Frederick Community College To Close Children’s Center
FCC Children’s Center.
Frederick, Md (KM) After 30 years of operation, Frederick Community College says it will close its Children’s Center, also known as the Carl and Norma Miller Children’s Center, effective May 16th of this year. In a statement, the school says the facility, located at the Monroe Campus, has been experiencing net income losses of $1.3-million between fiscal years 2020 to 2024, .even with a subsidy from Frederick County of $250,000. .
FCC says the building housing the children’s center will be refurbished to support workforce training. It will house the FCC Certified Nursing Assistant Program, Phlebotomy, and Dental Programs. This repurposing of the building will begin in the fall of 2025.
The school says children’s services are an auxiliary unit of community colleges which are intended to be self-supporting. . And for this reason, many colleges unable to sustain these operations as a sole-owner and operator. FCC says the Center, which served children infants to age four,, has never operated at its full capacity of 83 children, and revenues are not sufficient to cover expenses.
The Board of Trustees says the core purpose of FCC is to provide students with an education, workforce preparation, skills, abilities and personal growth necessary for succeed in the world. “This is the core business of FCC,” says President Anness Payne Cheek, in a statement. , “And in today’s financially austere environment at the federal, state and local levels, any operations that sustains repeated financial loss must be critically evaluated. I continue to articulate the need for FCC employees to embrace decision making by data and evidence through challenging the evidence, the evidence which informed this decision was clear.”
Currently, the FCC Children’s Center’s patrons include 20 FCC student-parents, 12 FCC employee parents and 18 parents who are members of the general community.
By Kevin McManus