Thirteen-month-old Amiah crawls across the legs of a reporter who is kneeling while conducting interviews at the new Blaine County School District daycare center.
"Excuse me, am I in your way?" the reporter asks.
Amiah doesn't answer, but continues her journey, finishing by sitting down and leaning against the reporter's left leg.
"Would you like to be interviewed, too?" the reporter asks.
Again she doesn't answer, but just looks up at him with a big smile on her face.
Then there's Charlie. He's 22 months old and curious about the reporter's notebook and pencil. He walks up several times, pointing at the notebook and watching the reporter take notes.
He declines to be interviewed, too.
Thirteen-month-old Issac keeps his distance, but watches what's going on closely, with a big smile on his face and a knowing look in his eyes.
Amiah, Charlie and Issac are three of the four toddlers enrolled in the new daycare, officially known as the Blaine County School District Teen Parenting Center. Located at Silver Creek High School, the center serves teenager mothers who attend the Silver Creek alternative school and nearby Wood River High School.
The daycare center, earlier a subject of controversy, opened in November as a one-year pilot after being approved in June 2011 by the school board. It was a close vote, with the trustees split 3-2 for approval.
At the time, criticism included opinions that establishing a daycare center for student mothers would encourage teenage pregnancy, that the proposal needed further study, that a school daycare would take business away from private daycare centers and that the proposal didn't go far enough in addressing the psychological aspects of the issue.
Superintendent Lonnie Barber's main argument in favor was that an on-campus daycare center would help teenage mothers stay in school. For three teen mothers using the service, it appears to at least be helping them to focus on their studies.
Teenage mothers
Charlie's mother, 18-year-old Emma Burgan, dropped out of school last year but is now re-enrolled as a senior at Silver Creek. Burgan lives with her mother, who she said has been very helpful in raising Charlie, but that having an on-campus daycare center has made it easier for the two of them to care for the child.
"The daycare has made it possible for me to have a super education and go to college so I can have a job and be able to support my son," Burgan said in an interview Friday. "Without the daycare, I would probably be a high school dropout without an education and without a job.
"I was out all last year. I attended online classes but it wasn't realistic—it just wasn't happening—there were too many distractions. When your baby's taking a nap, you either want to clean or sleep. There's no downtime or time to think about school."
Burgan said the new daycare relieves a lot of the stress of being a teenage mother. She can take Charlie to school with her each day, visit him during class breaks and lunch, and otherwise be free to focus on her studies.
"I just want to thank the Blaine County School District for making this a reality for me, and Desiree for taking such good care of my child," Burgan said.
Desiree Kelly has been hired as the daycare center's childcare director. She said parents bring their children to the center at 8:30 a.m. and pick them up at 3:30 p.m. each school day, but can drop in to be with their children throughout the day.
"They come in during lunchtime to take care of them, feed them and help out the other parents," Kelly said. "I love it. I have 18 years experience working with parents and their children so they can get an education."
Issac's mother, 18-year-old Vanessa Granados, another senior at Silver Creek, said she would likely have finished high school without the new daycare center because her parents are supportive of her getting a good education. Nonetheless, she said having on-campus daycare makes it easier for her to focus on school and affords her the opportunity to be with her son during the day.
"It's really helpful," Granados said. "I was supposed to graduate last year but I got pregnant so I decided to stay home with Issac."
Amiah's mother, 18-year-old Gabriela German, another Silver Creek senior, said she missed two trimesters last year when Amiah was born and because her daughter later had to have surgery.
German no longer lives with her parents, but now lives with her boyfriend and Amiah's father, 20-year-old Jose Ruiz. He drops in a few times a week to have lunch with German and Amiah.
"I like it because the mom can spend some time with the little kid," said Ruiz.
German said that with the help of Ruiz, she is determined to finish her education with or without the daycare center. But she also said that having Amiah at school is convenient because her daughter needs a lot of attention.
"I want to be close to Amiah throughout the day," she said.
Sixteen-year-old Samantha Tucker doesn't have a child enrolled in the daycare center, but plans to next year because she is expecting in July. Currently she assists at the daycare one period each school day as an elective class.
"I get to come over and play with the babies," Tucker said.
She said having a daycare center on-campus relieves some of the anxiety she's felt about becoming a mother.
"It's going to be in a really good place to have the baby come," Tucker said. "All these kids are going to be gone, but there will be more babies next year."
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Parents and toddlers at the new Blaine County School District daycare center are shown here Friday. From left are Emma Burgan and her son, Charlie; Gabriela German with her daughter, Amiah, and her boyfriend, Jose Ruiz; Vanessa Granados with her son, Issac, and expectant mother Samantha Tucker. Photo by Willy Cook
