The Windham School Board is gearing up for an important vote this month over a nonprofit status of a daycare center that operates out of three of Windham’s public schools.
The Windham School Board will decide at its Wednesday, Dec. 14 meeting how much School Age Child Care will be charged to run out of the Manchester elementary, middle and high schools.
Critics say the day care service, which charges for enrollment and pays its employees, has an unfair advantage over the 52 privately owned, licensed day care centers in Windham.
School Age Child Care (SACC) board of director’s member Donna Cobb, who also serves on the Windham School Board, said that SACC needs to pay its employees because of the large amount of time required by the program. SACC runs weekdays for three to four hours after school lets out, Cobb said.
“There wouldn’t be anyone out there that I can begin to imagine that would volunteer to do this each and every afternoon,” said Cobb.
Cobb, who will not be voting on the issue because of a conflict of interest, said that SACC pays the town $525 per month to use the three schools, including the playground, cafeterias and gymnasiums. SACC provides its own expendable resources, such as art supplies and snacks.
There are three different categories in regard to payment for a group to use school facilities, Cobb said. School functions, like plays and dances, are not charged anything. Nonprofit 501(c)3 groups, such as the Boy Scouts or the Parent-Teacher Association, are charged a small fee. Commercial revenue-based groups are charged a larger rate to use the school facilities. Cobb said that right now, SACC is being treated as a nonprofit organization, but the vote has the potential to treat SACC as a commercial group.
Cobb also owns Donna’s Daycare in Windham, which caters to both below-school age and school age children.
SACC Director Diane Hancock, who is also Cobb’s daughter, said SACC would have a tough time surviving if it is treated as a commercial business.
“I think that the people who want to close the program down are very short-sighted. There aren’t enough spots in the Windham community,” Hancock said, suggesting that not all of the 102 kids enrolled in SACC would be able to find replacement day care centers.
SACC accepts children from kindergarten up to the eighth grade. It is required by Maine law to provide its own liability insurance.
“For every dollar invested in after-school programs, taxpayers are saved three. So it’s certainly a worthwhile investment,” said Hancock, citing a statistic from the National Head Start Assocation, a school readiness program providing comprehensive education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low-income children and their families.
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