KNOX, Pa. (EYT) – Pa. State Representative Donna Oberlander and local law enforcement leaders on Wednesday toured Pre-K Counts and Keystone STAR 4 child care provider Keystone SMILES Community Learning Center and held a discussion on the continued challenges of the early care and education sector.
Participants in the discussion were Representative Donna Oberlander; Knox Borough Police Chief Nicole Bauer; Clarion County District Attorney Drew Welsh; Bruce Clash, Pennsylvania State Director, Fight Crime: Invest in Kids; and Tracy Weaver, Outreach and Communications Coordinator, Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC).
Monica Weeter, Director of School Readiness Programs at Keystone SMILES Community Learning Center, discussed the impact that staffing shortages are having on the children they serve.
“We know turnover has a really negative impact on a child’s development because the most important indicator of a quality program is the teacher in the classroom. The interactions between teachers and children are critical to a child’s healthy development,” Weeter explained.
Throughout Clarion County and the entire commonwealth, early learning providers are experiencing significant staffing shortages due to a lack of applicants, in part because the average child care worker makes $10.69 per hour. Speakers made it clear that the child care staffing crisis is very real and impacting local families’ ability to access the care they need in order to...
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