This story first appeared in the July 26 edition of the Kansan.
A Newton non-profit group has made a deal with the Newton Medical Center board to operate the Newton Medical Center Child Care Center.
The hospital made the decision several months ago to cut funding to the center to the tune of more than $300,000.
The center was facing having to raise rates substantially. Those rate hikes were scheduled to take affect Aug. 4, and as a result, enrollment at the center dropped by more than 50 percent.
NMC will assist during the transition period and will allow the non-profit group to use the facility for $1 per year.
The hospital had been looking for a non-profit group to run the center for some time, said Rita Flickinger, director of the Harvey County Health Department and member of the non-profit group.
She said without the support of the NMC board, the deal would not have been possible.
The non-profit group, the Newton Community Child Care Center, was formed by parents, grandparents, business leaders and concerned residents.
The new group will take over Sept. 29, and rates will be lower than current rates at the center — $135 per week for infants and $115 per week for toddlers.
Although the center had accepted part-time students in the past, full-time students will be given priority at this time.
Flickinger said the group hopes to offer more flexibility in the future.
Todd Tangeman, who has worked as a liaison between the center and the hospital, said the non-profit group hopes to keep as much of the center staff as possible and make the transition between current manager, Bright Horizons, and the new group as seamless as possible.
“Children will most likely have the same teachers, staff, schedules and concept,” Tangeman said.
The center has room for a total of 74 children, with about 25 children currently enrolled.
However, members of the group see a need for expansion of the center within the next two to three years.
“The center is getting up to five calls a day from parents looking for care for their children,” Flickinger said.
The announcement of the new center comes at a time the community is desperately in need of more child-care slots.
An average of 400 babies are born in the Harvey County yearly, but there are 100 slots for infants and 861 total slots for all other children.
In 2007, 24 day-care homes and centers closed their doors, and 17 were opened.
