Sean C. Morgan
A $2,500 grant from the Sweet Home Community Foundation and a $500 from the City of Sweet Home will allow Little Promises Child Care to build a fence, enclosing a large enough playground to meet state regulations for daycare.
Little Promises offers daycare services for children through age 5, with a preschool, kindergarten and a before- and after-school for children through the sixth grade.
“We have two playgrounds,” said Nelia Taraski, director. “The first is fully fenced for infants.”
Toddlers have a separate playground, she said. One additional area needs to be fully fenced for the 3- and 4-year-olds. That space also isn’t large enough to meet state requirements.
The Little Promises Board of Directors long ago placed tractor tires out as toys, and the playground has monkey bars and a swing set, Taraski said. “However, it’s not fenced, so we cannot use it.”
The only children allowed to use are elementary age students, Taraski said, but they think the toys on the playground are silly. They’re more interested in the fort and log cabin Little Promises has built using donations.
The playground is one of three projects Little Promises has undertaken to improve child safety at the former Pleasant Valley Kindergarten facility, which is leased from the Sweet Home School District.
The first was the installation of a new security camera system, Taraski said. The old system was obsolete. Little Promises held fund-raising events and collected donations to pay for the new system.
The new system has a higher resolution, allowing staff to see clearly what the cameras are seeing, Taraski said, and it has recording capabilities.
The second project is to get the playground “properly fenced to secure the children,” Taraski said. “It’s not just the stray dogs. It’s to keep unauthorized people off the playground.
“We have children with special needs. If something triggers stressful memories, they tend to run.”
The state also requires fencing, she said.
“I think that was a big motivating force, to meet state requirements,” said Tony McGovern, owner of McGovern Maintenance, the contractor that will build the fence. McGovern also is a parent, and he plans to donate his services for the balance of the project, which is estimated at $3,500.
“That way there’s no out-of-pocket they have to raise,” McGovern said.
He plans to begin working on the fence when weather permits.
The third project is secure the campus, Taraski said, “to find a way to lock the doors so strangers cannot walk into the building.”
“It’s more complicated than just putting a card-lock system on the door,” said Erik Duncan, chairman of the school’s Board of Directors, and the board is still figuring out the best way to lock the doors.
Staff members are trained how to respond if someone does breech the facility, Taraski said. “The protection of the children is their priority.”
Little Promises has a capacity of 105, Duncan said, and it’s running close to that.
Anita Hutchins started the school as a business in 1982. Little Promises became a nonprofit organization with a board directors in 2006. Hutchins retired in 2013, and Taraski became director.
The program has annual revenues and expenses of around $400,000, according to its Form 990, and employs 20 staff members.
The majority of funding comes from tuition, Duncan said. Tuition for preschool-age children is $120 per month.
“I think it’s more than fair for what kids receive,” Duncan said. “In east Linn County there’s not the money there is in Corvallis or Salem.”
Given state mandates, like sick leave requirements, it can be difficult, but the board is trying to keep the program as economical as possible, Duncan said.
For more information about Little Promises, call (541) 367- 4350.