CHILD-CARE CENTER HITS SNAG; GROUP FROM EASTER SEALS MUST LEAVE NEW HOME

Include Me Too, the child-care center formed by staff and parents after the closing of the Easter Seals Child Development Center, is again looking for a home.

The program of inclusive child care has until April 15 to move out of a former convent that St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church has let the center use free of charge until it found a permanent building. But a fire-marshal inspection found violations of the fire code for a day-care center and gave the center until April 15 to be out of the building, said Dan Seger, one of the parents who has been trying to keep the child-care program going.

Easter Seals Missouri announced Feb. 25 that the center at 1912 Broadway would close March 10, giving parents two weeks to make other day-care arrangements. The group of parents and staff, led by Seger and former Easter Seals Center director Cheryl Beahan, has been trying to continue without Easter Seals affiliation the program that serves both special-needs and typical children with a curriculum that emphasizes education and development.

Seger said the group had been trying to interest Southeast Missouri State University in buying the building on Broadway and allowing Include Me Too to operate there. However, Southeast announced Wednesday it will not buy the building.

A university press release said Southeast had evaluated leasing or purchasing the building for the exclusive purpose of providing a site to better house its Child Enrichment Center and Center for Child Studies, which provide training for Southeast students. However, the release said, a facility review determined that the building would not adequately meet the needs of the university's early childhood education program. The university never intended to compete with local day-care providers, the release said.

Questions about the release were referred to Provost Dennis Holt, who could not be reached Wednesday afternoon for comment.

Pat Carter, the assistant director at the Easter Seals Center who has been volunteering at the Include Me Too center, said staff members were disappointed at the announcement by Southeast, especially since they must move out of the St. Vincent building.

Carter and Seger both said the next step may be pursuing formation of a United Way ad hoc committee to explore ways of continuing the child-care center.

Nancy Jernigan, executive director of United Way, said an ad hoc committee has been discussed and could be formed if there is still enough interest. "We could all get together to see if we can recreate what once was," said Jernigan.

The United Way had funded a program for children with disabilities at the Easter Seals Center, and Jernigan has said that many contributors to United Way had designated Easter Seals as the recipient for their donations. She has been working at assessing the needs of the special-needs children the program aided to see how those donations can continue to flow to services for them.

Jernigan has said that if a new center can be established United Way will consider allocating it funding.

Several area school districts, including Woodland, Nell Holcomb and Leopold, used Easter Seals for their early childhood education programs for special-needs children 3 to 5. Those three school districts had continued using Include Me Too, said Carter.

She said six special- needs children and about 20 non-special-needs children were enrolled at Include Me Too Wednesday. Carter said Candy Birdsong, the special-education instructor for the six special-needs children, has been looking for alternative placement for them.

Many of the parents of enrolled children are now looking for other child-care alternatives, Carter said.

"Some teachers may keep some of the children in their homes," Carter said. "But many other parents are finding that there are no openings at other child-care centers."