Good Shepherd Community Center toddlers from left, Shanta Parker, Jasmine Jefferson, Cameron Doyle and Justice Parker play with building blocks in the nursery of the center Tuesday.(The Vicksburg Post/Melanie Duncan

[07/17/02]Enrollment in the Good Shepherd Community Center day-care center is declining, the director said, and multiple reasons are to blame.

The Rev. Tommy Miller, director of the Vicksburg center where programs once received national recognition as one of former President Bush’s “1,000 Points of Light,” said about three years ago the state stopped providing immediate help for children whose parents could not pay for child care while they worked.

The more restrictive process has trimmed children in what’s known as slot enrollment, he said. Based on a sliding scale, parents can pay as little as $10 per month.

“We had 55 children who were on slot certification,” Miller said. “But now we have about 16.”

Total enrollment at the center on Cherry Street peaked in 1996 at 65, but had fallen to 45 last year and is at 26 today.

When the slot program was begun, Miller said a parent could enroll a child in day care and register for assistance the same day. Now, there’s a wait of up to 12 weeks to receive certificates before children can attend.

Miller said parents also have to fill out complicated forms with little assistance and errors can delay the process even longer.

Edna Watts, acting director for the state Office for Children and Youth, a division of the Mississippi Department of Health Human Services, said not enough money was budgeted for the slot program, but added that 12 weeks is not the normal period for paperwork to process. She said she would look into the matter.

Miller agreed the slot program and a certificate program for working parents or parents enrolled as full-time college students need more funding.

“It’s a shame we’re sacrificing the future of our children because we don’t seem to have enough money for all of the programs needed,” Miller said.

The goal of the Good Shepherd Community Center day care is to provide quality child care in a learning environment for working parents and to equip children to enter school on par with all other children in Vicksburg and Warren County, he said. The day-care center is state licensed to accept children ages 6 months to 4 years old Monday through Friday.

Miller said two staff positions have been eliminated and another has switched to part-time because of funding and fewer children.

Penny Sheppard, a preschool teacher for four years, said since there are fewer workers, there’s more work to do.

“Since we’re short-staffed I help out in any classroom I’m needed,” Sheppard said.