by Julie Eklund
Staff Writer
Hats, boots, scarves and high heels are strewn across the floor of room P-3 at the Pomona Fairplex. It must be dress-up time at the Child Development Center.
In another room, a group is playing “Circus Circus,” in which everyone sits in a circle and when your name is called you go into the center and perform your “act.”
The center was founded at Fairplex in 1934 by former director Ralph Hines. In 1980, it received a $1 million government grant. Hines used the money to combine Fairplex facilities with the day-care center at the University of La Verne, which needed relicensing.
The Center currently serves its limit of 155 children aged 6 weeks to 5 years. There is a waiting list of 607 more.
Assistant Director Kim Matzaganian said that there are no current plans to expand the facilities to accommodate the rapidly-growing waiting list.
“There’s a lack of space right now,” she said. “We can no longer expand here at Fairplex.”
Matzaganian added that the center tries to handle as many children as possible.
“There’s a real need for quality day-care,” she said. “If you call around, you can get your child into a day-care center tomorrow. But we try to provide very high-quality care.”
She attributes the quality of Fairplex day-care to the fact that there is a high teacher to child ratio. Compared to a national average of 12 students for each teacher, Fairplex provides at least one teacher for every eight students.
Teachers at Fairplex also provide a complete curriculum of activities for the children to enjoy.
“They have a lot of fun there because they do a lot of different things, they don’t do the same stuff every day,” said sophomore psychology major Jessica Guzman, a second-year student-worker at the Child Development Center.
Her job is to supervise what the children do, play with them and make sure they do not get hurt.
According to Office Supervisor Pat Prentice, the role of the student worker is to serve as, “extra hands. Their basic job is like a teacher’s aide, they’re there for extra support for the children.”
Although only child development majors are required to work at Fairplex, 17 ULV students with a variety of academic majors work at the Child Development Center.
“The students have a chance to prepare a curriculum and work with the children,” said Matzaganian. “They act as role models. It’s a good situation.”
Sophomore Business Administration major Michelle Runyan, also a student worker, said the children especially like doing arts and crafts projects and playing dress-up and house.
“They do bizarre stuff. They have this box filled with sand and they put water and shells in it so it’s like the beach.
“It’s a good job because you don’t have stress and you just get to play with the kids,” Runyan said.
Six classrooms break down the children according to the level of development. Teachers and parents determine which room a child should be in depending on that child’s particular developmental stage.
“You may have a 4 year-old in a room with 2 year-olds because, developmentally, that’s where he is,” said Matzaganian.
Each room is manned by a teacher, an assistant and student workers.
Two specialists are also employed by the Center, one dealing with pre-school children and the other with infants and toddlers.
Through the state subsidized “Exceptional Needs” program, developmentally delayed children, including those with Down’s syndrome and cerebral palsy, are served. According to Prentice, these children are not kept separate, but are “co-mingled with the others.”
Matzaganian said that, although state subsidized day-care centers cannot place children with special needs into a separate classroom, Fairplex has always followed this full-inclusion policy.
“It’s easy,” said Matzaganian, who believes that individualized teaching is essential to a quality day-care program.
“We look at each child as an individual. We try to meet the needs of each child,” she said. “What the teacher keeps in mind are the different needs the children in the class may have that are gong to help that child grow and develop.”
Two payment programs exist for the services offered by the Child Development Center. Charges for the first, the regular tuition-based program, depend on the age of the child. Children who are six weeks to 2 and a half years old pay $130 per week, while those who are 2 and a half to 5 pay only $97 per week.
The second is a state subsidized program, in which charges are based on the parent’s income.
Matzaganian believes the state subsidized program is important, stating that “there are more people in need of child care than the state can possibly give money to.”
The Center is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Several children of ULV employees stay at the Child Development Center.
Melissa Jaunal, coordinator of student programs, has been utilizing the Center for her 20-month-old daughter Taylor for the past 17 months.
Jaunal said their family has had an overall positive experience at the Center. “We went down to take a tour, and we really like the facility. It was new and bright, had lots of windows, and was really open.”
Another incentive for Jaunal is that, because ULV students work there, she knows the people taking care of Taylor.
“She [Taylor] seems happy to go there, she has a good time. Overall, I think she receives good care there,” Jaunal said.
Julie Eklund
