In efforts to expand childcare access and availability for their employees, One City Schools announced on Thursday it will begin offering affordable childcare on-site at the Pleasant T. Rowland Leadership Campus in Monona.
The program will begin in October and will be at the 1707 W. Broadway location in the Gail and Gordon Derzon Early Care Center enrolling children ages 6 months to one year old. Slightly older children of employees at One City School can already enroll in One City’s preschool program at a 25% discount on tuition for their first child and 10% for their second.
“Each year, we have team members who bring beautiful new children into the world but are unable to find available and/or affordable care for their infants and toddlers,” said Kaleem Caire, One City founder and CEO, in a press release. “We operate a highly sought-after 5-star preschool with an outstanding, stable and experienced staff. We decided it would benefit our staff, their children, our three schools and the 400 children we teach to offer on-site child care for infants and toddlers. Doing so will enable teachers and staff to keep working and teaching with us while also giving them peace of mind that their children are being well cared for.
“We are deeply grateful for the tremendous and timely support of the Roots & Wings Foundation. We appreciate what they are doing to expand access to high-quality early learning opportunities in Wisconsin. It also feels great that we are able to extend child care opportunities to our staff, and provide it at a rate they can afford.”
The Roots and Wings Foundation, an organization that helps fund child and family well-being in Dane County, has given a grant of $100,000 for the goal of supporting this expansion. The funding provided by Roots and Wings, according to a press release, will both help supply and equip the center, as well as enable One City to launch the program with one lead teacher, an assistant teacher, and six infants and toddlers.
With the 25% discount rate for One City Staff, the tuition cost looks to be $255 per week for infant care and $240 a week for one-year-olds. Tuition along with the support from Roots and Wings hope to cover the full cost of operating the new center.
Bryce Pickett, One City’s executive director of early education also voices support for the expansion in a release and hopes that One City can lead by example for others saying,
“As with everything we do at One City Schools, we hope to be an example for other employers and educational institutions who would like to offer the same benefit for their employees. We share everything that we do at One City so others can learn with us and from us. We look forward to sharing how this works with our colleagues and other schools across the country.”
The Gail and Gordon Derzon Early Care Center name comes from the two longtime supporters of One City Schools, and supporters of access to quality childhood and K-12 education, access to college, and health equity in Wisconsin and beyond. Gordon Derzon also served as the president and CEO of the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics for 26 years, as well as on the Board of Directors of One City Schools since 2016.
