Inspections passed but 2 more employees needed
Monday, Aug. 12 is the new target date for the Hampton Day Care facility to open in the former Lutheran school building, however, as of late last week two hurdles remained to be cleared before that could happen. On Thursday evening, the building on North 3rd Street was a beehive of activity as a team of employees and volunteers worked to ready it for two state inspections scheduled for Monday that had to be passed in order for the facility to open for the 16 children currently signed up.
An inspection by the State Fire Marshall’s Office was passed on Thursday and the Monday inspections were to be by the state childcare and sanitation inspectors.
On Tuesday morning Hampton Day Care Foundation Board of Directors President Tamara Wiens reported the facility had passed the Monday inspections but stated that the hurdle remaining is for additional staff to be hired.
“We are hoping to open the week of the 12th, but this is dependent on us receiving the required background checks back from the state on current staff, and hiring additional staff,” Wiens said.
The daycare still needs to hire two more full time employees to bring the number of staff up to five including Center Director Aleesha Roehrs and Assistant Director Jenna Hansen.
Wiens said on Thursday that the opening of the center “really rides on us hiring two more full time people.” She said the center would also like to hire a couple of as-needed employees who could fill in during staff vacations and at other times. She said some people in the community have shown an interest in helping out in those situations.
“The job market is very difficult right now,” Wiens said. “Obviously, childcare provider doesn’t pay a great wage and with us being nonprofit we’re trying to figure out what we can do that will make us enticing over somebody else. We have not made any final decisions but we’re considering some different things such as a monthly stipend to help cover some insurance costs as we can’t offer that to our employees. We do offer two weeks of paid time off. So hopefully we find some good people to finish out our staff.”
When it does open, the center located in the former Lutheran school building (renamed the Hawks Learning Center) will be operating in just two rooms located in the newer portion of the building on the north side. The 16 children signed up for opening week will be divided by age into the “Hawks Nest” room for children who are between six weeks and 18 months old and the “Hawklings” room which is for kids 18 months through kindergarten. Those are the only rooms the facility will be licensed for at this point.
“There are two additional classrooms on the east side of the building that are not up to code yet,” Wiens said. “But we are hoping in the future if we can raise enough funds, we’ll be able to remodel those and open those up to give us room hopefully by summer (of next year) for school-aged children.”
“A lot of the work has been done by volunteers on the board or other members of the community,” Wiens said. “The interior has been painted, flooring has been replaced with new carpet. The playground received a fence and turf is going down and some new equipment has been placed out there. There’s a new security system and security cameras in the classrooms, so they can be viewed by the director whether she’s here or at home.”
Other work on the building has included a washer and dryer and a new refrigerator in the kitchen, electrical updates, new doors and a new restroom was installed in the toddler area.
Wiens said meals for the center will be prepared at the school and transported the two blocks to the daycare.
Wiens says in all approximately 25 volunteers have been working the last few months to get the building ready including retired women from the community who have given of their time to take the old contact paper off the kitchen cupboards and give it a good scrubbing.
“So, it’s been a community effort to try to get this going,” she said.
Apart from needing to pass final inspections, Wiens said the building is “very, very close to ready.”
“Tonight, we will finish setting up the second classroom,” Wiens said, adding that some “fine tuning” needed to be done in other areas of the building which she believed the crew could accomplish in time for the inspections on Monday.
Wiens said fundraising continues for the center, noting that the board is in the process of setting up a pledge program.
“We’re trying to encourage community members or relatives (of our children) to give a monthly pledge to the center so that we can make sure we’re sustainable and pay our employees a fair wage and provide the education they need and just to create a great working environment and a great place for the kids.”
Among the crew of workers at the center on Thursday night was Roehrs, who was hired as the center’s director last spring. She will have an extremely short commute to work each day as she lives just across the street in Hampton. A graduate of UNK with a bachelor’s degree in Family Studies with a minor in social work, Roehrs has lived in Hampton since 2019. She and her husband, Josh, a native of Hampton, have two young daughters who will be two of the children attending the center each day.
“We’re excited, just getting the building up and going,” said Roehrs, noting the opening of the center is an important development for the community. “There is a big need for daycare.”