#reopenclc Reconsider the PERMANENT closing of the Children’s Learning Center

During this pandemic we have seen the massive need for good quality child care. Now that the socioeconomics of our lower to middle class pressures are expanding why choose to cut child care? The needs will only be increasing in the future and $340,000 a year seems a small amount compared to the millions of dollars spent expanding the college. What a disappointing turn of events!

Please reconsider the closure of the CLC. It is truly an asset to HCC and all of Howard County. It serves its young students, HCC students, and the local community. The entire county will suffer a loss if it remains closed. My son is a recent CLC alumni, having left last August to begin kindergarten. He started in the infant room at 5 months old. The quality of care he received from his CLC teachers was excellent, despite extra challenges from lingering physical issues as a result of spending time in the NICU. The staff were supportive of his participation in the Infants and Toddlers program and they made extra efforts to incorporate his physical therapy into his daily routine. Over the years, his teachers were all loving and kind and found fun and unique ways to help him develop. The CLC was part of our extended family for those 5+ years. Upon “graduation” he was well prepared for Kindergarten, both socially and academically. Quality, affordable day care is incredibly difficult to find. The CLC stands out in Howard County for offering a MSDE-accredited preschool with knowledgeable, educated teachers and play-based learning. The CLC’s location at HCC offers all sorts of opportunities: walks to the pond to see tadpoles, special performances in the auditorium, and the annual Halloween parade. The additional presence of the HCC college students mean the kids get extra one-on-one attention and lessons, even from dental students. The CLC attracts a diverse group of parents – HCC students, HCC staff, hospital staff, and local families – whose children learn and play together. The decision to close the CLC saddens me. I’m heartbroken for the wonderful staff of superb teachers who’ve lost their jobs. And I’m disappointed for all the young children of Howard County who won’t have the opportunity learn, grow, and get an excellent start at life at the CLC. I hope that the outpouring of support for the CLC will show those at HCC what an importa

I took care of my grandson for the first 2 years of his life. When it was time for him to start a program, the CLC was the only center I felt comfortable with him attending because it was affiliated with Howard Community College. I was devastated when I found out about the closure and hope the college can find a way to keep the center open.

Closure of the CLC is an immeasurable loss to our family, the community, and HCC’s staff, faculty and students. It was not just amazing childcare with a stellar early childhood education program, the devoted and caring staff created a second home for our son and the other children. Though there may not have been many HCC students with children enrolled at the center, the CLC was also a lab school used by HCC students across multiple disciplines to earn hands-on experience required for completion of their degrees or transfer to a 4-year institution. I hope HCC is able to re-evaluate and reconsider the decision to close the CLC.

Cannot close this place that serves so many children

Concerned Grandparents.

My mother has worked at the CLC for 15 years. She is not only an amazing mother, but an incredible teacher who loves to watch the growth of her students as they come through the Dragonfly classroom. With her job I was proudly able to attend HCC and transfer out to UMBC, following my A.A. in General Sciences. I've spent countless, "bring your child to work," days, lunches, and out-of-school weeks at the CLC. I was not only upset but angry to hear that HCC would close the CLC with almost no notice, leaving career teachers, many having over a decade of experience at the CLC, unemployed. Reconsideration of the closing of the CLC is a must.

I am heartbroken. My now 9 year old daughter spent 3 years at the CLC and is so much better for it. If there is a way to reopen, and the staff is in full support, it should absolutely keep going. It was a gem of the community.

Please consider keeping CLC open. It is an affordable, safe educational space for children and the community needs places like this now more than ever. The CLC staff care deeply about healthy child development and they work hard to provide an exciting and welcoming place that my child looked forward to going to each day. You would be doing a huge disservice to the community's children by closing CLC. Please keep it open!

This closure is a real detriment to the HCC Community.

My grandson has loved going to the center the past couple of years, and this will be a terrible loss for him. His parents - my son & daughter-on-law - both work, and this loss will be a significant blow to them for multiple reasons. Please reconsider this action.

Save Maryland Childcare Centers now!

We began at the CLC when I was a student and our son was a little over 1 year old. It was a decision made out of not only convenience but also a deep sense of comfort in knowing that our son, in his first daycare experience, would be cared for by a skilled and loving staff. Our second child began at 6 months old and shared many of the same teachers as our first as she grew through the program. We have stayed and planned on staying at the CLC well beyond my time as an HCC student. The relationships that have been developed as a result of our time there are invaluable. The news that our daughter will not be able to finish her last 2 years at the CLC, nor will our son be able to pick up his little sister and revisit the school where he spent four years and teachers to which he wasn’t able to properly say goodbye, was a devastating blind-side to our family. The process by which this decision was made is shortsighted and flawed and has left a stain on the reputation of both the college and administration. Those responsible have done a major disservice to the CLC community present and future as well as the greater HCC community by devaluing not only the contributions and needs of families and staff, but also future opportunities for HCC students. Cindy Peterka and Kate Hetherington, please reconsider your decision to close the CLC as an obvious and justifiable step towards the betterment of the college and community it serves. There is much grace and benevolence in admitting one’s mistakes. Thank you for your time and consideration. Alec, Kori, Clark, and Remi Best

The college needs high quality day care options. This is a loss for the students and our community :(

In support of parents who need safe daycare options and in recognition that HCC was a pillar here for HoCo for many years. Hope they will reconsider and continue to be a forward thinking institution in our county.

One of my classmates could only take classes because of the childcare offered here. She was very happy with it and it is a vital service to the community.

Reopen the CLC. Vital to our community. Enrollment not a problem. Excellence cannot be matched. Meeting of the minds needed to iron out any problems causing a shutdown.

Please reconsider your decision to close

I concur with this petition! This is shameful and a hurting experIence. Why did HCC and our County officials even though about this happening... in How Co? My grandson is so upset and misses all of his teachers, and friends. The staff, students and parents and the community deserves better- Fix it!

My son has been going to the CLC since he was a infant after a few month at another daycare that was incapable of educating and giving my son the care I needed him to have. Being a HCC student I registered my son to the CLC and loved it every since, My son ,and family . You could just see how much he learned and advanced he has became. Telling him his school was closed was very hard because all he wanted to do was to return to school and see his friends and teachers. Please reconsider