Handmade board games, monster habitats and other projects made from construction paper adorn the walls of the Early Education and Child Care Center. Little coats neatly line a hallway, and teachers speak calmly to children waking up from a nap at about 3:30 p.m.

There is a sense of consistency at the EECCC, the day care center designated for children of Syracuse University faculty, staff and students. It’s something for which the staff and Holley Burfoot, the center’s director since November, are praised.

But Burfoot began her position at SU after a time of transition and tension for the day care. In 2010, the university announced the center would be under the College of Human Ecology, now the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, instead of the Division of Student Affairs like it had been since its conception. Parents became worried about the continuation of the center’s usual function because they didn’t see anything wrong with the current system their children were comfortable in.

That decision was made by the SU administration without adequate consultation with parents or staff at the center, said Thomas Keck, a parent of a child at the center. Keck, a political science professor, said he and other parents were concerned about possible changes to the curriculum, staff and physical space of the center.

‘In a perfect world, the decision itself about whether to administratively relocate the center, in my view, should only have been made after significant consultation with all the relevant stakeholders,’ Keck said. ‘For some reason, that decision was made without consultation.’

The administration had two interests in placing the day care under the College of Human Ecology, said Kal Alston, senior vice president for human capital development. The first was finding a way to expand the availability for more children. The second, Alston said, was considering different models of child care. She said Student Affairs had more of a removed perspective in overseeing the center. Alston cited the availability of academic research offered by the College of Human Ecology.

‘We had discussions and decided to make that move looking toward a future that was not exactly determined,’ Alston said.

At February’s University Senate meeting, a report from the Committee on Women’s Concerns criticized the reorganization process of the day care center over the past two years, Keck said. Though the report reflected parents’ concerns, Keck said it was outdated. Alston said it wasn’t reported to the senate earlier because it does not meet during the summer, when most of the transition occurred.

Alston said a conversation in 2010 with a potential donor for a new facility brought about the idea that the EECCC and the Bernice M. Wright Child Development Laboratory School, located just across the lawn from the EECCC, would come together under the same roof.

However, the idea was not carried out because of design and resource issues. But a detailed set of architectural plans for a new building was presented to parents during the transition to the College of Human Ecology about two years ago, again without parent or staff consultation, Keck said.

Keck said the ‘fairly rocky’ transition process led parents to voice their concerns via petition to Eric Spina, vice chancellor and provost. In July 2011, it was decided that it would be best if all parties involved ‘stepped back and drew a breath,’ Alston said.

‘There was no villain here. It really was in all the different quarters of the conversation,’ she said.

Alston said Spina, Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Diane Murphy, dean of the then-College of Human Ecology, had conversations about whom the center’s director should report to. It was ultimately decided Alston would oversee the EECCC.

The negative feelings toward the center’s transition were reflected in the resignation of four EECCC employees last year, including longtime director Joan Supiro. Alston said they agreed to stay until new leadership was found, and it was decided the center would be maintained as it was – in the same building, separate from the Child Development Laboratory School and consistent in its curriculum.

Alston said she understood parents’ concern for their children in terms of any change to the center.

‘When things affect them, it’s very hard to accept that, something you think is going splendidly. And you’re not sure what’s at the end of the tunnel may really affect the joyful daily experience of your child,’ Alston said. ‘I’m a parent, I absolutely get that.’

Scott Warren, parent of children at the EECCC since fall 2008, said the reassignment of the center to Alston didn’t alleviate the fact that longtime employees were resigning.

‘The important thing was that something that was going awry last summer, probably not deliberately, but something was going wrong and it was corrected,’ Warren said. ‘It was corrected a little too late with a really unfortunate outcome for a number of people’s careers.’

The search for a new director began shortly after the center’s reassignment. Warren, bibliographer for the sciences and technology at SU, was part of a search committee that attracted national applicants for the position. Burfoot, former founding assistant director of the day care center at Williams College, came out on top.

‘We were trying to get somebody who was continuing the same philosophy, practice and education that the previous director had created over about 30 years there,’ Warren said. ‘We came up with a winner in Holley.’

Burfoot said she wasn’t worried about coming to SU in the midst of transition. A large part of her decision to come to SU was the program’s curriculum, which incorporates aspects from a variety of different approaches to early childhood learning. She was also instrumental in reorganizing the teaching staff after last summer’s resignations.

Since her arrival in November, Burfoot has dedicated time to meet with a variety of stakeholders to fully understand the situation. From those conversations, she said she learned that everybody involved had good intentions for the center, but she feels things happened too quickly.

‘Change, in general, is handled differently by different people. I think that it’s important for folks to step back, to not assume and ask questions because there are a lot of different perspectives in our community right now about the transition and how it happened,’ Burfoot said.

In terms of future expansion for the center, Burfoot said it’s back to square one. She said expansion is not in the immediate future, as there is much planning and consultation needed.

Alston and Burfoot meet regularly and discuss matters ‘above the realm of day-to-day,’ Alston said. They think ahead to the future and look to address the unmet need for space at the center, especially for infants, she said. There are 60 children at the center and a long wait list of SU community members hoping for a spot for their kids.

‘That building is not really amenable to too much tweaking. We can’t expand inside the space we currently have,’ Alston said.

Burfoot said a group of 12 to 15 parents meet monthly to discuss their involvement with the center. Any future planning will include deliberate involvement of all necessary parties, she said. Burfoot also meets with Daria Webber, director of the Child Development Laboratory School, to collaborate and talk about what can be done with the space they have.

Alston said questions about the child care system aren’t going to go away. They’ll be brought up within the parent advisory group and will provide a road map for moving forward.

‘We should be optimistic about the future,’ Burfoot said. ‘We’re all aware of the need for expansion, but it’s not a simple process and will take quite a while to get to a place where that would happen.’

For now, Burfoot’s focus as the new director is the staff and continuation of the center’s commitment to early childhood education. Keck and Warren said that Burfoot succeeds in ensuring that continuity.

Warren noted a few things that have been initiated under Burfoot, including a monthly newsletter. This month’s newsletter contains updates on the parent group, staff development and a letter from Burfoot about the coming end of the year – all efforts to keep parents involved and in the know.

Warren summed it up with a simple phrase: ‘What they’re doing is right out there.’

brvannos@syr.edu 

Published on April 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Breanne: brvannos@syr.edu | @bre_vann