By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
When Cindi Baum came to Bowling Green State University as a student in 1976 to study education, she worked at the Child Development Lab.
Years later, as a mother she wanted her own three children to have the benefit of the play-centered pre-school.
Twenty years ago, she went to work as a teacher at the lab and was administrator and mentor teacher.
Three weeks ago, she was laid off from that job as part of the university’s $29 million in spending cuts to address a shortfall caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Child Development Center, which traces its roots back at least 80 years and is connected to BGSU’s founding as a normal school to train teachers, has been closed. The action will save BGSU $130,000.
“There are no good or easy solutions to the kind of cuts the College of Education and Human Development had to make,” said Dawn Shinew, dean of the College of Education and Human Development, in a response to questions emailed by BG Independent News.
The center employed two teachers, Baum and Courtney Buerman. “These teachers were well-loved and respected by their students and the families they served, as well as BGSU students, faculty, and staff,” Shinew said.
Baum has experienced that affection about the closure as news has circulated. “The outpouring from families and children, and even past families has been humbling to be sure,” she said. “I’ve gotten so many cards and emails and visits on the front yard because we can’t be close now. People have dropped off flowers and little gifts. This has been amazing – the outpouring of concern, support and love.”
She’s also heard from families of older children who express regret that other children will not have the opportunity of attending the CDL “because they loved it so much.”
This is all the sadder, she said, because it came so suddenly. They left in March expecting to be back after spring break. Instead the stay at home directive was put in place.
She and Buerman kept in touch virtually as best they could, reading stories to their students and suggesting activities they could do at home.
Shinew and a supervisor spoke with the teachers several weeks before the final decision to let them know this was possible, but said they would do what they could to keep the lab open.
Baum and Buerman were willing to do what they could as well. Take pay reductions, move to a place on campus even if it meant reducing storage space. The lab was located in space rented from the Jordan Family Development Center. The teachers felt they administrators would “work really hard to figure out some things.” But in hindsight, Baum realizes the closure was inevitable.
Baum said she doesn’t blame Shinew for the decision. She said the dean’s “heart and soul” is in education. “I know this was really traumatic. … It’s just a really crazy time.”
Shinew explained that in making decisions administrators focused three core principles:
· Protect the academic core and BGSU’s commitment to diversity and belonging;
· Protect positions that directly support student retention and graduation;
· Protect those positions that directly impact recruitment and retention.
“Given these priorities, and the incredibly limited options available, we decided to permanently close the Child Development Lab (CDL). We had to prioritize personnel and resources that most directly served BGSU students,” Shinew wrote. “The revenues generated through the CDL have never covered the actual costs but we were able to subsidize the operation because of the integral role it played in many of our programs and the local community. Unfortunately, we were no longer able to sustain that support in light of current budget cuts.”
Baum said these centers may be a thing of the past. Most other colleges and universities, including Owens Community College and University of Toledo, have closed theirs.
The lab offered a distinctive approach to pre-school for children 3 to 5 that will be hard for families to replicate. “We were a completely play-based child-directed experience,” Baum said. It was a “not a free for all.”
Baum and Buerman had lesson plans and schedules. Still “the children had a lot of opportunities to make choices. We did a lot of work on socialization and getting along together, and there’s not a lot of time to do that in programs that are concentrated on strictly academics.”
This also meant that classes were limited to 18 students.
The lab has earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Finding a pre-school with that approach might be impossible for families, Baum said.
It wasn’t only preschoolers who benefited from the lab.
Education students also prepared for their future careers there. About 10 students each semester did internships or practicums at the CDL, Shinew reported. In addition, another 100 or observed the lab in motion.
“One of the challenges will be finding other placements to replace the experiences students used to get at the CDL,” Shinew said. “Fortunately, we have a great partnership with Bowling Green City Schools and numerous other districts in the area.”
Baum is left six months short of vesting her pension through OPERS, and is still a few years shy of being eligible for Medicare. So, she’ll be looking for another job in the retirement system.
“I really intended to work into my 70s,” she said. “I absolutely loved my job. I had the best job in the world. I am so grateful to have had that job for 20 years.”
