by Leslie Lytle, Messenger Staff Writer

On April 16, University faculty and staff received a communication from Provost Scott Wilson announcing the University Child Care Center (UCCC) was closing Aug. 1, all UCCC children would be offered a place at the Sewanee Children’s Center (SCC), and UCCC Director Elizabeth Sowell would become the Sewanee Children’s Center director. Explaining the decision, Wilson said, “The University recently engaged an external consultant to explore whether consolidating the two centers could offer programmatic advantages and improved financial sustainability.” Several red flags reared their heads for UCCC parents. Over the course of the next week and a half, negotiations between the University and the SCC addressed many of the concerns.

A longstanding difference between the UCCC and the SCC was that the Children’s Center did not offer infant care. “The Children’s Center is working on becoming licensed for infants and toddlers which should happen by Aug. 1,” said SCC Director Sarah Ralston Stark. The facility currently enrolls 35 children but is licensed for 69 and anticipates an enrollment of approximately 60 in August.

This, of course, depends on how many UCCC parents transfer to SCC. SCC tuition is significantly higher, although anxiety about the cost difference has largely subsided. “The SCC offers scholarships, accepts DHS certificates, and the University has agreed to help University families with small subsidies for an [undetermined] amount of time,” said Sowell. “The Children’s Center’s tuition reflects what the true cost of childcare is,” said Stark. Although pleased to learn about the subsidy, faculty spouse Thomas Lavoy observed, “The big unknown is for how long the University will be making the $2,500/child ($5,000 max) contribution.” Lavoy went on to point out, “Subsidized childcare is an attractive benefit to potential faculty.”

Other concerns have not been so easily addressed. The UCCC calendar coincides with the University calendar; the SCC calendar coincides with the Franklin County Schools calendar. The SCC sets the calendar a year in advance, said Sowell, making changes to the 2025-2026 calendar unlikely. But Sowell added, since SCC was a cooperative, it might be possible for “parents to effect change going forward.” Also significant, many University families have children in both childcare and in the public schools so they juggle multiple vacation schedules. In other families, only one parent is employed by the University and the other parent has a different vacation timeline. “There is no perfect calendar for every family situation,” Sowell conceded.

Another change for UCCC families trailed upon the cooperative structure of the SCC. Not only was the cost higher, but families were expected to put in volunteer hours, “2 hours per month (or 5 per semester for After-School families),” according to the SCC/UCCC Transition Family Handbook. But volunteering opportunities are wide and varied, and Sowell stressed the requirement was not such a difference as it might at first seem. UCCC families were no strangers to being involved, Sowell insisted, and turnout at events was high. “The benefit is you bring families in and get them engaged and create a village for the people the program is serving.”

Stark informed the board in the fall that her family would be moving at the end of spring semester. For Sowell to assume the director position was an easy and logical fit. “The Children’s Center will be in really good hands with Elizabeth,” Stark said. With the anticipated increase in enrollment, the entire UCCC staff has been offered positions at the SCC. “A lot of teachers are still deciding,” Sowell acknowledged. “It’s a lot to weigh. They have strong connections to the children and families and want to continue the relationships, but there are also benefits and retirement to consider.” A UCCC parent who spoke to the Messenger anonymously said, “The UCCC/SCC merger is very sad for UCCC teachers who have been serving Sewanee for over 20 years and will now lose their medical benefits, retirement, and other University benefits. I know of two teachers like this.”

Although most of his initial discomfort has subsided, Lavoy said, “I wish the powers that be had thought a little bit more carefully on how to roll out the announcement [rather than the way they did] in an email in the middle of the day coming up on the end of the semester, with some teachers finding out about it that way.” New to the community, Lavoy and his wife moved to Sewanee last August and his wife just recently signed a contract for a tenure track position. “Having the rug pulled out from under our feet after we sign on to stay here for a very long time is not a good feeling,” Lavoy confessed. He worried about the University “attracting a solid faculty if they cancel commitments to faculty member families.”

At bottom, though, Lavoy agreed with the decision, “Having the two separate centers was not really good for either of them, and if this merger means my daughter can have the best possible experience here in Sewanee, then I am for it.”

The SCC dates its origins back to 1949, then called Sewanee Nursery School and Kindergarten. Providing a historical perspective on the UCCC, retired University archivist and longtime Sewanee resident Annie Armour Morgret said the program began in the 1980s as a community effort based at the School of Theology. The University offered the program the current building. That program evolved into the University sponsored UCCC.

“UCCC families indeed have valid concerns,” said Sowell, “But, I think these concerns stem from an overarching feeling of loss. Our families care deeply about the UCCC program and the caregivers they have trusted with their children. This closure is incredibly difficult. And that loss, that change is tough to navigate. That being said, I wholeheartedly believe that in the end, the move to SCC will ensure that families do have access to high quality early childhood education experiences for decades to come.”