Middle school can house child care program

The Sisters School Board agreed Monday night, December 12, that the Little Outlaw Learning Center, or an equivalent child care program, can stay in the district’s middle school for at least one more year.

The consensus decision (no vote was taken) included a sense that the board will do more research into the larger question of making subsidized child care for district employees a permanent part of its operation. This will include obtaining information from other districts that have such programs.

For the time being, board members also agreed not to tinker with the nominal $100-a-month rent being charged for the middle school space, even though Superintendent Ted Thonstad recommended that the amount be raised.

The board’s action came at the conclusion of a protracted discussion that occupied nearly a quarter of Monday’s four-hour board meeting. A few hours before the meeting, board members and Thonstad had received another e-mail letter from Sarina Henderson, the operator of the Little Outlaw center, reiterating her intention to move out of the school building as soon as she can find alternate space. In a November e-mail, Henderson said her move will necessitate dropping the special preference she now gives the children of parents employed by the school district.

While acknowledging Henderson’s stated intention and her unhappiness with the way the issue has been handled, several board members expressed hope that she may change her mind and stay in the middle school for at least another year. And Thonstad said that even if she does not, some of the school-employee parents of Little Outlaw children have expressed interest in finding another operator to offer the same type of service.

The Little Outlaw Center was started in 2003-04 at the request of a group of teachers and other employees. One of its advantages is that it is licensed and staffed to care for infants whereas other child care operations in the area deal only with children age three and above.

Board Member Glen Lasken recalled that approving the center seemed like a good idea at the time because space was available in the middle school after the new high school opened. The rent was intended just to cover direct costs so that Henderson could keep her fees low.

Last spring the center was notified that it would have to move out at the end of the 2005-06 school year because the addition of fifth graders to the middle school in the fall of 2006 would require the space for classrooms. That estimate has since been revised; the superintendent now thinks child-care space should be available for another year or two.

When facing the possibility of a forced move last fall, some Little Outlaw supporters suggested to the board that the center be allowed to use the district-owned building on Highway 126 north of town now occupied by the Little Cloverdale Preschool. While that option was never popular with the board, members agreed Monday night that Thonstad should now reassure the operators of the Little Cloverdale school that they can continue without fear of being evicted.