Day-care center retains an educational use for former school

In 1982, nobody wanted the old McKinley School on the Kennebec Road in Hampden. After new schools had been built, the McKinley School had housed the Hampden Highlands Post Office. When the post office closed, the town of Hampden decided to sell the building.

Tami Campbell and her husband, Wayne, who live next door in what was once her grandfather’s house, weren’t sure they wanted the McKinley School either.

“I’d gone to school there in second and third grade, and I’d played out back in those trees,” Campbell said. “The old school building felt like part of my home. I didn’t want to see it turned into apartments, so we bought it.”

The bank the Campbells approached for a loan required them to present a plan detailing how the building would be used. “The only thing I could think of was a day-care center,” Campbell recalled. A former teacher, she explained that “I’d worked with preschoolers as program director at the YWCA, and at that time, a lot of moms were going back to work.

“I opened on July 5, 1983, with three day-care children,” Campbell said. She had also given birth six weeks previously to her first child. “I was too busy for post-partum blues,”she laughed.

Today, the Hampden Day Care Center has a total enrollment of 75 children, although only up to 24 children per day are actually cared for at any given time in accordance with state-licensing guidelines. “My husband, Wayne, has a carpentry background,” Campbell said, “and he made just about all the equipment: the cubbies, bookcases, sandbox, (and) playhouse.”

Campbell’s child-care philosophy is tied to her sense of belonging to her community, happy memories of her own childhood, and an innate sense that children need to be valued as individuals, to feel safe and cared for, and to have freedom to run and play.

“We want the children to feel like this is their second home,” Cambell said. She partially achieves this goal by creating a homelike atmosphere. Two big oval rugs invite children to sprawl and crawl and sit on the floor. A rocking chair is always ready for those times when a child just wants to be held. A deep-cushioned sofa provides a restful place to curl up and listen to a story. A barnyard mural on one wall adds a note of bright red whimsey. Sunlight beaming through tall windows makes the high-ceilinged, open room feel friendly and warm.

“Child care is very emotionally intense work,” Campbel said, referring to a factor that can contribute to staff burn-out and turnover. She has addressed that problem by arranging for her caregivers to work half days and feels this has helped her retain good people.

Julie Tripp, the director of the Hampden Day Care Center, is a veteran of three years; Shirley Snyder, five years; Sandra Olmstead, three years; Jean Sharp, two years; and Brenda Smith, one year. All are mothers and know first-hand how to relate to children and meet their needs.

The most structured part of the day, Tripp said, was circle time, when the children gather on one of the big blue rugs to take turns showing and telling and spinning the job wheel.

They chirp through the “Good Morning Song” and salute the flag. The job wheel, a home-made plywood contraption with pictures painted on it and a pointer made from what looks like a plastic coffee-can lid, is produced.

Nick spins and draws fish feeder. Will spins and gets snack helper. Sara scores as flag leader. Meaghan grins happily when she gets line leader. Stephen’s self-importance grows noticeably bigger when the pointer lands on teacher’s helper. And Callan gets to be the train conductor, a job that requires her to signal when it’s time to clean up after lunch.

The fishing game follows. Out comes the plastic wading pool (without water), in which swim pretend paper fish shaped like hearts, teddy bears, and dinosaurs, each with a paper clip attached.

Out come the bamboo fishing poles rigged with cord with magnets fixed on the end.

“I don’t think I can do this,” Nick doubted. Tripp, Campbell, and Sharp encouraged him, and he trolled the line again. This time, he caught a fish and ran to find two blocks that he pitched gleefully into the “lake.”

The rest of the day is structured, too, Tripp said, but in an unobtrusive way. “We want the children to feel, as much as possible, that they (have the freedom) of home,” she said.

The children spend a lot of time outside playing rocket ship along the smooth body of a locust tree that succumbed to Hurricaine Gloria; swinging from a thick grapevine while pretending to be monkeys; racing through the meadow grass; riding their bikes on the paved area; or checking on the progress of the tomatoes in the vegetable garden. A neighborhood cat’s regular visits cause general delight. Of course, all play is carefully supervised.

Cara said that the favorite part of her day care was digging holes in the sandbox. Jeff said the best part of day care was digging worms and his best friend, Stephen. And Nick said his favorite part was building hideouts.

The employees at the Hampden Day Care Center take from 12 to 24 hours of staff-development training each year and are CPR recertified every year. The center is open all year from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for children ages 2 1/2 to 5 years. The cost for full-time child care is $70 per child per week.

Highland Preschool, located upstairs in the same building, is open to children agres 3 to 5 years. It is a separate entity from the day-care center, but is owned and managed by Tami Campbell.

She teaches at the preschool, which has a total enrollment of 52 children. The cost is $48 per month for two days a week or $72 per month for three days a week. Both the day-care center and the preschool have waiting lists.

“For me,” Campbell said while shifting her drowsy 3-year-old old son in her arms to a more comfortable position, “day care is more than just a business, it’s my lifestyle.”

For more information, or to arrange a visit, call 862-3350.

Ardeana Hamlin is a free-lance writer who lives in Hampden.