ANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE : Push Made for Child-Care Complex
Antelope Valley College is seeking to remove a hurdle in the path of college-bound single and working parents by pushing for construction of a $1.2-million child-care center on campus.
The money for the center is included in Gov. Deukmejian’s proposed 1990-91 budget now being reviewed by the state Legislature. If the money remains in the budget, the center could be open in the fall of 1993.
College officials said that in addition to providing dependable and inexpensive child care for students, the center would be used as a laboratory for child development classes. The classes would be used to train additional qualified child-care personnel to work in the community.
“While we hope this will be a service to the students, the child-care center will also be a learning laboratory,” Antelope Valley College President Alan Kurki said. “It will provide the ‘hands-on’ experience that our students need in child care courses.”
Officials said the center will accommodate 60 children and therefore will not solve all the students’ difficulties with finding adequate child care.
“This is a major concern” of the college, Kurki said. “Although this will make a significant difference, the total latent demand is much greater.”
About 60% of Antelope Valley College’s students are working parents. If the college were to provide child care, officials said, even more single and working parents would enroll in classes.
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