“Strangulation By Red Tape”

By Gordon HopkinsSweet Peas Academy Daycare in Diller hosted a meeting of state officials to discuss the struggles and expense of providing daycare in rural Nebraska on Nov. 19.Her own experiences with the obstacles to opening Sweet Peas Academy led Taylor Ruzicka-Scheele, owner and director, to write a letter to Jefferson County Commissioner Mark Schoenrock. That letter led to the meeting with officials from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), including CEO Dr. Steve Corsi, Ashley Newmyer, interim director of the Division of Public Health; and Nicole Barrett, Director of Legislative Services.Despite the chill, the meeting was held primarily outdoors so as not to disturb the children, and only moved inside once the children awoke from their naps. Getting StartedThe concern raised is that the obstacles may be turning potential daycare providers away from operating in more rural areas, where the need is greatest.According to Ruzicka-Scheele, before she could even apply for licensure, she had to present proof of rental or ownership of the facility and proof of insurance. Yet, it can take months before the facility can be inspected and opened.“The first thing that was hard for us is, we didn’t understand,” said Ruzicka-Scheele. “How many months it was going to take to get it up and go. And when you talk business, that’s how many months that you have money going out but not coming in, and you’re starting already behind the eight ball.”It took Sweet Peas Academy approximately six months before they were able to open. While Ruzicka-Scheele and her husband, Kolin Scheele, had enough savings to survive while the process played out, she noted most don’t have that option.“Six months of no income,” said Ruzicka-Scheele. “They basically kind of stop before they even can get started.”The problem is not just the number of rules but that those rules can be difficult to find and people may not know about them until they are already deep into the process. In her letter, Ruzicka-Scheele noted, “Too many rules and regulations are withheld until you are well into the process and have lost too much money to back out.”Ruzicka-Scheele described the process as “Strangulation by red tape.” StaffingRequirementsLike most businesses today, staffing for daycares is a problem, especially in rural areas.Per Ruzicka-Scheele, the necessary qualifications for daycare providers are particularly onerous.“For staff to be left alone outside or in a room with children they have to have college education requirements or previous jobs that require years of experience,” she pointed out in her letter. “Substitutes need the same experience (college courses/etc.) which make it extremely hard to find a substitute. It’s nearly the same qualifications as it takes an educational institution to find a sub. Arguably child-care is NOT formal education.”Across the street from Sweet Peas Academy is Diller Elementary School. Ruzicka-Scheele said, “Paras (paraprofessional educators) also don’t have to have a certain amount of college credits or an associate’s degree to be left alone with children, either. We have to have that.”Even when a qualified applicant is found, the length of time for required background checks may drive the applicant away.Fingerprinting is particularly time consuming because it must go through the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and requires a great deal of paperwork to go back and forth before someone can be approved. According to Ruzicka-Scheele, the fastest they have ever received approval is 28 days, “We had three super great candidates that we, by the time we got their fingerprints, they were like, ‘I had to get a different job.’”Ruzicka-Scheele was quick to point out that she does not oppose the fingerprint requirement but believes there should be a way to streamline the process so it doesn’t drive away good candidates. One Size Doesn’t Fit AllOne of the major hang-ups when Sweet Peas Academy was trying to open was the fire system for the building. The building was required to have installed a fire location system. Ruzicka-Scheele noted that it is the same type of system that a large, multiroom facility would require. She said, “It’s a location system, but it was still every bit of, like, over $10 grand. And the reasoning that the Fire Marshal gave us was to locate the fire in the building. And once we go in there, you’ll see it’s basically just one large room.”There is a corner of the room that is walled to allow for toddlers to sleep without being disturbed but glass windows make the entire area visible.Kolin Scheele said even the contractors that installed the fire system didn’t understand why. He said he was told, “I don’t understand why I’m putting in this system. It makes no sense to me, because the building is too small.”“They had to adjust how they were installing the system because the system is too big for our building,” Ruzicka-Scheele added.This is just one example Ruzicka-Scheele gave of regulations that make sense for a larger facility but not for one in a small, rural community. She likened the issue to different sports classes, “We have class A schools, we have class D schools, and it feels like right now, we’re all playing in the same state tournament. We’re playing against a Class A school as a rural daycare that maybe is more of a Class C, Class D school.”

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