The childcare center announced in October that it might close temporarily because its three most critical admin positions were vacant. Captain Jeremy Hall, Base Kodiak’s commanding officer, said he wanted people to know a closure was on the table.
“In order to maintain trust and interaction with the community, we wanted to focus on transparency,” Hall said. “So as soon as it became apparent that there could be an issue, we started notifying folks.”
In order to stay open as a credentialed daycare, the center needs at least one director, assistant director, or training and curriculum specialist.
“But I’m happy to report that it doesn’t look like we’re going to close the center, or even diminish our services,” he said. “We’ve come up with a pretty good plan.”
Hall worked with Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to bring in interim staff while he looked for a long term solution. And a permanent curriculum specialist arrived in November. As long as the new hire works out, the child development center will stay open indefinitely.
It’s a huge relief for Hall and the families with kids enrolled, but it’s not the ultimate solution. The base still needs to fill its director and several child care specialist positions. The lack of staff means that while the daycare center is supposed to serve up to 100 kids, it can only take half as many. That’s even after disenrolling kids from a dozen families on the island due to staffing issues this summer.
There’s a long waitlist too, and that’s before the Coast Guard’s presence on the island grows substantially. About 200 new service members are expected to come to Kodiak as part of a major expansion that includes more cutters and a larger air station in the next two years. The Coast Guard is also building a bigger daycare center as part of the expansion too.
One of the newer arrivals is Madeline Schwarz. Her husband is here to serve on one of the new fast response cutters on its way to the island in the next year.
“We are really enjoying Kodiak overall, minus our childcare concerns and struggles,” she said.
Her kid has been on the waitlist for about a year. The plan was to have a spot at the center around the time she and her husband arrived in May, but it didn’t end up working out.
The situation led to some problems for the family – Schwarz lined up a job as a nurse, but ended up having to push back her start date. She and her husband have flown family all the way from Virginia and North Carolina to help or has friends babysit, but it’s not ideal.
“A licensed daycare facility is significantly more cost effective than flying out family, especially to Kodiak, as well as providing a 40 hour week babysitting nanny kind of job as well,” she said.
Schwarz even started a petition where parents basically agreed to pay more for the daycare if it meant increasing worker salaries as a way to attract more people to work there.
Hall said it’s not that simple, and couldn’t comment on how the government decides wages. He did say that he appreciates how invested people are in the child development center though.
“It was good that people were interested in trying to help and I take that as a sign that the Coast Guard community, as well as the Kodiak community, are interested in the success of the Kodiak CDC, and so we want it to be successful,” Hall said. “And we’re going to look for any and every opportunity we can to make it better.”
A representative for Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said in an email that the senator is aware that “access to quality affordable childcare remains a challenge” and is “working to make sure that members and dependents are supported.”
Hall said he hopes he can advertise better and hire enough people so they can fully take advantage of the new space that’s currently under construction. The new building could serve up to 126 kids. He said the center built a reputation as a tough place to work, but is trying to improve everything he can.
“We’re also working on the quality of the work life and the work/life balance for the employees there, making sure they get time off, making sure they get breaks, making sure they get all the things they need to feel like they’re a valued employee,” Hall said.
While there’s still short term struggles, Hall said the long term goal is to minimize pressure on civilian child care centers as the Coast Guard expands its presence on the island.
