The Women's Initiative Steering Committee is working to bring a self-run childcare co-operative to Duke's graduate and professional students.
Interest arose primarily from the students, said Rob Saunders, president of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, but committee members believe there are faculty and staff who could benefit as well.
Saunder said the proposal is still in its early stages. One of the main factors delaying a decision, he said, is the lack of communication with graduate and professional student-parents over the summer. As a result, many people have been unable to come out for or against the proposal - a step that is necessary since graduate and professional students themselves would play an integral role in running the co-op.
Deirdre Gordon, program director for the Divinity School and a member of Parents@Duke, said problems of communicating the proposal do not exist only during the summer, as there is no official way to communicate comprehensively with all the parents at the University.
"The challenge for [Parents@Duke] is getting information out, which is really a University-wide problem," Gordon said. "I would hope that if there is a new initiative like a co-op, there'd be ways to communicate to parents who are interested."
Communication and interest are not the only obstacles standing in the way of a child care co-op. In order to have a successfully running co-op, there would need to be heavy support from parents, and hopefully from the University as well, Gordon said.
"I guess my hope would be that there would be some level of support [from the University] that would allow [the co-op to develop]," Gordon said. "University support could help sustain the program over time."
Because liability has been one of the University's major concerns when dealing with childcare, there is currently only one on-campus option for parents. However, this option, the Children's Campus, is out of many parents' price range and can enroll only a limited number of children.
"Even with [this summer's 6,900-square-foot] expansion, there is still limited space available, so even though the expansion has met some need, it hasn't met all the needs," Gordon said. "Plus, that is a very expensive option."
Advocates of the co-op hope a parent-run daycare could expand parents' options by virtue of being more affordable.
The childcare co-op would reside in a trailer that was formerly used by the Children's Campus and is properly fitted for housing up to 15 or 20 children at a time. The trailer could be placed anywhere near University utility connections, but organizers may also consider other factors such as parking, play areas and potential convenience to parents.
In order for the facility to operate as an unlicensed childcare center, parents would not be able to leave their children for more than four hours at a time.
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