Per Superintendent Davis: "We currently have five Early Childhood Education Programs in our district which includes Fleming Island High, Middleburgh High, Oakleaf High, Orange Park High, and Ridgeview High. Each of these programs were established to support high school students by offering a true learning lab experience. Their curriculum frameworks and industry certifications require that they have 480 hours of working with children by the time they complete their program in four years. The easiest way to do this is to have the children on campus. Before this option was available, we loaded students in a bus and literally went down Moody Road stopping at childcare centers like Sugar and Spice, OPK, etc. to provide services. Parents pay an annual tuition to enroll their children in this program. The Child Care Learning Labs are open to all employees on a first-come, first-served basis, with occasional openings being offered to the public (which helps ensure that all expenditures are covered)."

The School Board has received a number of parent emails and concerns regarding the recommended changes to the program times for next year. Closing the centers at 3:00 pm each day will mean that a number of our employees can no longer utilize the centers due to their contract teaching times.

In order to keep the program open until 4:15 pm (as currently offered) the district will need to fund an additional employee for each center. The additional allocation would be a support position - Child Care Assistant (A-13, 9 months). That additional position will address the concerns regarding the current teachers regularly staying past their contract time and we can stay open until 4:15 p.m. thereby serving all elementary and junior high schools. The estimated cost would be $20,520 per school or $102,500 total including benefits. This cost increase would be passed onto the parents using the program which would result in the annual tuition going up about $800 a year per student, just under $40 per employee deduction (or $80 per month). If we add these allocations then all the problems will be addressed and we will have additional full-time staff available to help service both children in the learning labs and high school students taking these courses.