Mannington daycare ownership change has raised concerns among parents

Times West Virginian - 3/2/2024

Mar. 2—FAIRMONT — Monday night's meeting of the Marion County Board of Education can't come soon enough for some families in the Mannington area.

Wonderland Childcare and Learning Center was sold in February to a Marion County Schools elementary school principal who stepped in to the business just as federal COVID aid dollars were shrinking up. Daycare centers in the Mountain State received funding from the West Virginia Child Care Stabilization Payments Plan, a two-year program created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new owner, East Park Elementary Principal Jessica Holt, said she considered raising the weekly fee for childcare, but then reconsidered because she sees so many families that are living paycheck-to-paycheck already. Instead, she decided to lower the staff's wages in order to stay afloat and balance expenses with revenue.

"I had a short time to really see what was coming in, I just realized to be able to make a balance, unfortunately, there were some things I had to look at and change," Holt said.

Marion County Schools has had a collaborative agreement in place for Pre-K and Universal Pre-K at Wonderland previously. However, the rules concerning ownership changes require the board of education to enter into a new agreement with Holt as the owner.

"We are extremely thankful for our collaborations with our Pre-K in the Universal Pre-K program throughout Marion County, and we work with all of our collaborations with these agencies that we have, as is, as it is an important first step in students' journey into their years with Marion County Schools," Marion County School Superintendent Donna Heston said. "We work very closely with these collaborations and keep communication open."

However, with the changes in staff pay, Holt has had some employees leave the daycare center. She said each staff member was certified and were dedicated and hardworking.

"I hope that they make more money that they deserve and right now, I am going to build from what we have, which is a really strong wonderful group of people," Holt said.

Meanwhile, Heston said "a handful of families" have reached out to the school board inquiring about any available slots in Universal Pre-K throughout Marion County.

"We are working to meet the needs of those families at their request to service them within Marion County Schools or point them in directions to answer their questions," Heston said. "There are rumors, questions, and inquiry going on but from our stance we do have a collaboration with them and we are working with families if they reach out to find them slots that are available in our Universal Pre-K classrooms throughout Marion County Schools."

"There has been a change in ownership and we do have an active collaboration with that private pre-K classroom, and we will update that agreement on Monday's board agenda to reflect the new ownership."

According to the New York City-based thinktank The Century Foundation, as of Sept. 30, 2023, states began facing a steep drop-off in federal childcare funding. Data from the Foundation shows 23,231 West Virginia children will lose daycare when the federal funds run out and 604 daycare centers in West Virginia will close.

Reach Eric Cravey at 304-367-2523.

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