CLARION, Pa., Oct. 15 – The Earl R. Siler Child Care and Development Center is set to close on Dec. 24 if not sooner. The center is closing due to a lack of funding. This news has affected many people.
Hannah Mills, a junior sociology major at Clarion University, has a 2-year-old daughter, Annia, who attends the Siler Center. She is a transfer student whose main reason for coming to Clarion was because they had child care.

Mills is a single parent who utilizes the center on a daily basis. She said when she first looked into going into CUP they used the day care center to “pull kids (single parent students) in; now they are going back on that.”
When asked what she was going to do now that the center is closing, she said her only option really is to transfer. She was very disappointed in the efforts of the university in trying to save the Siler Center.
“Options were not explored at any length,” said Mills, and that the decision was made “solely based on the Education Department’s financial benefits, when it affects every department.”
Mills also explained that in previous years she has asked to schedule early so that she could reserve a time slot at Siler for Annia. The university told her students with disabilities are the only ones who are able to schedule early.
As a student-parent, Mills was disappointed in this because a late application and payment at the Siler Center results in a lost spot.
“My life doesn’t only affect me, it affects her too,” she said.
This closing is also hurting the children. They are “taking away bonds,” Mills said. “There is a huge difference between a day care and a learning center like Siler and this will cause an impact on Annia because they are like second parents to her.”
“The sadness is not only at the center,” said Dr. John Groves, dean of the College of Education and Human Services.
Groves said that there is a lot of time and money invested in the Siler Center. We are “not happy about it,” Groves said.
Another aspect involved in the decision to close the center is that it no longer meets state guidelines for students who are student teaching at the center to receive their state-mandated hours. Schools now want to hire teachers who have worked with kids in grades kindergarten through fourth.
Options were explored in ways to keep the center open, Groves said. Fees at the center would need to be raised in order to save it.
Only some parents said they would be able to afford the raise, while others said they would have to take their children out of the center. Raising the university’s tuition, making the departments pay annual fees and placing the center into another organizations’ care were all considered too.
“It would not only cost $2 million to rebuild, but there is also not currently a location on campus or nearby that meets building codes,” said Groves.
“The center is competitive in the services it offers, but is not competitive in costs for running the center,” said Groves, “We pay our employees much more as employees of a state facility, and we simply ran out of money.”
Several petitions were at the door for students and faculty to sign to show support for keeping the center open. One petition had more than 280 signatures. The petitions will circulate throughout campus over the next week.
A peaceful protest will be held during the daycare kids Halloween walk later this month. The protest will be silent. Parents and students are encouraged to attend the walk.
Dr. Vanessa Johnson, director of College Student Development and Counseling at North Eastern University of Massachusetts discussed in her presentation, “Baby Mammas and Daddies” the importance for college students who find themselves parents, to stay in school.