The Butte College Child Development Center (CDC) strives to provide high-quality child care that is respectful of and responsive to children by developing a partnership with the parents and families. To provide high-quality lab instruction to incoming students who are learning to work in the Child Development Center. Our goals are to promote optimal growth for their child, while supporting student learning spanning a variety of disciplines.
The CDC serves nearly 250 college students per semester. These services range from offering laboratory opportunities to providing child care to students from all disciplines. The CDC serves as a lab for the following programs: Child Development/Family Relations (CDF), Nursing, EMT-Paramedics, Foods and Nutrition, Communication Studies, and Education. The CDC is conveniently located on the main campus. Last year nearly one hundred families were served. These were made up of college students, faculty, staff and the greater community. Our funding sources come primarily from the District and from parent tuition. The CDC has four classrooms serving infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Breakfast and afternoon snack are offered to all children in our program. The CDC is reimbursed for meals through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). In fall of 2015 we received child care vouchers for Student Equity students giving them free childcare as well as giving our center three student interns who help support the center in a variety of ways. In 2016 we recieved a California State Preschool grant that allows us to provide free to low cost child care options for our preschool ages only. In October in 2017 we aquired the CCAMPIS federal grant to assist with growing our infant toddler classrooms and provide low cost child care to student parents. The Strategic Plan directs us to focus on and increase student success. The CDC serves a population not mentioned in the strategic plan, parents. More than 90% of the children served by the CDC are children of Butte College students. Many of our students have young children and need reliable child care in order to continue their education. The CDC is committed to the success of these students and provides high-quality child care on-campus, thus alleviating the student�s anxiety over transportation and care needs of their young children. The CDC fulfills an essential need for these students and, therefore, is a vital link to their success. In addition to providing high quality and reliable child care, the CDC is continually looking at ways to help students. We were approved for student equity funding to support our student parents on the dashboard. We also secured funding from the California Department of Education to help secure slots for preschool aged children. This CSPP program on site provides free to low cost child care for parents who qualify. In the past few years, the CDC in collaboration with the Child Development and Family Relations (CDF) instructors have been working on the Curriculum Alignment Program (CAP) and a Transfer Degree to develop foundational core courses that can be easily transferable between community colleges and the California State University system. The CDC is moving forward to provide students with the best experience possible within these core classes that utilize the CDC lab. This effort has primarily focused on a number of time students are in the lab as determined by each lab related course. The result is a less flexible yet highly efficient schedule with concentrated groups of students moving through the lab within a 13-week window. The infant room recently increased its capacity to 8 infants through the hiring of staff from CCAMPIS (Child Care Access Means Parents in School).This change has allowed for college students to return to school even sooner by creating a safe environment for their baby while they are in class. In addition, this change has also allowed our lab students to observe children as young as 6 weeks old through 5 years old. As we look to the future, it is important that the CDC continues to fulfill its mission as well as develop new plans. By increasing quality, early care, and education the CDC is aligned with a campus strategic initiative, enhancing an innovative, flexible, responsive and accountable culture, as well as increasing the availability of critical services. The community�s need for high-quality early care and education is recognized and plans are being developed to better meet these needs.
The CDC unit plan is our Administrative Program Review.
The Butte College Child Development Center strives to provide high-quality care that is respectful and responsive to children by developing a partnership with their parents and families; that promotes optimal growth for children while supporting student learning for Butte College students in a variety of disciplines.
Goals of the CDC are:
Strategy 1 - Renovating and Infrastructure- New Equipment
The Child Development center is in need of infrastucture repairs/equipment replacement in the following ways:
The CDC requires equipment and materials for the health and safety of children and students.
The CDC's budget is not sufficuient to manage when there is a peice of equipment that has stopped working. Recently, we recieved funding from the district for a new dishwasher in the infant room. These appiances are vital to the health and safety of our center. We are asking that we have funding in our budget to cover when items quit working. Our center was built in 1994 and many of our appiances are outdated and are in need of replacement. The cook top in the kitchen is next on the priority list.
The CDC has had several security issues in the last few semesters and we arein need of funding for a panic button. Our clientle requires that we have a way of notifying the campus police with out putting ourselves in danger. Our security doors in the front do not go all the way to the top of the door and there is no way to notify classrooms to lock down without someone running down to them on foot.
The current desks in the front office that the center director and program assistant use are the original desks installed at the center opening. It is made of heavy oak and can not be moved or adjusted. IT is unable to moved desks for accessabilites. Both drawyers are broken and need to be held closed by velcro.
Due to health and safety concerns we would require a sunshade for over our playground area on the preschool side. Fall semester heat makes it unsafe for the children to use the slide in any way.
