LEBANON — A new workforce development program seeks to attract more career-seekers to the early childhood education field by combining classroom-based learning, mentoring and hands-on experience in a child care facility. But organizers need the city’s permission to expand.
On Monday, the city’s Zoning Board of Adjustment will hold a public hearing on the Children’s Center of the Upper Valley, a child care program in Lebanon for children ages 5 and under. The Children’s Center is seeking a special exception from the city to add a mobile classroom “to train individuals in the early education field.”
A special exception is required because child care facilities are only permitted as a special use and they need the additional permit to add to the property.
In January, Children’s Center and Early Care & Education Association, a network of Upper Valley child care providers, launched Career Cultivator, a mentor-based training program for individuals interested in a career in early childhood education.
Amy Brooks, executive director of the Early Care & Education Association, said the program was designed for people who need support and accommodations to transition to a new career.
Some people interested in child care work lack the income or personal time to take college classes for certification, Brooks explained.
“This is a program that navigates those barriers and provides flexibility to make (the learning and transition into child care work) manageable,” Brooks said.
Participants meet one day a week at Children’s Center, which provides the training space and the hands-on experience in the classrooms. During the training periods, the students receive health and safety training, including certified CPR instruction, as well as classroom observations.
Once the students have cleared background checks and completed basic training — which takes approximately 10 weeks — the students may begin working with staff in one of the child care classrooms.
“Many people may have anxiety about starting work in child care,” Brooks said. “This is a really good, supportive way for people to look into the child education field and get exposure, little by little. And it’s been working.”
Career Cultivator currently has six participants and seven additional students are ready to join.
Jennifer Hosmer, director of Children’s Center, said the facility needs the Planning Board’s approval to add a mobile classroom to provide a larger space to accommodate the larger cohort.
“To have this many people interested in early childhood education is absolutely amazing,” Hosmer said.
Until a few years ago, some Upper Valley high schools offered early childhood education as a vocational study through their career and technical schools, though these programs have since closed. Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center in Claremont closed its program in 2016, and the Hartford Area Career and Technical Center closed its program in 2019.
While school administrators in each district cited low student enrollment as a reason for ending the programs, high school educators were also concerned about encouraging students to enter a field with low earning potential, Hosmer noted.
“It’s really tough (without these programs) because now you don’t have new people feeding into the system,” Hosmer said.
Wages for child care professionals can vary widely, Brooks said. The 70 partnering programs in Early Care & Education Association, including Children’s Center, all pay substitute employees $15.50 per hour, to ensure that substitutes who work for multiple providers are being paid equitably. But Brooks said the facilities vary in terms of wages for their full-time staff, who typically are paid somewhere between $13 to $15 an hour, for example.
The wage issue, Brooks noted, is similar that of schools to hire substitutes and paraeducators. Despite the importance of positions and the value of their work, the operating budgets are limited.
The Children’s Center, is well-staffed at the present, with 21 employees running five classrooms, including one room for infants, two rooms for toddlers ages 1 to 3, and two rooms for children ages 4 and 5.
But when an employee leaves the program, Hosmer said, it can take several weeks to fill a single vacancy, plus additional weeks for a new hire to clear a background check before being able to work.
While the Children’s Center has maximum space for up to 95 children, child care providers must adhere to staff-to-child ratios set by their state. Hosmer said a staff shortage might prevent the facility from accepting new children, which undercuts the program’s revenues.
As an additional incentive to join Career Cultivator, the students earn a $300 stipend for participating. Students must work at least one day a week as a paid substitute.
Children’s Center teachers who serve as mentors are paid a total stipend of $5,000.
The Couch Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization created by Hypertherm founder Dick Couch and his wife, Barbara Couch, based in Boston, Mass., funded the development and launch of the program.
“Without their commitment to try something different, we wouldn’t have been able to have (do this),” Brooks said.
Upon completing Career Cultivator, students will be qualified in both Vermont and New Hampshire to work in a child care setting at an entry level, which is sufficient to work with children without supervision. At that point, it’s hoped individuals would consider a number of different career pathways, including full-time work in child care or substitute positions, or taking additional courses in childhood education to expand career options.
The Zoning Board will hear the Children’s Center’s classroom request on Monday at 7 p.m. in the Community Room at the Kilton Library.
Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or at 603-727-3216.