Sadness marks closing of Mount Pleasant's Owl's Nest

By ASHLEE STALLINGA

Mt. Pleasant News

After 17 years in operation, The Owl?s Nest Child Care Center and Preschool of Mt. Pleasant will be closing its doors on July 28, when director Rose Alaniz retires.

Many parents, children, staff, and certainly Alaniz herself, have strong ties to The Owl?s Nest, and will be sad to see it close. On top of that, it is the largest child care center in town, and the announcement that it is closing has caused a rush to other day care centers, many of which are filling up quickly.

?It?s such a hard place for our parents (to be in),? Alaniz said.

But it?s also difficult for her, she said, tears in her eyes. ?I?m looking forward to retiring, but it?s a sad time, too, saying goodbye to all these families. Children I have watched now have children here, or work here. ?

Andrew Millard is one of those children: he went to day care with Alaniz when the center first opened; now, he and his wife Jennifer send their four-year-old daughter Kyli to The Owl?s Nest.

?We kind of panicked at first about what we were going to do,? Jennifer said. ?We?ve got it all figured out now ? we found somewhere else to go, but we will definitely miss The Owl?s Nest.?

Alaniz and her husband, Sal, have owned and operated a child care center in Mt. Pleasant since 1990; they opened The Owl?s Nest when they moved to its current location in 1994. Sal, who operates Print Group U.S.A. in Mt. Pleasant, is not planning to retire yet.

The Owl?s Nest has 121 children ? ages six weeks to 12 years ? registered from 95 families. On an average summer day, about 70 children spend time at the daycare.

The center also employs 28 staff members.

Rose told her staff about her retirement on July 5, and made the announcement to the families on July 6.  The following day, July 7, was a tough one.

A pot of pink begonias from her husband brightened her day, and so did sorting through emails like this one, from a former Owl?s Nest parent:

?Congratulations on your retirement! You have been a blessing to so many in our community?you have gone above and beyond. I always felt safe knowing (our daughter) was in your care.?

?I just got so many,? Alaniz said. ?It made me smile all day.?

Of course, it wasn?t all smiles for Alaniz, for the parents, or for the kids.

With July 28 fast approaching, parents are left without much time to find somewhere else for their children to go.

?There?s not a lot of options, especially for before and after school kids. That?s who I?m most concerned for,? Alaniz said.

That problem is compounded by the requirements in place for those using government assistance.

More than half the parents who send their kids to Owl?s Next receive assistance, Alaniz said. That means they have to use a licensed child care provider ? they can?t hire a relative or a neighbor.

The transition has been a struggle for the kids, too ? retirement is not easy for them to grasp.

Alaniz spent time talking to the older kids about what was going to happen. She asked if they knew what retirement meant. One told her it meant that she?d be playing golf all day, and another compared it to what he saw in an episode of Spongebob.

Alaniz laughed, and explained what it really meant for her to retire. She mentioned that even when she?s retired, she expects to see the children around town: in church, in school, at the grocery store and at the pool.

But the children still had some trouble with the issue. One little girl questioned, ?Why don?t you want to do your job anymore??

They may not comprehend it fully, but the kids do pick up on quite a bit. Last week, a few girls were playing ?child care?: one girl says to another, ?I know we?re closing; do you have any room in your baby room??

?I know it?s on everyone?s mind,? Alaniz said.

Sal and Rose Alaniz own the land, the building and school bus for Owl?s Nest. When the doors close on July 28, the building will remain exactly as it is now: photos on the wall, rooms ready and waiting for children.

?We?ll see if someone comes to take care of it,? she said.

Alaniz hopes that someone will be able to buy it, and perhaps reopen the day care, but she?s not getting her hopes up too high.

?It takes quite a bit of capital,? she said. ?Mortgage and payroll ? it gets expensive.? Alaniz notes that the expense involved in running the day care played a role in the decision to close, too.

But for now, she has been sending most families to New London Community Child Care Center, which is the nearest daycare center to Mt. Pleasant.

?It will be a great boom for New London,? Alaniz said. ?They?ve been struggling to get enough families, and they have great facilities.?

Right now, Dennis Julian, director of the New London center, is trying to figure out exactly how many families he can add. He approximates that 17 called him last week, and he spent the weekend trying to

?We won?t be able to take them all,? he said, ?but we?ll be getting as many in as we possibly can.?

The board will likely change the hours of the center at a meeting tonight, Julian reports, to accommodate parents from Owl?s Nest. The two centers currently have different hours of operation. The hours from Owl?s Nest aren?t necessariy easy to fill: the center was open from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The board will also look into options for before and after school care.

Alaniz has also looked to New London to provide jobs for her staff members. But according to Julian, that will depend on how many new families the center can accept.

?We will fit in as many of the staff as we can as well,? Julian said. ?I?m working on that now, but if I had to guess, I would say we can add between five and 10.?

No staff member is in a hurry to go anywhere else. ?They?re all planning on staying until all the families leave,? Alaniz said.

For the kids, going anywhere else just isn?t quite the same.

One afternoon last week, Alaniz simply walked into an Owl?s Nest room and Riley Timmerman, 6, shouted ?I don?t want Owl?s Nest to close! Or you to retire!?

?He keeps telling me that he visited a different Owl?s Nest, but that it didn?t have a bus,? Alaniz said, smiling. ?I tell him that it?s not Owl?s Nest, but it?s a hard concept for these kids.?

Certainly there are a few things they will miss.  For example, the kids get treats every Friday: a bag of gummies or some other candy. And when Owl?s Nest kids go on to graduate from high school, Alaniz sends them one more bag of gummies to congratulate them.

The kids clearly love her, and the feeling is mutual.

?You can learn so much from children,? Alaniz said.