Nearly 22 percent of female respondents to a Herald faculty poll completed earlier this month are strongly dissatisfied with available child care resources. Just over 14 percent of male faculty members indicated strong dissatisfaction.
The results reflect a high level of frustration among faculty who have experience with the University's child care system. A combined 59 percent of faculty members stated they are not acquainted with the issue or had no opinion.
Faculty and staff are given special preference at three child care centers in the Providence area. Mount Hope Day Care Center reserves all of its 14 infant care center spots for Brown-affiliated families. Spots at Mount Hope are offered first to faculty and staff, with any extra spaces offered to graduate students.
Taft Avenue Day Care Center, which exclusively serves children of Brown community members, accommodates 20 children between the ages of six weeks and three years. But there is competition for these spots, and parents must plan ahead. Interested parents are put on a waitlist, typically for nine months to one year. "Right now (parents) know that they have to get on the waitlist at least six months to a year before they have a baby," said Mary Castriagnano, director and head teacher at the Taft Avenue center.
The Taft Avenue center is also licensed only to care for children up to age three. Children are not allowed to attend after their third birthdays.
The Brown/Fox Point Early Childhood Education Center offers child care for children who are three to four years old and does not accept children below the age of three. These strict age restrictions force some children to wait up to a year after leaving the Taft Avenue center to enroll at Brown/Fox Point.
Along with faculty members, graduate students and staff have also expressed misgivings.
Graduate students in particular, who are not eligible for the University's back-up care program and receive lower priority in Brown-affiliated centers, have a hard time finding sufficient care for their children.
Katie Silberman, whose husband is a graduate student, said she has found the system to be insufficient. "There's no continuity of care," she said. "Both Taft and Brown/Fox Point are hard to get into because they're small, so I think there just aren't nearly enough spots for all the need that there is."
"We definitely need bigger facilities with more spaces that start in infancy and go through kindergarten," Silberman said. "There's just a huge need out here."
Brown/Fox Point saves 60 percent of its spots for Brown-affiliated families. Children are accepted through a lottery system that grants priority to University-affiliated families. Every Brown-affiliated child was accepted last year, said Chris Amirault, executive director of Brown/Fox Point.
Heather Goode, receptionist and office assistant in the Office of the President, wrote in an email to The Herald that she is satisfied with Brown/Fox Point, which has "gone above and beyond" to prepare her daughter for elementary school.
Alice Esteves '12 said she must pay for child care for her son outside of Brown/Fox Point hours, which end at 5:30 p.m. "He goes to school during the day," she said, "but if I have a meeting that's happening in the evening, there's not really anything."
"I haven't gotten any calls from anybody stating that they have a complaint about not enough slots, not enough child care centers. I haven't heard anything actually," said Michele Wise, senior benefits special programs coordinator for human resources.
Employees have access to up to 100 hours of back-up care through the Bright Horizons program, said Drew Murphy, director of benefits for human resources.
Methodology
Online questionnaires were sent to personal accounts of 902 faculty Sept. 25 and advertised on the faculty Morning Mail Sept. 27, Oct. 4 and Oct. 7. The poll closed Oct. 8. Only faculty that "teach, advise or interact with undergraduate students" were invited to respond, and 174 responses were recorded. The poll has a 6.6 percent margin of error with 95 percent confidence.
Find results of previous polls at thebdh.org/poll.
