Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

Photo By meghan see

Parents face difficulties bringing mini-Marlins to campus

By jenn camacho

jlcamacho@vwc.edu

If going to college wasn t challenging enough, picture trying to manage school, work, homework- oh, was scheduling all of this around your child mentioned? While most students at Virginia Wesleyan College don t have the worry of child care, there is a small yet important portion of the student body that does.

 I believe the professors are more accommodating than the school as a whole, said senior Tanya Arney.

The list of accommodations VWC offers for students who are parents isn t exactly long, and child care isn t on it.

While some professors will allow parents to keep their cell phones on in the classroom, the phones have to be on silent or vibrate. You can take your child to class, with the professor s permission, of course. Everything is based on the individual professor s preference.

There is also the Adult Studies Program, where there are evening and weekend classes. But there are only six majors offered with the program: Education, Business Management, Social Sciences, Social Studies, and Alternative Certification for Teachers, according to the college website.

Senior Amy Raymond is the mother of a 6-year-old boy. She attends college full time. Raymond is a psychology major and is unable to attend Adult Studies.

 I have to limit myself to taking certain classes that are offered while my son is in school, said Raymond. Raymond explains how she couldn t take the Abnormal Psychology course in the spring 2007 semester because it was offered later in the afternoon.

 I was so frustrated, because Abnormal Psychology is a part of the field I am very interested in exploring as a career choice.

If on-campus child care were offered, she would be enthusiastic about using it. Arney, who has a 10-year-old daughter, said she wouldn t use the services because her daughter in school.

 I think, for those who may not have child care, said Arney,  it is a great idea.

Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University both have childcare on campus, yet there is none at VWC.

But the Alternative Revenue Task Force at the college has researched the concept. And it was President William T. Greer Jr. who brought up the idea years ago and said the concept has came up many times in the past.

 It sounds great& but it s not an easy thing to do, said Dr. Richard Hoehlein, director of the Adult Studies Program.

Bruce Vaughan, vice president of operations at VWC, was involved in the research done and has been at VWC for 16 years. He said there were different reasons why there isn t a childcare on campus. Some of those reasons are liability, a location to build a center, and  limited resources .

He said is that the government s  regulations are horrendous.

Vaughan said the type of child care the college was trying to achieve was one that was within the mission statement of the college. In other words, the child care would be based on academics. Under this concept, the two higher staff positions would have to be filled by teacher- certified individuals.

 We wanted trained people, said Vaughan.

Besides the academic based daycare, Vaughan said the age group they were looking to accommodate would be from 3 years old to kindergarten, a  range closer to being do-able. He said in order to have infants; the regulations for infants were about one staff member for every two infants.

The college has even tried to partner with other companies. Greer said they wanted someone with a  sterling reputation.

Greer said after looking into other companies, they believe that they found the  perfect partner with the YMCA. However, Vaughan said that finances was a deal breaker.

Vaughan said the team would try to incorporate a daycare center in various projects. he explained how the college has 12 acres of land, and a shopping center had been a consideration for the land. There was an attempt to put in a daycare center in that center but that idea wasn t achievable due to different reasons, one being cost.

 Most of us really had a soft spot of trying to make this happen, said Vaughan on the task force on working for a childcare on campus. There are no plans for the childcare in the future as of right now.

There are no plans for the child care as of now.

 It s still active, said Vaughan,  in an on-hold way.