Developers Pitch In to Help Open Doors for 7,000 Latchkey Children

Diana Mottershaw is a single mother who knows and understands the need for child care--especially the kind that addresses the burden and the pain of the latchkey child.

As the longtime guardian of Gather the Children, a network of family day-care homes for latchkey children in the Mid-City area, Mottershaw knows that such children are growing in number--roughly in proportion to the scores of new residents streaming into the county from every direction.

So, like many who labor in the field, she applauds the effort of five San Diego developers to help fund a new child-care consortium, scattered among five elementary schools and scheduled to start Sept. 1.

Called Classic Kids, the program is co-sponsored by Harmonium Inc., a 14-year-old social service agency that mostly deals with child care and has a good reputation, Mottershaw said, in confronting teen-age drug problems. Classic Kids will serve primarily Mira Mesa and Scripps Ranch, areas that developers say are teeming with new families who are worried about child care--specifically, what to do about their own latchkey children.

To Handle 7,000 Children

David Poole, development coordinator for Pardee Construction Co. and a board member of Harmonium, said the program will run from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week, at a cost of $2.50 an hour. He said it will serve about 7,000 children, from kindergarten to sixth grade. At Erickson Elementary School, where a pilot program has been under way, the waiting list already has 70 children.

“We think there are about 32,000 children under the age of 18 in this area of Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Penasquitos and Poway, and that roughly 7,000 of them have nowhere to go after school,” Poole said. “Therefore, these are the types of children who are prime candidates for drug problems and all of the other pitfalls that trouble latchkey kids.”

To implement the program, Poole said San Diego Councilman Ed Struiksma and San Diego school board member Jim Roache spearheaded fund-raising efforts that garnered $120,000. A low-interest loan of $640,000 will allow Harmonium to acquire portable double bungalows with baths (at a cost of $80,000 each) that will be installed at schools involved in the program, said Poole. He said that, eventually, Classic Kids will own the portable units through a lease-option arrangement and use them exclusively for latchkey day care.

Developers involved in the program include Fieldstone, Pardee, Lusk, Newland California and BCED, all major contractors in the north San Diego area, Poole said. Poole said half the $120,000 “up-front money” came from these five; the rest through fund-raising efforts. He said that, once the program begins, it will be “nonprofit and fully self-sustaining. . . . It’s the only way we would do it.”

But why, Poole was asked, would developers even get involved with child care. Are the motives purely altruistic? Or, do they hope to be looked upon favorably by a city council that might reward them for helping to fund such a program?

“I don’t think there would be any direct benefit,” he said. “It’s always to the benefit of builders to be aware of community problems . . . and to be on the forefront of trying to solve them.”

Nancy Ajemian, executive director of Harmonium, put it more succinctly:

“It’s good business. No. 1, they can sell more houses if such services are already in place. They’re aiming at the young families who are target buyers for Mira Mesa and Scripps Ranch. In order to afford such houses (which she put in the $125,000 to $500,000-and-up range), both parents have to work, so they need safe, reliable places to put children. It’s just a great selling tool.”

Councilman Struiksma, whose district includes Mira Mesa and Scripps Ranch, called it crucial to the success of developers to get behind such efforts.

“I was able to secure this funding by suggesting very strongly to these developers that, ‘You as a company are obligated to the community you do business in. If that means financial participation, well, that’s the way it is.’ There are ways of suggesting--and ways of suggesting--so they know I mean business.”

Ajemian said the program will be expanded by fall to include Mason, Walker, Jerebek and Sandburg elementary schools.

Centers Reduce the Temptations

“For some children and some parents, being a latchkey child has absolutely no effect on the kid’s personal well-being,” Poole said. “For other families and other children, a need for morning and evening supervision is paramount. The child needs it because of the temptations that confront them in the mornings and afternoons, with no adult around. Based on our experience (with Harmonium), the kids who attend latchkey centers have a better home life and school life. They tend not to be involved in some of the unsavory behaviors that lead to problems.”

School board member Roache said the program could reduce adolescent absenteeism.

“Because so many parents have no child care, the older children are staying home more to take care of their younger siblings,” Roache said.

While hailing the program, Mottershaw cited what she considers a real problem--the length of time any child has to stay at a single school, no matter how pleasant it is.

“I really worry about these kids overdosing on the school facilities,” said Mottershaw, a board member of KidsPlace, a committee appointed by Mayor Maureen O’Connor to address children’s issues. “I would have a real problem with kids spending another three hours before school or after in the cafeteria or classroom.”

“It’s risky to put a kid in a school from 7:30 to 6, as we’re doing,” Ajemian agreed. “To guard against that, we have a staff-to-student ratio of 1-to-8, which is better than the state-mandated ratio of 1-to-15. At worst, we would be 1-to-10. We also take numerous time outs for homework, sports and snacks. The time has to be broken up carefully, to avoid the child’s getting fatigued. Believe me, we’re on top of this.”

Pardee’s Poole said that “in a perfect world,” there would be no latchkey kids. But, since there are, he said, companies and agencies have to find ways to address the problem.

“We have more and more families where both parents work,” he said. “In many cases, they need both incomes to afford the housing. Plus, there’s a growing number of single mothers. By no means am I saying there’s something wrong with society or parents like this. It’s just the state of society today. And since it is, we had better adjust to it.”