The Mt. Vernon/Lisbon Unit of the Linn County League of Women Voters (LWV) of Linn County supports seeking quality, affordable child care solutions in our community. The following reflection is the second in a series of reflections to be shared by our community members regarding this issue.
Jesse Thurn knows that daycare is an issue in the Mount Vernon and Lisbon communities. She’s had her children in childcare centers, in-home daycare and wrap around childcare programs over the past years.
Her son is 7-years-old and a second-grade student at Washington Elementary School. Her daughter is 2-years-old, born at the tail end of 2020.
Thurn previously worked at Reading Row in Cedar Rapids, and now works at Bauman’s in uptown Mount Vernon.
During that time at Reading Row, she relied on Lisbon Early Childcare Center to watch her son, and relied on grandparents’ help in cases of illness.
Her daughter started attending daycare at Turtle Club last year at roughly nine-months old. Thurn was one of the parents who was notified that the daycare center was closing in May and had to seek additional childcare options with two months’ notice.
Over the summer, Thurn and her husband were able to rely on a nanny. Her son was able to attend Washington Elementary Kids Club as a daycare option. With the start of the school year, Thurn needed to locate childcare options for them, and the age range added to difficulty.
That’s where networking and working with the Facebook group Mount Vernon/Lisbon Daycare/Babysitting page helped. She had people who would follow up on any posts she made to make sure she had found the childcare she needed.
Thurn also notes that she is lucky in the flexibility of her current job for her childcare options. She works in Mount Vernon and is able to walk to her job. With the store officially opening at 10 a.m., it gives her more opportunities to get her kids ready and to school before she has to get into work, meaning getting ready for the work day starts at 8:30 a.m., instead of earlier than 7 a.m. In cases of weather delays or illnesses, she also has family in the area she can rely on.
“With wrap-around childcare at Washington Elementary’s Kids Club, there are times that wrap-around childcare isn’t offered if the school is closed,” Thurn said. “That was one of the perks for LECC, that even if the school was closed, the daycare was still open.”
Thurn said currently figuring out in-home daycare and adapting to things like illnesses or weather can be a huge juggling act for her, and she can’t imagine how hard that gets for people who work in locations outside of Mount Vernon or Lisbon and commute to work.
One of the issues she thinks businesses need to keep remembering – childcare is an issue that is impacting their workforce.
“If your employee has kids who are sick, that could mean they will be unexpectedly staying at home, and you might struggle to have employees to run the business,” Thurn said.
It’s one of the things she knows she and the Randalls, owners of Bauman’s, as young parents themselves understand and they work together as a team to make sure they have flexibility in the store.
“We cover for each other if something comes up with our kids,” Thurn said. “I’ve had my son come with me to work for a few hours because of a late start at school.”
For Thurn, her priority will always remain her children.
Thurn knows as well that childcare in Mount Vernon and Lisbon is going to be an ongoing issue, especially as these towns keep growing. Mount Vernon and Lisbon being designated childcare deserts is a concern, as is the age of many of the in-home child care options, as some of those people may be nearing retiring.
Thurn notes that the issue is going to need a continued combination of options – in-home daycares and daycare centers in the community, and will need continued discussions moving forward.
At Cornell College, a survey sent to employees in June of 2022 showed 19 percent of employees were looking for childcare, and 24 percent were very satisfied of their current childcare, according to Stefanie Bray, Cornell College human resources department.
“The childcare issue has affected the quality of life for some of our faculty and staff who live in Mount Vernon and Lisbon,” Bray said. “Some of our employees have decided to live elsewhere because of the lack of childcare options in town.”
Bray said that during the pandemic, there were more opportunities for faculty and staff to work from home, with many teaching via Zoom.
“As employees have returned to in-person teaching and working, it has definitely created more of a need for more reliable childcare,” Bray said.
Bray said that the college has a flexwork policy, which provides work from home options for employees, and the college strives to be very flexible and understanding when childcare issues arise.
“We also are working to connect parents with one another and with available resources as the college continues to stay involved with community discussions about childcare,” Bray said.
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The LWV aims to be transparent as we make strides toward this cause, and we invite you to be a part of our progress. Please reach out to [email protected] if you would like to get involved, share your story or become part of the solution.