Shawn Penrod
The newly renovated McKay building growing closer to completion.// El recién renovado edificio McKay established cada vez mas cerca de ser completado.
The Melba S. Lehner Children’s School has been serving families within Weber State University and its community for over 70 years, with the school being housed within the McKay Education Building up until 2023. While the program had been running successfully for years, recently-published information regarding concerns for child care practices has families on edge to trust the program.
There have been allegations of inattentive caregivers, bullying and broken bones.
“Last year, the Melba S. Lehner Children’s School conducted an independent review of its operations and program,” Rachel Badali, WSU’s news coordinator, said. “The goal was to identify any areas or practices that could be improved, paying particular attention to training and safety.”
The review board recommended that the procedure manual, which all caregivers and employees must follow, be updated and offer more coverage of practices and procedures. It also updated policies dedicated to supervising children and reviews of emergency protocols.
Many students feel that these are all things that shouldn’t have been a problem within the daycare, and it shows the lack of proper training and neglect of taking care of the children entrusted to them. It is also raising concern for many, seeing as the caregivers in this program are currently going through school in this field, and it brings forward unease over child welfare.
Along with that, enrollment requirements for the school’s children are lackluster, with an online questionnaire that asks only a few basic questions mostly pertaining to the parents rather than the child and not even asking for basic medical information, i.e., allergies, asthma, immunizations or history of epilepsy/seizures.
Naomi Widdison, a WSU sophomore and mother to an infant girl, has been struggling with the parameters and feeling like the children’s school is turning its back on her and her family.
“The wait lists are massive, and my mother has to travel from American Fork every day,” Widdison said. “I have classes to watch my daughter. I have to choose between going to class and getting my homework done because the school denied my daughter.”
This all comes from the fact that Widdison’s daughter is too young to be enrolled in the children’s school, and while the administrator did send back other possible solutions, they are much too expensive for many college students to afford.
“I can’t afford outside daycare,” Widdison said. “I’d have to stop school and work to afford it, and that defeats the purpose. They don’t seem all that interested in taking care of students and their families. My daughter didn’t fall into the right age bracket, and I feel pretty snubbed over the situation.”
The frustration over available child care throughout the campus has been widespread, and many share Widdison’s complaints and worries.
“It could be more organized,” Widdison said. “A better questionnaire might be an idea to get a better understanding of the kids. It sounds like better training should be offered to those working in the daycare. If they’re hurting for help, they could see if parents could come in every once in a while.”
Even high schools across the county, like Bonneville High School, have daycares for teachers’ children who are too young to be enrolled in kindergarten through the help of high school students. Many students feel that a college campus should afford to be able to do the same for its students, who are paying to be there.