VALLEY COLLEGE : Child Development Center Thrives

The on-campus child development center at Valley College in Van Nuys is thriving, despite budget cuts and other obstacles.

The center is licensed for 62 children at one time and is usually full. Between 90 and 100 children are at the center sometime during the course of a day.

In the evening, it is licensed for 28 children, and about 75 visit the center during evening hours in the course of a week.

Another 75 children are on a waiting list for a day program for the preschool children. Some openings remain in the evening school-age program.

The low-cost--even free--child care gives parents who are students a chance to attend classes at virtually any time of the day or evening without worry.

About 90% of the student-parents the facility serves are single mothers, said Larry Merkle, the center’s acting director.

The center is rare in that it offers evening care.

“A lot of schools have after-school care, but there are only 12 or so throughout the state with after-after school care,” Merkle said.

Rates are set on a sliding scale based on a family’s gross monthly income and size. For example, a family of four earning $2,500 or less a month qualifies for free child care, said Dorothy Kaplin, community and student services assistant. The maximum anyone pays is $2 an hour.

The center was established in 1975 as a day program to help low-income student-parents returning to school, Merkle said. In 1978, the evening program was added to accommodate school-age children to the age of 14.

Six certificated teachers run the day program. They are assisted by about 12 students majoring in child development who are paid through the college.

The day program operates as a traditional nursery school. “We focus on the child’s play and socialization,” Merkle said.

The children choose what they would like to do, in addition to participating in more organized group activities and meal times.

In the evenings, the program for the older children is less structured. There is outside time such as ballgames and crafts. Or the children can do their homework.

“We keep it flexible so kids have time to do what they like to do,” Merkle said.

During the day, the center serves breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. At night, there is an evening snack. The food is distributed as part of a federal nutrition program.

State budget cuts have hurt the center. There are fewer gardeners, janitors and other such services. But a recent federal grant will allow the center to reinstate its summer school program this year.

The center school days operates from 7:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 5:45 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday.