it’s hard,” he said. “It’s hard to run a small daycare center like that, and you’re trying to be as fair as you can be to the public and your teachers that have kids down there and not try to gouge them on prices. But then at the end of the day, you still have to pay all those employees, and it’s very hard to break even.”
Hartley said the district was approached with the opportunity, and since the Rainbow Center was scheduled to be closed for the summer anyway, now seemed like the best time for the transition.
“As we talked with Episcopal, we realized they were very interested in leasing that facility from us and running the daycare as it is. The thing that was important to us was that it didn’t just leave our community — that someone stepped in and filled that role,” he said.
Hartley said caring for children is ECS’s specialty, and so they will be in good hands.
“It’s a good fit. The community won’t lose anything,” he said.
Hartley added that ECS is interested in maintaining employees, but those who want to continue working for the school district may apply for vacancies and receive preference in hiring.
“We do have a few people that have been down there for a while, or they’ve been in the district in some capacity for a while, and they want to stay on (the Florida retirement system), I’m sure. So, some of those will stay with us, but I think some of the others will probably end up working for Episcopal,” he said. “All around it seems like it’s going to work out, and we won’t be leaving anyone without a job that wants to stay and work.”
Rainbow Center families do pay tuition for daycare services based on the age of the children. Hartley said ECS would set rates as close to the previously announced rates as possible, at least during the first year.
ECS will also hold an open house over the summer so families can meet the staff and hear from them directly about what they can offer.
With money getting tighter, Hartley said they are grateful to have found an alternative to ending daycare services. Out of necessity, they are keeping a close eye on spending in other areas as well.
“Districts all around the state have already been told, ‘If you don’t like what the budget is going to look like this year, the next two years are going to be even worse,’” said Hartley. He pointed to surrounding districts that are either cutting positions or placing a hold on new hires.
“Right now, we’re not there, but we don’t want to get there, and so we’re just making sure we do the things that we need to do to maintain a good financial situation,” he said.
