De Anza College offers community day care in the Child Development Lab, located in the southwest corner of campus. Child care is not free, but De Anza and Foothill students enrolled in 12 or more units can receive financial aid.
The lab offers a half day program, from 8:30 to 12:30 p.m., and a full day program, from 7:10 to 5:30 p.m.. Child care is not offered at night. Currently there is a short summer program, which the lab is planning to lengthen.
A month of day care for a toddler (ages 18 months to two years) costs $900 for half-day and $1,350 for fullday child care for Foothill-De Anza students. The price of a month of day care for a pre-schooler (ages 3-5) is $765 for half-day care and $1,175 for full-day care for students. Other community members are charged about nine percent more.
Until 2003 the center accepted infants from ages eight to 18 months.However, due to budget cuts they were forced to close the infant program.
The children are separated into rooms by age group: toddler, transition and preschool rooms, so teachers can cater to each child’s developmental needs.
The Child Development Lab is an accredited day care center and many people, not just De Anza students, send their children there. "It’s because of our philosophy," said part-time preschool teacher Patti Pigg, who has been at the center for 19 years.
"It’s holistic. We don’t just focus on academics, but also focus on developing their social and emotional skills. We teach the whole child."
Teachers at the center also try to cater to every child’s learning style and developmental stage. For example, the pre-school aged children are prepared for kindergarten and given literacy activities. Toddlers are given a foundation for their social skills, which are developed more throughout the program. Even though it is a daycare center, they are not only babysitters. "We don’t just care for children. We care with intention," said Pigg. "We look at the dynamics of the children, like recently the children were into dinosaurs so we based the curriculum around dinosaurs."
The Child Development Lab not only benefits students by providing day care.
Child development students can gain field experience. Each room has at least two assistant teachers who are De Anza students.
"We couldn’t survive without them. Sometimes we’ll have people who went to daycare here and come back as assistants," says Pigg.
