Last Wheatland daycares in operation

Mark DeLap
Posted 4/15/20

Piccadilly Play School and Kid's Kastle daycares are open to children of essential workers only at this time.

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Last Wheatland daycares in operation

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WHEATLAND – Three years ago, Lindsay Burke left teaching to take over a day care center in Wheatland. The security of leaving a teaching job versus opening a business has its challenges, but none more challenging than what she is now experiencing in the face of the coronavirus.
On the other side of town, Ronda Evans who has been with the Kid’s Kastle day care for 34 years and executive director since 1993 has also seen the devastating economic effects of the pandemic.
Kid’s Kastle is a nonprofit day care that was established in 1979 and was started when the Basin Electric Laramie River Station power plant first came in.
The Piccadilly Play School is located in the back portion of the old Wheatland junior high building at 11th and Oak Street.
The day care that usually has 40 children per day is now down to only teaching children of those essential workers who are needing child care help.
“Usually we have six or seven teachers every day,” Burke said. “I have eight employees total. Since the virus hit, I’ve lost almost all of the kids and I have only a few teachers. This is because we are only allowed to provide services for essential personnel. Today we have five children and that’s the most we’ve had since the order has come down. We took a major hit.”
As for looking into help for small businesses during this harsh economy, Burke has not pursued any of that.
“I do have an operating loan through First State Bank which provides me some cushion for now,” she said. “The loan they are providing has a low interest rate, but I would rather not have to borrow money if I don’t have to.”

In the wake of a virus that has no end in sight, the only certainty is that there is nothing certain.
“I think the hardest part is the unknown of how long are we going to stay providing services to five kids?” Burke said. “It’s hard because I feel like I have an obligation to the families to make sure there is a safe environment, that there’s a place where their kids can go and remain healthy. But then there’s also an obligation to my staff members. If I don’t have kids here, then they don’t work, and if they don’t work, they don’t get paid.”
That is the fine line that Burke is walking as she’s caught between obligation and economic disaster. This has been a bit different scenario from those who have lost their jobs to a business that eventually will be losing money by staying open.
“If this were to continue through April, then I would be at that point where I wouldn’t be able to afford to keep it open,” Burke said.
She is between a rock and a hard place in that if she did close down the day care center, there would be limited options for her personally. She has a teaching degree and could go back to substitute teaching, but the schools are up in the air as to their return also.
Even through all of the shadows that this virus is casting, Burke is keeping a positive outlook and still maintains a five-year goal.
“My hope would be that I would be the No. 1 provider for Platte County,” Burke said. “That’s my goal. I would like to have the reputation that this is where you want your kids to go, and this is the school to get your name on the waitlist.”
Staffing for Kid’s Kastle is the biggest challenge that Evans faces other than trying to make ends meet during the pandemic.
“With the coronavirus, the challenge is to try to remember to count my staff in my numbers,” Evans said. “We can only be in groups of 10, we have to be in separate rooms and so that means only 9 children and one staff member. We’ve never before had to count staff. That makes it difficult because if you bring 9 children in to eat lunch, there can only be 1 staff member in there with them, and generally we havetwo helping.”
Although the day care does not practice social distancing, Evans said that temperatures are taken when the children come in the door. Usually the day care has 40 children, but the directive to allow only children for essential workers has depleted the numbers.
“Today we have 19 and this is the most we’ve had,” Evans said. “Generally it has been between 12 and 18. Financially it’s horrible. Our child to staff ratio is 18 to 1. As it is now, we have nine children and one staff.”
She said that they still need the staff for watching the children, whether you are watching two children or nine. The same amount of money is paid out and so staff payroll is the same, but a decreased amount of money is coming in to help pay that staff.
At this point, Evans has not had to lay off staff, but hours have been cut back. She has nine staff, two of which are part-time workers. A few of her staff members have voluntarily opted to take time off without pay.
“It’s been quite a decrease,” Evans said, “but we still have the same expenses.”
There are day cares that may have to close even with the flow of essential worker’s children. Kid’s Kastle would have to look seriously at that possibility if the reality was that it would cost more money to stay open than to shut down.
“If we got down to where we had under 10 children, then it would cost us,” Evans said. “Really, at any time it could cost us more to be open than closed, unless we stopped paying our staff.”
Kid’s Kastle opens each day at 7:30 a.m. and closes at 5:30 p.m.
Piccadilly Play School opens each day at 6 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m.
Both daycares are open to children of essential workers only at this time.