Burke schools make room for child care programs. Helene is devastated

Hurricane Helene destroyed Burke County’s two largest daycare centers, displacing about 250 children from their learning environments and preventing parents from working.

But in the three weeks since then, Burke County Schools has provided space for eight classrooms from the two programs, reconnecting about 170 children with their teachers and families with their jobs — and giving a lifeline to child care programs.

“For Burke County Public Schools to give us a place is just a blessing,” said Stephanie Ashley, executive director of Blue Ridge Community Action, the nonprofit that runs Quaker Meadows Generations, a Head Start program and one of the two affected centers . “My biggest concern was getting the children back as quickly as possible.”

Five classrooms for 3- to 5-year-olds from Quaker Meadows opened Thursday, Oct. 17, at Salem Elementary School. Another three classrooms of preschoolers from Creative Beginnings Day Care, a private center, completed their first full week at Oak Hill Elementary.

“I think it speaks volumes about the community, the camaraderie, the kindness and the legacy that is being built here,” said Jessica Powell, a teacher who has worked at Creative Beginnings for 17 years.

The two programs still have a long road to recovery. In the meantime, they do everything they can to look after each other. And community partners, from schools to businesses to nonprofits, are stepping up to care for them.

A relationship that made all the difference

Local K-12 and early childhood leaders don’t always have close relationships. This is the case in Burke County.

“We’re like the same person,” said Jacquie Grady, NC preschool coordinator for Burke County Schools. She spoke about Kathy Smith, executive director of Burke County Smart Start, a nonprofit organization dedicated to early childhood education and development. The two worked closely together for six years after hitting it off while carpooling to a training session.

When news of the two damaged centers reached them, Grady and Smith set off together.

“Because our relationship is so good, we really just had a shared mindset and we’re really all about helping families find care,” Grady said.

Grady heard the news during a district leadership meeting and immediately began asking how they could help. Smith contacted the owners and directors of the child care program and asked about their needs.

Grady discovered empty classrooms. One of the largest elementary schools, Salem, had an auditorium that was previously used for multi-age classes and was divided by partitions to accommodate three classrooms. In addition to the auditorium, there were also two empty classrooms. At Oak Hill, there was an empty classroom, a room used as storage, and a room used by a school therapist who agreed to temporarily move into the conference room.

Smith worked with a licensing consultant to figure out the licensing rules and requirements. Due to the unique needs of infant and toddler classrooms, only children ages 3 and older could be served in the school environment. The programs could operate under temporary licenses at a different location and could launch without some of the normal regulatory requirements due to the state of emergency.

The two programs signed letters of intent with the district for 90 days. The district does not charge rent or additional costs. The programs purchase food from the district for children to eat in the cafeteria due to requirements of the federal Community Eligibility Provision program, Grady said.

Grady said she recommends other districts build and strengthen relationships with their local Smart Start partnerships.

“It was really helpful to have someone who was kind of the center of attention for everyone,” she said.

That’s why the Smart Start model exists with 75 local partnerships across the state, Smith said.

“Smart Start is an organizer,” Smith said. “We bring people together.”

As Helene, Grady and Smith said, children’s access to early care and education is critical to recovery from tragedy and is the responsibility of the entire community.

“Doctors, nurses and emergency services and everyone else couldn’t go to work if they didn’t have childcare. So we’re kind of the backbone of the essential workforce,” Smith said.

“Everyone just pitches in together.”

The reopening of schools has provided some stability for the children and staff at Quaker Meadows.

At an open house at Salem Elementary on Tuesday, children reunited with their friends while parents filled out forms lost in the flood and learned about daily operations at the new location.

Dillon Lingafelt said during the storm, his 4-year-old son, Hank, was woken up by falling stone slabs as a tree crashed into the roof. He was grateful that Hank was able to return to his daily routine after adjusting to the start of preschool just a few weeks before Helene.

“Every day he would say, ‘I had the best day,’ and then all of a sudden he’s back home,” Lingafelt said. “You notice a difference when you don’t go to school, with the schedule and everything.”

