PRINCETON — These days, even the toddlers are being hit by the effects of our nation’s faltering economy.

At least, that’s the case in Princeton, where one of the city’s oldest day care facilities is facing closure due to budgetary deficits. Early this month, CASE West Virginia officials informed staffers and parents that the Princeton Community Child Development Center would be closed by the end of September.

“They told us we’ll be closing due to financial reasons, but we’re concerned because there is a big need for this facility in the community,” said PCCDC Director Carolyn Hamilton. “We’ve already lost over half of our enrollment since the news, but a lot of our parents are concerned about finding day care for their children, so we have petitions out with signatures from them, trying to keep it open. The staff at a lot of area businesses rely on us for their childcare, and when you combine Princeton Community Hospital, HealthSouth and Princeton Health Care, there is a strong demand for our childcare right there.”

Opened in 1982 and located adjacent to Princeton Community Hospital, the center was initially affiliated with the hospital. CASE West Virginia later took over operation of the facility, leasing the building from PCH ever since. Since its foundation, the day care center has blossomed into a successful facility featuring care for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years and an educational pre-school preparation class directed by the Mercer County Board of Education, similar to those offered at the Princeton and Bluefield Early Learning Centers. While numbers have suffered since news of the closure, the facility typically sees a total enrollment of 60-80 children.

“These kids are getting quality care here, and not only that, but our teaching program, especially, has been very successful over the last three years,” said PCCDC Lead Teacher Melissa Harman. “There is a big demand for that, and a lot of parents are very upset about losing that, because they want their children to come here and now with such short notice, they’re having a hard time placing their children other places because they’re getting full fast.”

The fight to stay open is not new to the PCCDC, which saw the threat of a potential closure thwarted in part by parent upheaval years ago. Harman says that although the relatively short notice given to staffers and parents has left little time for solution-seeking this time around, some parents are still rallying to keep the doors of their children’s day care center open.

“Some parents have shown a lot of concern, and they’ve been trying to fight to keep it open on their own,” she said. “Other parents started searching for a new facility as soon as we found out about the closure, which is understandable, because they have to have care for their kids. But, we’ve put up a note on all of our rooms asking the parents of children we still have here to sign a note stating they’re willing to fight to ask the hospital to allow us to keep this building and remain open.”

While PCH hasn’t actually been involved in the operation of the PCCDC in years, Harman says the center’s petitions address the hospital because officials there have the power to accept bids from other day care organizations potentially willing to take over the center and pick up the lease of the building. So far, though, they haven’t done so.

“We did have some other day cares showing an interest in taking it over, but the hospital told them ‘no,’ so at this point, we can’t stay in the building,” said Harman. “If they would let us stay here, there would be a possibility that one of those other day cares could keep us open.”

PCH officials insist that while inquiries into the building have been made by multiple day care companies since news of the CASE closure, none of them have been accepted or denied.

“Several different day care centers have called us about possibly taking it over, but we have just gotten notice of CASE vacating the building, so we are now in the process of starting discussions about what to do with that facility,” said PCH Director of Marketing and Public Relations Debbie Bush. “We haven’t told anyone ‘no.’ We just really need to have some discussions about the best thing to do with the building, going forward.”

As for PCCDC staffers, they are convinced that they already know the best thing to do with the building that has become a second home for themselves and the children they care for.

“I would just really like to see this place remain open,” said Harman. “It’s been a staple of the community for 27 years, and we’ve seen so many success stories come out of here. I can’t count the number of parents who come up to me to say that they’re really glad their children got their start here, and they tell me how their kids have excelled in school. This facility is just a huge part of the community, and for many, many years it’s been a great asset. I think it’s a very useful resource to the people in this community.”

Messages left for CASE West Virginia officials regarding the PCCDC were unreturned as of press time.

— Contact CharLy Markwart at cmarkwart@ptonline.net.