University employees sometimes wait up to three years for their children to be enrolled in the campus day care. Even though some parents are frustrated that the Child Development Lab is closed about a week longer than last year, some others are just happy their kids got in.

Last academic year, the day care at the McPhaul Center in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences was closed 29 days, including 12 University holidays. This year, it is closed 34 days, not including 5 early dismissals.

Eleven of those days are professional learning days, which director Amy Kay said were implemented after teachers said prior outside training didn’t meet their professional needs.

Still, parent Vicki McMaken said there has to be a way to limit the school closings, which are not related to the state budget crisis.

“I appreciate the training. It re-energizes the teachers,” said McMaken, assistant director of the Office of Global Programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “However, I was disappointed that we lost so many additional days of child care with the new calendar.”

In comparison with other university child care programs, the University of South Carolina’s Children’s Center is closed 15 days this academic year, with seven early dismissals. The Georgia State University Child Development Program is closed 25 days.

Kristen Smith, lecturer in the Grady College, sends her two children to the University’s day care, and she is one parent willing to overlook the extra closed days because she is happy with McPhaul.

“It’s never convenient to have your child’s day care close, but I really like the fact that McPhaul values professional teacher development,” she said.

The 11 days of professional learning — even if conducted for a short four-hour day — would be more continuing education in one year than Georgia requires of pharmacists and psychologists over two years.

While waiting three years to enroll her daughter, Smith tried other day care options. She was not impressed.

Employees there seemed more unhappy, likely because they didn’t get as many days off as McPhaul teachers, Smith said. She didn’t think they were passionate about teaching children. And when Smith’s daughter expressed an interest in dinosaurs, they treated it as an anomaly.

The McPhaul Center has a waiting list of students despite being closed for 34 days this year, 11 of those days for professional training. PHOTO BY WES BLANKENSHIP

At McPhaul, the lead teacher said she would encourage that interest.

But these extra closings will cost parents more money in backup child care.

If parents pay a baby sitter $10 per hour for an eight-hour workday during the extra days off this year, they would pay an extra $400 a year.

Plus, parents would have to pay for child care — or else ask a spouse or family member to take off work — during the three early dismissal days that make time for parent-teacher conferences.

Kay said she thought parents might have been less frustrated if McPhaul had chosen either the five extra closed days or the five early dismissals, not both.

Kay said she encouraged parents to be creative with inexpensive day care alternatives, for instance having parents organize group play dates.

The Child Development Center enrolls 91 children from 8 weeks to 5 years old, and it costs between $165 to $200 per week. Children in pre-kindergarten attend for free because of the Georgia Lottery for Education Act.

Although tuition stayed the same this year, Kay said it goes toward teacher salaries, lesson materials and everyday expenses. Lead teachers at McPhaul must have a four-year or advanced degree in child development-related fields.

The University is set to open another child care center for faculty, staff and students as early as January 2012 in what is now the Navy Supply Corps School on Prince Avenue.

Kay said she doesn’t view that center as competition.

“It’s a smart use of resources, and it meets the needs of staff,” she said.

The new center will not likely include the research component and observation booths University students use in their coursework that the Child Development Lab offers, Kay said.

As for that years-long waiting list, Kay said she would love to triple the building’s size to accommodate more children, but no plans are in the works.