For mother Tiairra Houston, the center’s closure meant her 3-year-old son didn’t receive the speech therapy he needed.

“He missed something,” Houston said. “I’m just glad they found a building and are open. He really wanted to come back to school.”

Quaker Ridge teachers worked tirelessly to clean the new site and furnish classrooms with donated furniture and materials from several businesses and nonprofit organizations. School staff have been overwhelmingly supportive, coordinating donations and welcoming them to the building, said Cheryl Leonhardt, program director.

“It’s really about everyone helping together,” Leonhardt said.

Repairs to the facility will likely take six to nine months, Ashley said. During the open house, a local church committed to housing the program’s classrooms for infants and toddlers in the interim.

One of the center’s few remnants in Salem classrooms is preschool teacher Kelly Sylvester’s aquarium containing some of the storm’s survivors — five fish, a frog and two snails. A worker cleaning the building found the tank among the ruins.

Sylvester was shocked. She said she was grateful to work for an organization that immediately supported its employees and to live in a community that donated space.

“We’re really lucky to be back in the classroom,” Sylvester said.

A sprint to reopen

With approximately 60 children attending classrooms at Oak Hill, Creative Beginnings is focused on reopening its original facility as quickly as possible to accommodate all ages.

Because it is a stand-alone center that is already struggling financially, it will require outside resources to do so, said owner Jan Wyatt and director Denise Hudson.

“We’re just in survival mode, but we’re working every day to get out of that survival mode,” Wyatt said. “We will urgently need help.”

Paying and retaining teachers is a top priority, Wyatt and Hudson said. It’s a necessity during the crisis and also for reopening, which Wyatt hopes to accomplish in six to eight weeks.

“First of all, they need a job,” Wyatt said. “And secondly, if we lose these teachers, we won’t be able to reopen.”

At Oak Hill, four Creative Beginnings teachers were assigned to each classroom, which normally only has two. The child care program’s cook greets the children each morning to provide a familiar face in the parking lot. Teachers accompany the children to their classrooms.

And more staff are meeting at the daycare every day to help clean, rescue equipment and connect with families.

“We’re all facing our own crisis, and we’re fighting a crisis here,” said Powell, the program’s longtime teacher.

“This is our home”

Wyatt said she is focused on reopening the first half of the building, which houses the infant and toddler classrooms. This age group is more difficult to relocate due to the need for equipment and buildings.

Teachers have spoken with families who are making other arrangements in the meantime — staying home from work, relying on family members or finding alternative programs.

“Infants and young children were most affected by this,” Wyatt said. “There wasn’t that much baby care in Burke County (before the storm).”

Powell said she has heard from many families who plan to return once the program resumes, even if they have to make other arrangements in the meantime.

“No matter what we have to do during this time, we will come back,” she said. “This is our home.”

For the past 19 years, Creative Beginnings has been closed for three days because of weather, said Hudson, the program’s director. One of those days was Friday, September 27th.

Hudson checked out the building Friday and “everything was great,” she said. The next day she was unable to reach the building as roads were closed due to debris and flooding. She asked the police officer directing traffic if he had seen the center. He told her it was flooded.

On Sunday, Hudson made it into the program.

“It was very overwhelming,” she said. “My first thought was: 199 children. What are they going to do about child care?”

A construction crew is working seven days a week to gut and rebuild the facility.

Wyatt applied for a low-interest loan from the Small Business Administration, she said. But she said external funding is needed, particularly for private for-profit providers who are not eligible for grants and FEMA assistance.

And even though she’s focused on her business of 25 years, Wyatt is also struggling with flooding in her own home.

Powell, standing next to Wyatt, said she was more grateful than ever to the family at Creative Beginnings.

“It was heartbreaking but also heartwarming because it brought us together and definitely showed us how strong we are, showed us how strong she is.”

Liz Bell

Liz Bell is an early childhood reporter for EducationNC.