Purdue Northwest will close the doors of the Charlotte R. Riley Child Center on June 30, ending 30 years of early childhood education services offered for the children of students, faculty and area residents.
Until then, preschoolers continue the work of children as they nap on cots, put together wooden puzzles, cut and paste and giggle over snacks in spacious school which offers year-round daycare and classes for preschoolers and kindergartners.
It’s a dollars and cents issue for the university. The school can accommodate up to 60 students, but enrollment has lingered at 40 or so for the last few years, according to Wes Lukoshus, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Media Relations and Communications.
“This year we have 43 or 44 students,” said Lukoshus. “We’ve had difficulties over the last three years. This came up in 2013, where enrollment was declining in the center. We kept it open with the hope enrollment would increase.”
Director Tamra Bottomlee looked on Friday as the children turned in their drawings to kindergarten teacher Sue O’Drobinak in the 7,000 square-foot center. Built for $800,000, it opened June 1, 1992, on the south side of 173rd Street and was dedicated that fall to honor Charlotte R. Riley, an area resident known for her charitable work on behalf of children.
The building provided the early childhood education program, already in place for 20 years, a dedicated laboratory setting for students enrolled in Purdue Calumet’s associate degree program in Early Childhood Development.
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Parents were notified of the closure by letter on Thursday and faculty, staff and students received an email on Friday.
“I was completely surprised and very saddened and disappointed by what I was reading,” said Michele Spann of Hammond.
Spann said she and her husband sat in a silence for a few minutes in reaction to the letter.
Spann’s son is enrolled in the kindergarten program and has been attending the Center since 2014. He’ll be going to elementary school in the fall, but they were counting on the Center’s summer program.
“I’ve never heard any mention in regards to the school being at risk,” said Spann. “I felt let down at not being given the opportunity to try to do something, especially since the school has been in the community for a while. Had the community and business leaders in the area been given the opportunity to step up and contribute or create a stronger partnership, the school would have had an opportunity to remain open.”
“That was a shock to me,” said Carla Gadson, assistant director at the Woodland Child Development Center in Hammond. Woodland, like Riley, is an accredited preschool through the National Academy of Early Childhood Programs. Woodland has 117 children ages 3 to 6 years old enrolled in its program. It also has 48 infants and toddlers. “We have a waiting list for all ages. It is three months out. There are 120 on our waiting list. Most of them are infants and toddlers.”
Gadson said one of the issues child centers face relates to families with multiple children. When the oldest child goes off to elementary school, parents find it advantageous to have all their children in one place.
For the Riley Center, the problem “boils down to the fact our (university) enrollment has declined in recent years,” said Lukoshus.
“We’ve become more of a university of traditional-aged students. Our students are coming straight out of high school. In the past, the majority of our students were older students and the child facility made sense. It was a service that was warranted for our students, faculty and staff.”
The Center does have students who work there and according to Bottomlee, they work with children, plan lessons and activities and engage with the children.
“This is more than a child center to us,” said Lukoshus. “It served as a laboratory to students for students in associates degree. We have discontinued associates degree program. We do offer a family studies degree with a component in early childhood, one of the aspects of the engaged learning was for our students to serve in the Riley center. They learned quality child care. It is also a teaching facility. There is instruction that takes place. We have been very proud of the reputation our center has had over the years.”
“I’ve been full-time since 1993,” said Bottomlee, who is one of four full-time employees. Bottomlee said, The 25 years she worked with the Center have given her the opportunity to witness the changes in early childhood education and educational trends. “Everything from the impact of early childhood education on brain development to STEM education for young children most recently,” Bottomlee said.
According to Lukoshus, the staff members have been meeting with human resources to explore options available to them.
Meanwhile, “its business as usual until June 30,” said Lukoshus.
Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.