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NPS: Local day care<br>to take new direction

GC VILLAGE — The days of a commercial day-care operation at Grand Canyon are over and the only way for the service to continue will be under the guidance of a nonprofit parent advisory board.

That’s what parents and other community members heard from the National Park Service Wednesday night at the Shrine of the Ages during a special public meeting. The announcement that a for-profit business will no longer be welcome at Grand Canyon surprised and even outraged a handful of parents.

"For day care to continue at Grand Canyon in the future, it needs to be structured into a nonprofit, parent-managed board," said Raymond Gunn, Grand Canyon National Park chief of concessions. "The private-run facility is now dead."

John McKenna, acting deputy superintendent who left Grand Canyon on Friday to return to his job at Gettysburg, offered to sit down that night with community volunteers willing to form a nonprofit group and a governing board. He was met with sharp criticism from a few parents who now use Grand Canyon Learning Center but also received positive reinforcement from others who wanted to be involved in the new direction of day care.

Current operator Linda Kline said she would close Grand Canyon Learning Center on July 6, giving any new nonprofit board only six working days to become organized. Without a quick startup by a parent board and if there would be an interruption of day-care service, then the state would require the licensing process to start all over again.

But, if an interim board could organize quickly and commit to buying out Kline’s Joe Bear Inc., it could be possible to continue the day-care operation without losing a day.

"It will be up to a newly-formed board to determine how it will function," Gunn said. "The board will be responsible for making decisions on staff, wages, rates, fundamental decisions about the nature of the service itself. What is the need to be met in the community? There are a lot of pieces out there that can be brought together to make this work."

Currently, there are 49 children enrolled at the center. Those numbers were said to rise into the 60s during the school year.

McKenna came out and challenged those in the auditorium to step forward to get the process started that very night. After a question-and-answer session, 18 local residents left with McKenna, set up a table out in the hallway and sat down to create an interim parent board.

"They’re 100 percent ahead of the game," McKenna said afterward. "We had 18 people here tonight with a lot of energy. Community businesses will need to support them ... I think they can get the job done."

The group, which appeared to be organized by parent Demmy Vigil, chose an interim board to operate for six months. Qualifications for serving on the board included having a child in the Grand Canyon Learning Center over the past several months. Others committed to being "helpers" to assist in the task at hand.

The group’s main task was taking a look at forming bylaws. McKenna supplied the group with bylaws of a day-care facility at Yellowstone National Park. The Grand Canyon group made changes and moved forward, planning to meet again the following night with individuals assigned to check out a variety of issues ranging from insurance to polling current staff about staying on.

The nonprofit group would need to eventually buyout Kline. Allen Keske of the NPS concessions office said she would be willing to sell her inventory, which includes among other things, computer equipment. Some in the group felt they needed to solicit funds from local businesses immediately, others wanted to make sure everything was finalized before going to others for financial help.

With that, the race began to get the nonprofit group organized before Kline’s departure. They would have only six working days and nine total days with the weekend and Fourth of July to get things done.

If the center cannot stay open, then the state licensing process becomes an issue and complicates matters. McKenna said there was interest from state-certified individuals who could contract with the board to run the operation.

If the interim nonprofit parent group cannot get organized in time to take over the service and it closes down, parents will be scrambling to find babysitters. For some, it may require families moving away from Grand Canyon.

Gunn said the previous two day-care operators, La Petite Academy and Grand Canyon Learning Center, were like no others in the National Park System. And with Amfac’s concessions contract extension expiring at the end of this calendar year, support for such a system will no longer exist.

"At the end of this year, the contractual conditions for day care up to this point will disappear," Keske said. "There will be a new contract, new conditions. It will be open with a new field."

Keske explained how the current day-care situation came to materialize, beginning with the franchise fee agreement arranged between Amfac and the NPS.

Other day-care centers in places like Yellowstone and Yosemite do not receive specific funding from a concessioner, such as those existing at Grand Canyon.

Gunn said the day-care facility does not fall under a concessions operation because it’s intention is not to serve the visitor. Instead, he said "it’s a community service, clearly," and must operate under a special-use permit.

While interacting with the audience, some residents expressed clear disfavor for how the NPS was handling the issue. One parent said she felt like "we’re being pushed into this" and wanted the NPS to "put all options on the table," adding that "I think making a decision tonight would be unfair."

McKenna read excerpts from a letter that had been submitted signed by 32 individuals and couples.

They requested that the future day-care facility show a strong emphasis on education, operate under a highly-qualified director who meets community needs and retain current staff. They also opposed any type of coop arrangement, which would require parent volunteers coming in to fill staffing slots.

Housing was one issue of concern. Sixteen new units are planned for construction with day-care use in mind. But construction would likely not begin midway through 2002.

The NPS did receive interest from two individuals with an interest in running the day care — a local woman and a Williams preschool operator who was recently told she had to move out of a building on school property.


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