Private Day Care At School Surprises Board Board Members Will Decide Whether To Allow Business To Stay At Pinehurst Elementary

The presence of a private day care in a public school will be reviewed by the Kellogg School Board.

The business, Just for Kids, opened last week along with classes at Pinehurst Elementary School. It did so without board approval, said trustee Mark Cowles of Pinehurst.

“That is totally, absolutely unusual,” he said. “That’s not the way policy is written.”

The school board is expected to decide tonight whether the day care can remain open. It will meet at 7 p.m. at the district office, 800 Bunker Ave. in Kellogg.

Superintendent Larry Curry was out of town late last week, and unavailable for comment.

The administration has not had much to say about the day care, according to board chairman Brad Corkill. He called the arrangement “irregular.”

Pinehurst Principal Phil Currie said Just for Kids is meeting a need. He compared it to latchkey programs offered in Coeur d’Alene and elsewhere, which provide after-school supervision for students.

What’s unusual is that Just for Kids offers care for pre-schoolers, too.

“The only way we can afford to do an after-school program is to take the siblings,” said Just for Kids owner Alene Yergler. “An after-school program doesn’t pay for itself. They had one at Sunnyside (Elementary) last year, and it failed.”

The Sunnyside program got start-up money from a state grant, according to Currie. Just for Kids has no such funding, Yergler said.

Parents are thrilled to have Just for Kids available, Yergler said.

The day-care business is not yet certified by the state. Yergler said she’s awaiting school board approval before asking for the required state inspection.

Yergler expects to pay rent, but the amount must be approved by the board. Just for Kids pre-schoolers aren’t allowed to ride on school buses, she said.

Yergler said she approached the school about operating a day care when she learned a classroom was available. Anyone could have done the same thing, she said.

But Nikki Holbart, owner of Munchkin Inn in Pinehurst, complains that other potential day-care operators weren’t interviewed.

“I was told I’d have to be non-profit to do it in conjunction with a school. So I never pushed it,” Holbart said.

Hobart said she doesn’t object to the competition from Just for Kids, but isn’t happy that Yergler is allowed to send fliers home with the children advertising her business. Hobart said she was denied the same privilege.

, DataTimes