| Daycare considered
By Laura Peterson
Staff Writer
Calvin College policy requires professors to send their children to Christian schools starting in kindergarten. The Planning and Priorities Committee (PPC) is currently discussing the idea of an agreement with Rainbow Child Development Centers, Inc. involving a college subsidy of the day care, allowing professors to send their children there at a discounted rate. Rainbow’s day care, however, is not a Christian institution. Some professors have voiced the opinion that this action would be inconsistent and illogical.
The PPC, which includes President Gaylen Byker, various faculty members and board members and one student, is in the process of discussing the issue. Surveys were sent out to professors with children in order to determine the need for a day care. Next week the committee will meet to look over the responses to the survey and determine a course of action.
Although the PPC has not yet brought into debate the consideration of whether a day care subsidized by the college should be necessarily Christian, professors with children who would be affected by this decision are voicing opinions. Professor Katherine van Liere of the history department said that a decision by the committee for Calvin to subsidize “this and only this [daycare] program would create unfortunate conflict."
Van Liere considers such a decision a “flagrant violation of policy," because the subsidization of a non-Christian day care facility is inconsistent with Calvin’s policy regarding schooling for children age five and older. For very young children, ages 1-2 years old, the issue of a faith-based day care is not quite as vital. However, when day care, at ages 3-5, becomes more of a preschool setting, van Liere believes a faith-based curriculum is important for children.
If the PPC decides to subsidize Rainbow, professors who are parents would not have the option of sending their children to a Christian day care, such as Oakdale, unless they want to pay for these more expensive day cares on their own.
Professor Debra Rienstra of the English department also has young children. Rienstra said that she is “pleased that the committee is working on [this issue]." Neither Rienstra nor van Liere have any objections to Rainbow itself as a daycare facility. Rienstra said she hasn’t had the time to go and check it out yet and so can’t judge its merits, but the issue is not with Rainbow in particular.
“It’s a matter of integrity,” said Rienstra.
The idea of an on-campus daycare center has also been brought up. At this time, however, there is not room in the budget for the expense. The pending agreement with Rainbow is somewhat of a compromise for an on-campus facility. Rainbow is near campus and is a large enough establishment that Calvin professors’ children could be accommodated.
An on-campus daycare would be ideal, says van Liere, because it would be convenient and parents would be able to visit their children throughout the day. Education majors would also have Day Care
opportunity to work with the children in the day care. Establishing a day care on campus is a “complicated, expensive, tangled thing to do,” said Rienstra. Rienstra said she could accept the agreement with Rainbow as a possible reasonable solution, although it could only be temporary. “Eventually a faith-based program will be needed,” said Rienstra.
Availability of day care facilities is not the most important issue, according to van Liere. More important is the controversy over the fact that Rainbow is not a Christian day care. Todd Hubers, Director of Information Systems and associate to the president, is in charge of putting together the survey responses and communicating this information to the PPC. Hubers said that the issue of Rainbow’s non-Christianity has been expressed and will definitely be discussed. “I don’t know that [day care on campus] has been ruled out,” Hubers said. “Rainbow is not the final solution.” Little is known, however, from the PPC, since the committee will not meet to discuss the situation in depth until next week.
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