Do not compromise the quality of the CDC, Please!!

On April 1, 2011, I was notified that 25 positions from the UNI CDC were going to be eliminated. I moved to Iowa in 2007 from Dallas, Texas as a single mother of three. I worked very hard to earn my Associate’s degree online through Hawkeye so I could be a stay at home mother to my daughter Mia. I had heard about the CDC while I was researching my transfer to UNI. I put Mia on the waiting list and she was on the wait list for almost two years. Mia started at the CDC in August of 2010. Since I had been home with her for the first three years of her life this was very difficult for me.

I made my concerns clear from the first meeting in my home with Lisa, Donna, and Leann. Each of them assured me that Mia would be in excellent hands. I could not be more pleased with Mia’s teachers Donna and Leann. Each of them has gone out of their way to talk to me; often times the interaction with them is the bulk of my adult conversation for a day. They have learned about my past, my family, and have even worked on seeing to it that my goals for Mia are met. Her teachers have been a true blessing and I could not be more thankful for them. When Mia is not at school she talks about Donna and Leann as if they are members of her family. She states that she loves them and misses them over the weekend. Mia went from a child who cried and held onto my leg at the very beginning, to a little girl who can’t wait to get to school everyday. On two occasions I have attempted to pick her up early and she asks me to come back for her at the end of the day.

On the second day of school last semester I had a gall bladder attack and was in the ER in Waterloo. Lisa went out of her way to pick Mia up from the hospital to see to it she would not miss school. Lisa has also provided words of encouragement to me on days when school was very overwhelming for me. As I mentioned above I am a single mother of three, full time student at UNI, and an employee of the Special Education Department at UNI, my plate is full and the staff at the CDC have helped to ease some of my burdens.

I was very hesitant to place my child in any type of Head Start program. The only reason I have her in the CDC is because of the quality of the care provided, the diversity, and the fact that the school accepts non Head Start families as well. If Mia were to lose her spot at the CDC it could possibly mean that I would have to take a year off school until she is old enough for Kindergarten. My daughter has had the opportunity to experience many things at the CDC that would not be part of a regular daycare program. I would rather take a year off of school than have the quality of her child care reduced. I fear that with the current proposed changes to CDC the integrity and quality of the CDC will be compromised. Neither Mia nor any other child should have to be uprooted from a place that makes them happy and brings the children so much joy. I am proud when I tell people that my daughter is a student at the CDC, as I know all the other families are as well.

Sincerely,

Amanda Sampica

Mother, UNI Student, Current CDC Parent