Strategy 2 - 12 Months employment
The CDC requires:
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Strategy 3 - Instructional Materials for Lab
The CDC serves a large number of students on a daily basis. They come into our classrooms looking for models of the highest quality teaching examples. Our environment needs to be updated dramatically. The field of Child Development, much like Psychology and Medicine, is a field that sees constant change; and yet the CDC has remained exactly the same over the past few decades. Due to budget restrictions, the CDC has not been able to purchase much needed instructional materials for the classroom. Every semester the CDC completes an Environmental Rating Scale and every semester the results come back the same. The CDC does not have the items in the classroom required of them to be a high-quality learning environment. In order to model what a proper learning center looks like, we need to purchase many items. Most of the toys in the classrooms are used items that the Master teachers have brought in. Many items in a learning center are only good for a few years and need to be replaced such as puzzles, books, easels, and dolls. The CDC desperately needs these things in order to serve the children and lab students.
The CDC needs to enhance its instructional materials to model appropriate learning environment. Most of the toys have to be repurchased due to health and safety concerns. Toys are worn, have sharper edges, and need to be updated. As the field changes so do the quality and safety standards. Outside playground structure in toddler needs to be replaced due to recommendations of our playground safety inspection.
In order for the CDC to provide high-quality safe services we need:
Strategy 4 - Budget Augmentation- Tuition shortfall
The CDC tuition pays for supplies for the center as well as the salary for the program assistant and the director position. In previous years we did not use this augmentation. Lack of staff means fewer children in the center for tuition accounts. At this time we are seeing a rapid increase in enrollment but can not keep up with student parent demand. We secured a California state preschool grant and the enrollment needs to grow. Taking on this contract caused a huge increase in tuition. The more children we have the more center needs in supplies like food and gloves. The Centers budget is no longer functional for the budgetary needs of the program. The ability to pay for our grant funded staff relies on wether we earn our CSPP contract. Last year, we ended the porgram year with a deficit of $23,000. This augmentation will keep the facilities running while we work on bringing in more staff and gain more enrollment.
Having the budget augmentation will allow the CDC to keep operating regardless of the amount of tuition it brings in. This sustains the quality care and lab classroom. The more staff the center has bigger the capacity for enrollment. The larger the enrollment the more students and children we can serve.
Strategy 5 - NAEYC Accredidation
The CDC is now required to pursue Accreditation through a nationally recognized agency such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). CCAMPIS funding rquires that we attain NAEYC accredidation within the 3 years.The areas for self-study and improvement would include: This will require an enormous amount of work on behalf of the staff, administrative secretary, and director. The process witll require for the CDC to prove that we are up to NAEYC standards in the following areas:
· Leadership and management
· Teacher qualifications
· Professional Growth and Development
· Group sizes and ratios
· Relationships
· Families and community relationships
· Assessment of children's progress
· Assessment tools
· Health and safety
· Physical environment
· Curriculum
In a highly competitive market and an ever improving field, national accreditation would help the CDC to continue to be a leader in the community and within the field of Early Childhood Education. This would help the CDC in the following ways:
Strategy 6 - Institutionalize Master Teacher Assistants
To switch four Children Program Specialist from Grant funded to district funded.
Currently, we have two classrooms with only one Children Program Specialist. For safety reasons, there should be two qualified staff in each classroom. We secured classroom support with our CSSP grant on the preschool classrooms and short-term funding through CCAMPIS to support our infant-toddler classrooms. When the funding ceases from CCAMPIS this still leaves us with only one infant/ toddler teacher per classroom. It is impossible to supervise the children and support the college lab students at the same time. Ideally, each classroom should have an opening shift and a closing shift for each of the four classrooms institutionalized by the district. We cannot rely on grants that will only fix the issue on the temporary basis. Having the Children’s Program Specialists Assistants institutionalized is of high need. These positions are necessary to give the quality care to the children at the center. These positions cover breaks, lunches, and off the floor time for reviewing lab students. We currently do not have staff coverage for the infant and toddler teachers breaks until our hires happen. Often times the center uses subs or the director works the floor. It is not in the best interest of the program safety or quality to have the director in a classroom. The high demand for paperwork for the CACFP program and CSPP is difficult to complete when the director is covering ratios. We are mandated to maintain ratios by our Community Care Licensing regulation. We also need support doing dishes and preparing meals, which is often placed on the director who has the CSPP, and CCAMPIS grant duties to complete. If these positions to do not get picked up by the district before 2021 the center will have no choice but to lower the capacity of the classroom by 10 infant toddler slots and go back to not serving infants. This could mean up to 20 student parents will lose their slot.
Strategy 7 - To reinstate Children Program Specialist to 10 month positions
To reinstate Children Program Specialist to 10 month positions.
The CDC also requires that its new teaching staff be reinstated to 10 months of employment. New grants require much professional development that we simply can not complete with just one week before each semester. Staff also end when the students end leaving no time to put away the classrooms or organize for the next semester. We currently have two staff that are 10 Month and 7 that are not. Everyone should get a fair amount of time to prepare thier classroom.
Strategy 8 - Student Equity On-Campus Child Care Support
The CDC priortizes student parents that are disproportionaly impacted due to current Student Equity standards. When funding is available these parents get free care based on current equity list. The time thier child can be at the center free of care is based off of number of units and grade standing. The current SE plan has the CDC focusing on serving our On-Campus childcare funding for these special population of disproportionally impacted students.
