Ms. Karen Stanis at the Yuba College Child Development Center (CDC) plays a vital role to the Yuba College campus. Stanis is the Site Supervisor of the Toddlers and Preschool Program at the CDC. The center has been around for over twenty years on our campus. Funding has changed over the years, yet the center is still a part of the district. Research shows that Early Childhood Education (ECE) lays the foundation for learning toward higher education.
The center is an income eligibility program, which means families meet a scale to have their children in the program. Either parents pay the full fee, a reduced fee, or the program is free. Yuba College faculty have private pay plan, which means they pay the whole rate. Rates start at $35.00 a day, and the fee for toddler attendance is more.
Other deciding factors are if the child attends the center for a half day or a full day. A key point that also affects the price offered to students and community members is family size. The center is open year round and only closes a few days out of the year. The first priority for acceptance into the center is for Yuba College students, next working parents or parents looking for work, and lastly the program is available for parents in the community with a three or four year-old child who just want their child to do pre-school.
The Childhood Development Center works very closely with the Early Childhood Education department. That means all of the students come to the CDC for their assignments, class observations or field work study. Stanis and her staff meet with the ECE faculty two times a year, and certain staff from the CDC sit on the ECE Advisory Committee. This allows the center to have a voice when they make decisions about several things. The CDC also has several community advocates Yuba-Sutter County.
People in the surrounding community can definitely take advantage of the program. About thirty percent of the children come from families of parents who live in the community, seventy to eighty percent of the children parents are Yuba College students, and about one percent of the children’s parents are Yuba College faculty members. The center is a state-funded program, and much of the funding comes from the California Department of Education.
The center always wants volunteers. Stanis states, “We always encourage parents to come help out.” The center also encourage students in the art department and music program to come to the center. “We take the children to many of the multicultural events on campus as well as plays and concerts.”
Since the center is state-funded, they have to do an assessment on each child a minimum of two times a year. There are a set of Learning Outcomes the children have to meet, based on development levels. The center is accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The NAEYC sponsors a challenging accreditation system to help parents identify high-quality preschools. The biggest thing for the children and their learning is a lot of hands-on experiences throughout their learning process.
The CDC host a lot of activities and events for the families; the children who attend the center do not go off campus. “Our community is the Yuba College campus so we try to involve our children in everything the campus has to offer!”
Stanis also informed me that, over the years, the Yuba College Child Development Center has been awarded many renovation grants through the state, and they have even won the Yuba College Way to Go Award.
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Good article on an important program. I know many of my students have benefited over the years. The Child Development Center makes it possible for many parents to get affordable, dependable, high-quality care for their children while they are in class–a major relief of stress to so many Yuba College students who are also parents.