Child care center at a crossroads as it turns 50

In 1975, a group of Ozaukee County parents decided to solve a gap in day care services by forming a nonprofit and starting their own school in the Town of Grafton.

It must have been a tough endeavor, Ozaukee Child Care and Preschool Administrator and CEO Lisa Clarke said, but it has helped a countless — and growing — number of families by providing a quality, affordable education for their children.

Clarke, who has run the center for nearly 25 years, said she started as a student at Ozaukee Child Care and Preschool in the 1980s, when the school opened job options for her single mother.

The parents who founded the school — then housed in a red schoolhouse at the corner of Highway C and Ulao Road that was rebuilt in 2008 — sought to solve a common issue that has only become more prevalent.

“That was a time when the community was seeing the need,” Clarke said. “It’s only gotten worse in that way. There are very few families where both parents don’t have to work.”

But while the need is greater than ever, the school, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, is at a crossroads, Clarke said, because state funding that is critical to the center is in jeopardy.

If it continues, Ozaukee Child Care and Preschool plans to expand, she said.

But if it doesn’t, she said, the school will have to consider closing or moving its Mequon location, which opened in 1991, and raising tuition “significantly.”

The school was recently toured by State Rep. Paul Melotik and State Sen. Jodi Habush Sinykin, Clarke said.

“All of that is part of our message, ‘Please continue to give us funding,’” Clarke said.

The funding helped the school balance increasing salary expectations economy-wide in a cash-strapped industry, Clarke said.

“Since Covid, there has been a demand for higher salaries and this is a low paying industry,” she said. “(The aid) allowed us to give raises.

“We want to pay our staff. We don’t want to lose them to competitors that are paying more,” such as for-profit schools or primary schools that are ensured year to year funding, she said.

Clarke said the school’s starting wage is $15 an hour, which isn’t much compared to other industries or “for the really tough job teachers have.”

The school hires teachers straight out of high school, trains them and puts them through state-required classes, she said, adding many also have degrees.

On top of finding applicants, there is a lot of closely examining and winnowing through applications, Ashley Scheunemann, director of the Grafton school, said.

The quality of teachers is pretty much every parent’s number one concern, she said,  adding,“That makes sense, we are taking care of their precious children.”

Clarke said the school has benefited from the growth of Grafton over the years has increased their enrollment.

The industry has some security, she said, because “people are not going to stop having babies.”

Ozaukee Child Care and Preschool is a nonprofit organization, which is “very unique” for religiously unaffiliated day care centers, Clarke said.

It maintains a culture of parents, who primarily make up its board of directors, being tied to the school, she said.

Pamela Knapp, director of the Meqoun location, agreed that the organization is special.

“This organization has such a soft spot in my heart. There’s something to be said about our personal relationships together and what that means for our business decisions,” she said.

Clarke said many businesses and former students have reached out to her to say that Ozaukee Child Care and Preschool’s 50th anniversary is a huge deal.

“And I agree, it is a huge deal,” she said.

The school’s 50th anniversary is being celebrated next week with a fundraiser themed “Fabulous 50s Sock Hop” that will invite school families to take part in games, activities and raffles.