When student parents have a place to take thier child with them on campus, while they work on thier degree/certificate completion it takes a way a giant obsticle. The center director and program assistant communicate with the student parents receiving these funds in proactive way. We follow up with 6 week and 12 week grade report. Having a strong relationships with our SE recipient families helps them to stay focused, nurtured, engaged, connected , and valued. When they feel these things they can succeed in a college setting.
None at this time.
The CDC is presently being funded beyond the Child Development Program by the following:
CSPP (California State Preschool Grant $150,000.00
CACFP (Food Program) $ 12,000.
Parent Tuition/Registration $180,000.00
Student Equitiy Scholarships for student parents $53,587.00
CCAMPIS Grant funding in the amount of $211,000
$170,000 of this funding is for staffing on the infant/toddler side.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Arts/Fam (CDC) | Personnel | $143,083.00 | $150,000.00 | ||
| Four Children Program Specialist Assistants to be district funded | Three full time Children�s Program Specialist Assistant and one part time Children Program Assistant to be institutionalized to continue to fulfill high demand of infant toddler slots and take care of health and safety concerns of only having one teacher in the classrooms at the time. Saves the director from being on the floor for breaks which is also a safety issue. With these children's program specialist assistants in place currently our master teachers can give more time to education, child, and family studies lab students. in the past, when there were no assistants the master teacher needed to provide immediate attention to the children and not be able to mentor or guide lab students. This improves lab student's learning outcomes. Less teacher's in the classrooms means the CDC is not able to enroll fully and this impacts the Education, Child, and Family Studies lab courses. |
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| 2 | Art/Fam (CDC) | Personnel | 11-000-520-1-30500 | $9,500.00 | $9,500.00 | |
| Support for Child care services | The Child Development Center is in need of: The Center Director and program assistant to be 12 months to complete required Grant paperwork and enrollment. Total Cost $11,000 |
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| 3 | Art/Fam (CDC) | Equipment | $51,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Renovating and Infrastructure- New Equipment | The Child Development center is in need of infrastructure repairs/equipment replacement in the following ways: Appliances are outdated, worn, and will need to be replaced when they fail to work. $5,000 A panic button and notification system for classrooms for lock down. $10,000 Two new desks for center director and program assistant. $10,000 A sunshade for the preschool area $6,000 for shade $20,000 installation |
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| 4 | Arts/Fam (CDC) | Personnel | $24,000.00 | $24,000.00 | ||
| Reinstate Children Program Specialists to 10 months | We currently have two staff members that are 10 months and the rest of classroom teachers are 9.5 months. These extra two weeks of classroom preparation are vital to our program being successful. We have required professional development and set up that needs to be done prior to serving children. |
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| 5 | Art/Fam (CDC) | Operating Expenses | $5,000.00 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Support for Child care services | In a highly competitive market and an ever improving field, national accreditation would help the CDC to continue to be a leader in the community and within the field of Early Childhood Education. This would help the CDC in the following ways: Collaboration with other agencies such as Head Start/Early Head Start and State Preschool for services would be seamless. Maintaining CCAMPIS funding. Planning would be better focused for future endeavors, making the CDC a sustainable program. Students would have the benefit of experiencing a lab that was aligned with jobs they will pursue in the community. The CDC would be more responsive to the needs of families through high-quality child care. The program would be highly accountable and transparent in expectations. This also aligns with our strategy 4 and strategy 2 for staffing and quality materials for lab. NAEYC is the highest quality marker for ECE and Child Development professionals and it will take materials and staffing to achieve it for our children and college lab students. We are currently in this process now through CCAMPIS funding. We will need to have ongoing cost associated with having Accreditation. |
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| 6 | Arts/Fam (CDC) | Equipment | $3,000.00 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Instructional Materials for lab | The CDC needs to enhance its instructional materials to model appropriate learning environment. As the career changes so do the material and safety standards. Many of our ECE lab courses have assignments which student evaluate our program for quality. Each classroom has its own Environmental rating scale or ERS. If we do not have quality classroom materials this impacts the CDC's college lab students. In order to provide high quality and safe services the center must have: dolls math manipulatives books fine motor manipulatives science materials multicultural materials new materials for outside infant climbing structure puzzles |
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| 7 | Art/Fam (CDC) | Operating Expenses | $60,000.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Budget Augmentation-tuition shortfall | The CDC tuition pays for supplies for the center as well as the salary for the secretary and the director position. In previous years we did not use this augmentation. Lack of staff means fewer children in the center for tuition accounts. Our waitlist are increasing but if unable to keep current CCAMPIS funding staff will be lost and we wont be able to enroll. We may have to turn students away. We keep this in case there is a time when the CDC can not meet enrollment due to lack of staffing. |
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| 8 | CDC | Operating Expenses | $53,587.00 | $53,587.00 | ||
| Continued Student Equity funding for On-Campus Childcare | The CDC seeks to continue its Student Equity on Campus Childcare program. This funding provided by the student equity plan helps impacted student parents have one less obstacle with their education. |
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