Dandelion Daycare
Faces a Crisis
By Martha Slater

These local children were enjoying an after-school snack and each other's company Tuesday afternoon at Dandelion Daycare. The center needs to increase its enrollment in order to stay open. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

JoHanna Buker, director of Dandelion Day Care Center on South Main Street in Rochester, was told by state officials October 10 that the center will have to close its doors soon, unless she can prove that there is a need for infant and toddler care in the area.

"This is the last daycare center in the valley, since Patty Bordonaro closed down Andrew’s House in Granville recently," Buker told The Herald.

Dandelion Day Care opened in 1975 in the former Canning House next door to the Rochester School, which owns the property and collects rent from the center. The center is a non-profit organization, supported by what the parents pay. Some of the children get a state subsidy to help cover their tuition.

Buker, who has worked there for a year and a half, is presently the center’s only full-time employee, although part-timer Anne Balanger comes in as needed after school. After taking over director job last winter, Buker painted two of the rooms herself and put up a cheerful fish and stars border in one room, paid for out of her own pocket.

"The center has never been able to accept children under age two and a half because the original license was never changed," Buker explained. "We’ve received a number of calls in recent months from parents in the area asking us if we accepted infants, but we had to turn them away."

Dandelion will host a community open house and informational meeting Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. for anyone in the community interested in learning more about the center. Buker is particularly hoping that parents who have small children that they might consider placing at the center will attend to tour the building and learn more about what the center can offer.

"The state wants people who need this type of childcare to come to the meeting and sign up or to call the center and give me the names and ages of their children who would be enrolling," Buker said.

Guest speaker Hope Campbell, director of childcare programs at the Vermont Community Loan Fund, will be present at the open house.

"She has done a budget for us and told us how many children we need to have to keep open, etc." Buker said. "She said she could also help us find some grant money to help out if we can increase the number of kids here. We’re looking to have at least four infants who need care, and four two to three year-olds and five four to five year-olds to make it an optimum enrollment. We need at least a dozen kids to stay open."

Buker explained that, in order to change the license to accept infants, the fire marshal would require another smoke detector placed in the stairwell, in addition to the others already installed in other locations around the building.

"Basically, the only other thing the state is requiring for us to be able to accept infants is that we prove a need for that kind of care in this area," Buker reiterated. "Over the summer, we had 10 children here, but now we have as few as two to five during the day, with a few more after school most days. On a recent afternoon, there were five children ages four to seven chattering as they enjoyed working on an art project around a low table.

"We don’t have enough money right now to stay open, so we’re at a crisis point," Buker added. "We’ve had a number of financial setbacks, including having to pay for rewiring the mainframe of the building’s fire alarm system, which cost a lot of money."

Buker, who graduated from RAVC after studying childcare there, went on to study early childhood Ed. at Champlain College in Burlington. Now a single mom, she lives in Pittsfield with her two daughters, five year-old Lilly, and seven year-old Kiara.

Dandelion Daycare is overseen by a board of directors, which is currently made up of Buker, Carrie Gilbert, and Kirsten Welton. Another volunteer board member would be very welcome.

"If we could just get our enrollment increased to the level we want, we’d have to hire two new staff people, which would be good for the valley as well, since that would be two more jobs," Buker pointed out hopefully.

For more information about Dandelion Day Care, call 767-4449.

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