The latest daycare closure at the Park City School District Childcare Center is highlighting the issue that many of our town’s working families have been experiencing for years-the Park City Childcare Desert. This town wants diversity, inclusion, and working families, and yet many families simply cannot live and work here. Existing childcare facilities have hundreds of families on waitlists. Yes, hundreds. Many families don’t even attempt to get on the waitlist because they know it will take years to get a spot or they cannot afford to send their child. So we likely have thousands of children ages 0-5 that need care. Hours at many facilities are 9am-12pm or 8am-3pm and closed on Fridays. That is not even an option for families that work full-time or part-time, and honestly it is even a little soul crushing to hear about those types of hours.
Do we become humans at age 5/6? No. Then why do schools open at that age? Historically parents brought their children with them as they farmed, built houses, etc. There was a period of time when it was common to have one parent stay home with the child. These days both parents often need to work to be able to afford a house and food. Yet it is not safe or appropriate for many children to be in a current parent’s workplace. Additionally, children develop mentally and physically from day one. Providing daycare/schools from day 1 is critical for child development, safety, and overall societal success. Just ask your fellow parent or teacher-childcare is needed for the public good.
So what do we want as a community? Do we want to have functioning hospitals, grocery stores, schools, post offices, the list goes on? What are we willing to do about it? We need better hours at our existing schools, affordable rates, and to hire and retain high quality teachers. Working parents are scrambling year after year to find solutions. These “solutions” are often way less than ideal, leading to extreme stress, people leaving the workforce, people moving away, or people putting their children in unsafe or unaffordable environments.
There are no new daycare facilities on the horizon, just the threat of some closing. What is on the horizon is the lack of diversity, inclusion, and workforce that supplies this town with essential functions. Let’s take action. Summit County, Park City, and the State of Utah need to prioritize this need in their funding allocations. We need to support organizations like Park City Education Foundation and Park City Community Foundation, and figure out a way to encourage the District to increase opportunities. If you are like me and wondering how to take the next steps, you can contact the aforementioned organizations. This is a critical issue not just for parents that are at their wit’s end, but for the entire community. This impacts everyone. Let’s turn our childcare desert into a childcare oasis.