6 days Ago By OLIVIA ALLEN [email protected]
St. Ambrose University will close its Children's Campus this summer after offering child care for more than 30 years. The closure takes effect on June 20, leaving some families in an abrupt search for new options.
"We recognize the essential role (quality) child care plays for families and understand that this decision has an impact," SAU spokesman Brian Boesen told the Quad-City Times/Dispatch-Argus. "That is why we are actively engaging in discussions with potential partners who may take over (facility) operations." Shown is the St.
Ambrose University Children's Campus, located at 1301 W Lombard St. in Davenport, on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. These discussions will "remain ongoing," he said, and the university is "committed to providing updates as soon as possible.
" Some parents were caught off-guard by SAU's decision to close the Children's Campus mid-summer. The center offers licensed, full-day child care to ages 6 weeks to 6 years. "I don't believe the notice was long enough," said Julie Evans, an SAU alumna whose two kids attend the Children's Campus.
Parents were informed of the closure in a mandatory "emergency" meeting with SAU Provost Joseph Roidt and Children's Campus staff on Feb. 19. According to a letter sent home with families, SAU made the decision to close the Children's Campus due to "rising costs associated with running the center.
" In a Feb. 21 follow-up letter, families were informed that they are not required to follow the center's four-week notification clause if they choose to change facilities. Evans questions why the Children's Campus couldn't stay open through the year, noting many "good" local childcare centers have lengthy wait lists.
"Those waiting lists are well over a year," Evans said, adding her family's next ideal child care option is filled through June 2026. "People who don't have children don't understand how difficult good child care is to come by." "Don't get me wrong, I'm upset the school is closing, because we love it," she added.
"But I'm more upset it's closing in four months." While that might be adequate notice for other business closures, Evans and other parents say more time is needed to find child care services. Katie Styrt, whose husband works at SAU, said the facility is a perfect fit for her family.
They even put their eldest daughter on the wait list before she was born. "When we were first expecting, (multiple) people said, 'We send our kids to St. Ambrose, it's really great, you should try to get in there,'" she said.
"It's been an amazing environment. ..
. Having it so close to my husband is a big deal, too." When her family's car broke down, Styrt said they could walk or take the bus between home and campus "without any issue.
" “That kind of flexibility, we just can't find" elsewhere, she said. Since the Children's Campus offers discounts to SAU faculty and staff, Styrt said its annual tuition costs are lower for her family compared to most other local options. "Which, frankly, (other childcare centers) don't offer as many things as SAU does," she said.
"My biggest question is, why we didn't know sooner (if) something wasn't working out?" Styrt wonders if other steps could have been taken, such as adjusting hours or raising tuition, to sustain the Children's Campus. On this front, she also recalls post-COVID discussions about setting up an endowed fund and other fundraising efforts, though these didn't come to fruition. "We have a lot of parents (and) families who really care about the care their kids receive there," Styrt said.
"We would've been excited to try and do something to help the center." Keeping that care continuous is another aspect many Children's Campus families value, she said. Evans, for example, is now hoping to find a child care center that will take her oldest daughter — an incoming kindergartener — in the short interim period before school starts in the fall.
"Like, what place is going to take someone knowing they only need (six-eight) weeks of care?" she said. "Now we have to send her somewhere random, after she's been at (SAU) as long as she can remember, right before she starts kindergarten." A large part of why SAU’s announcement "stings" for Evans and others, are the relationships they've formed with Children's Campus staff.
"I have nothing but good things to say about the (center) and the staff, they're amazing," Evans said. "I think that's also why we're all so upset. .
.. We're losing something so good for the community.
" Styrt's 1-year-old has been at Children's Campus since she was 3 months old, and her oldest, Helen, began in the fall of 2020 — roughly two weeks after Styrt's mother died after battling cancer. "So, I had been spending all this time (in lockdown, grieving) with my kid, and I was giving her over to these people who I (didn't) know," Styrt said, adding Helen, just 10 months old at the time, cried quite a bit while acclimating to the Children’s Campus. But staff quickly, and carefully, responded.
"Miss Shannon (Helen's teacher) just held her, cuddled her, read to her (and) just hung out with her," Styrt said. "That made all the difference for us, because I knew that she was well taken care of." She called Children's Campus staff "absolutely fantastic" and committed to kids.
"I really wish we could keep our kids there for (their entire) early childhood education," Styrt said. Students in some SAU programs, including early childhood education and the doctoral occupational therapy program, also use the Children's Campus for observations, training and other projects, such as the interdisciplinary "Nature Play Project." Styrt also worries for the future of these students, noting the Children's Campus a convenient place for them to work toward early childhood education certification.
"The current lead teacher in our youngest daughter's classroom was a (SAU) student who graduated and stuck around, and she's amazing at her job," she said. Fortunately, Styrt has found another child care option for her kids come June, though it's further from both her and her husband's workplaces. Both she and Evans said Children's Center staff have been helpful in the meantime and are thankful for their support.
"They've been sharing resources, (answering) questions about other child care centers. ..
. It's been really useful to talk to people who know what some of those (child care) designations mean," Styrt said. "I'm optimistic, but it'll be an interesting transition.
" Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, President of St. Ambrose, accompanies Children's Campus at SAU student as they place a blue pinwheel on the front lawn Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse.
The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities. Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, President of St. Ambrose, accompanies Children's Campus at SAU student as they place a blue pinwheel on the front lawn Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport.
The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities. Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, President of St.
Ambrose, accompanies Children's Campus at SAU student as they place a blue pinwheel on the front lawn Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities.
A Children's Campus at SAU student holds a blue pinwheel before placing it out in the front lawn to be part of a pinwheel garden Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities.
A Children's Campus at SAU student holds a blue pinwheel before placing it out in the front lawn to be part of a pinwheel garden Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities.
A blue pinwheel is seen outside Children’s Campus at SAU Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities.
A blue pinwheel is seen outside Children’s Campus at SAU Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities.
Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, President of St. Ambrose, helps a Children's Campus at SAU student place a blue pinwheel on the front lawn Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse.
The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities. Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, President of St. Ambrose, accompanies Children's Campus at SAU student as they place a blue pinwheel on the front lawn Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport.
The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities. Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ, President of St.
Ambrose, accompanies Children's Campus at SAU student as they place a blue pinwheel on the front lawn Wednesday, March 31, 2021, in Davenport. The pinwheel garden is part of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, a time when communities nationwide recognize the role everyone plays in preventing child abuse. The event Wednesday afternoon was held in partnership with with Child Abuse Council of the Quad Cities.
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