Petition against possible privatization of the Dartmouth College Child Care Center

Four teachers from the Dartmouth College Child Care Center were given the pseudonyms Amanda, Grace, Olivia and Sophia. They were all granted anonymity so they could speak openly about their experiences.

On August 26, Marcela di Blasi, a professor of Latin American, Latino and Caribbean studies, sent a petition to several senior administrators expressing her “grave concern” that the college may have “solicited and received proposals” to transfer operations of the Dartmouth College Child Care Center from the college to a for-profit child care provider.

The letter — written by several parents of children at D4C and submitted to college president Sian Leah Beilock, senior vice president of capital planning and campus operations Josh Keniston, provost David Kotz and human resources director Sara Lester — has received more than 390 signatures from professors, graduate students, D4C staff and others associated with the college. The signatories wrote “in support” of D4C and warned of the potential “loss in the quality of child care” if operations are transferred, according to a copy of the petition obtained by The Dartmouth.

In an email response to di Blasi – a father of two at D4C – and to signers of the petition, which The Dartmouth has obtained and reviewed, Keniston wrote that “no final decisions have been made” about the future of the daycare. However, in an interview with The Dartmouth, Keniston confirmed that potential privatization had been discussed.

“That's a scenario that's on the table, but we don't yet understand all the potential consequences,” Keniston said. “The petition got a little ahead of us, but that's OK – we appreciate the feedback.”

According to one D4C teacher — referred to as Amanda in this article — the signatories learned about the potential privatization through the “rumor mill.” Another D4C teacher, referred to as Sophia, wrote in an email to The Dartmouth that she heard about possible plans to transfer ownership of D4C to a for-profit child care company during a parent-teacher meeting in August. A third D4C teacher, referred to as Grace, said a member of the center’s janitorial staff told her that the for-profit child care center Bright Horizons Family Solutions was “taking a tour” of the center one evening.

According to di Blasi, writing the petition became “urgent” when the authors “firmly believed” that Dartmouth would sign a contract with Bright Horizons before the end of August. That contract, several community members said, could have had far-reaching consequences for D4C's staff and the children it serves.

According to sociology professor Casey Stockstill — whose academic area of ​​expertise includes childhood and education — for-profit child care chains tend to create “harsh working conditions” for teachers and “cut labor costs wherever possible.” For example, she wrote in an email to The Dartmouth that the chains may hire “the minimum number of teachers allowed by law,” send teachers home early and combine classrooms “when they can.”

“This is the only way to profit in [the] nursing industry,” she wrote.

These conditions lead to higher teacher turnover at for-profit daycare chains compared to daycare centers run by nonprofits like D4C, Stockstill added.

Currently, D4C's teacher-to-student ratio exceeds the minimum set by New Hampshire state law for preschools, Grace said. This allows teachers to give children individual attention and gives children the opportunity to learn “at their own pace” in a “fun and enriching way,” Sophia wrote.

“Children learn best this way, not with a run-of-the-mill curriculum,” Sophia continued. “Classrooms shouldn't be overcrowded with children… and teachers should be able to teach not only what they want to teach, but what they think their students are most interested in.”

According to the petition, for-profit chains are trying to reduce teachers' labor costs, thereby undermining “the important bond teachers have with their young students.”

“I love watching [the children in my room] from babies to little preschoolers,” Grace said. “…They become so independent and so proud of themselves. [not] To be able to spend time in individual discussions or in small groups – to [not] To actually be able to teach them and show them how to do things on their own… it just blows my mind.”

In addition, Grace expressed concern that if D4C were to be taken over by a for-profit child care organization, there could be teacher layoffs to “prioritize making money over the quality of care.”

A fourth D4C teacher, who goes by Olivia, expressed similar concerns. While it “may not be true” that the daycare's operations will be transferred to a for-profit company, she did not sleep well one night because she was unsure about her future employment status – especially as a single mother.

“What if I lose this job?” Olivia asked. “Someone else made me another job offer. [as a private nanny] — should I wait? … should I go [D4C] and take this job that I know will provide me with security, or should I stay here because I make more money, know my insurance, know my income, and know what bills I have to pay?”

Olivia added that she had felt “frustration, anger and uncertainty” because she felt the college had not been “transparent” about the impact of the changes to D4C on current staff. The perceived lack of transparency between senior-level decision-makers and D4C teachers had made it difficult for teachers to trust the college, she explained.

“If they tell us something, we don't know if they're telling the truth or not because they haven't been transparent all this time,” Olivia said. “Will we believe them if they tell us something? Will they give us a contract? [so that teachers] Do you know they won't try that again?”

Amanda wrote that she believes the college's current decision-making process is characterized by “secrecy.”

“Staff and families should have been informed by decision makers much earlier in the process,” she wrote. “Instead, we learned about it through the grapevine, then the petition and a newspaper article. As staff, we still have not heard anything from the college.”

Keniston said he and Lester were “tasked” to “find solutions [and] make recommendations” for the college to improve access to affordable child care — which he said is one of Beilock’s “key initiatives” — with a “small feedback group.” According to Keniston, the group consists of D4C Administrative Director Sunnie McPhetres, two D4C staff members, two parents of children at the center, two parents whose children are not currently enrolled at the center, and a representative of the college’s Council on Work-Life Issues. He and Lester are also “drawing on” reports issued by COWLI on housing and child care that “have informed some of the things [he and Lester] “We’re looking at each other,” Keniston said.

However, in an email statement to The Dartmouth, Erika Moen, a COWLI member and professor at the Geisel School of Medicine, wrote that she “only learned through reading the petition letter” that the college might be considering a change in ownership.

“As a member of the Council on Work-Life Issues, we had asked for an update on the administration's child care plans but received no response,” she wrote.

According to Keniston, the college plans to present possible scenarios in the fall and gather feedback from the entire community.

“Our plan is to present to the public later in September and October a few different scenarios that we are considering and ask for feedback on which ones make the most sense for Dartmouth,” he said.