State Fair Community College’s Board of Trustees voted in closed session Tuesday to end its agreement with Melita Day Child Development Center effective Dec. 31, 2017.
In 1996, SFCC received a grant to renovate the student union into a 7,500-square-foot child care facility. At the same time, the college entered into an agreement with Melita Day Child Development Center that allowed the organization to continue to provide child care services to the community as well as to SFCC students and employees.
Melita Day is owned and operated by a volunteer board of directors, and paid staff manages the day-to-day operations. The center provides care for about 68 children from six weeks to six years of age.
The college owns the building the center has been using since 1996 and has not charged Melita Day rent in the nearly 21 years it has been on campus. In addition to paying staff salaries and its own operational expenses, the center is responsible for paying utilities to the college for the 75 percent of the building that it occupies and for obtaining and maintaining Missouri accreditation and state licensure.
“After much consideration, the board has decided to end the agreement with Melita Day,” said Randall Eaton, board president. “We appreciate the opportunity that our students and employees have had to use their services, and we are hopeful that the center can re-open in another location by the end of the year.”
