It seemed like a normal weekday when parents and caretakers dropped off their children at Little Sprouts Learning Center in Granby on the morning of Oct. 18. However, it was anything but a normal day when 34 families found out they would be immediately displaced from their child care services about one hour after dropping their kids off.

Little Sprouts Board of Directors sent out a letter to families that morning informing them of an unexpected, immediate closure. The letter explained that due to staffing shortages it was unfeasible for the day care to remain open, but that the children’s safety was never compromised and was not why the closure was put in place.

“We understand the impact this has on your family and want to assure you that your child’s safety and wellbeing are always our top priority,” the letter stated.

---

---

The letter went on to say that the day care will eventually reopen as Grand Kids Learning Center. Parents will be reimbursed before the end of the week for payments made through Oct. 31.

Little Sprouts Learning Center Board Chair Hannah Corbin explained that the reason the day care decided to close so abruptly was because of a notification they received. She says she is not comfortable sharing where the notification came from or the nature of it.

---

---

“It was prompted by a communication that notified us from a third party,” Corbin said in an interview with Sky-Hi News while explaining the timing of the closure. “We were notified after 8 a.m. that morning.”

Once Corbin was notified, she immediately left her job to oversee the closure. Little Sprouts is using its extended closure to restructure, and will eventually reopen as Grand Kids with the same families and remaining staff.

“Our facilities will remain in Granby, and our families’ enrollment status is not in jeopardy,” she said. “We’re just restructuring to join Grand Kids Learning Center. Essentially, the reason for that is because we lost Jessica Driver who was the executive director and who opened our doors in 2015, we lost her over a year ago.”

She says that since Driver left the organization there has not been stability with the executive director position. Without the proper leadership, and with additional staffing challenges, it is no longer feasible for Little Sprouts to remain open under the current structure.

The goal is to reopen sometime before the end of the year.

Staffing challenges have been ongoing since Corbin has been on the board for the last 3.5 years, not only in the industry of childhood development, but for rural mountain towns in general.

“Without that leadership and without that executive director in place it has really made it imperative to have someone with good experience and leadership in that role in order for us to continue given all of those challenges,” she said.

She explained that basic state licensing requirements are very stringent, as they should be. However, meeting some of those requirements have become challenging because of staffing issues.

A recent inspection report from Aug. 16 showed that there was no staff with medication or administration training or delegation, which was a violation. The inspector noted that at least one staff member with medication training needed to be on duty at all times. Other staff members were also lacking required training, and some children’s files were missing required documentation, according to the inspection report.

Corbin did not specify if these violations were part of the staffing challenges that ultimately led to the closure. But the Colorado Department of Early Childhood informed Sky-Hi News that Little Sprouts licensing and funding is in good standing, and that they were unaware of the closure.

“There is going to be a positive outcome from this, and I think it is really going to be only a benefit in the long run to our families and to all of these kids,” she said. “It is just unfortunate the timing and that it had happened to be so abrupt.”

Little Sprouts is thankful for the support and guidance they have received from Grand Kids, Grand Beginnings and Grand Foundation during this process, and believes the outcome will provide more sustainable child care for the county.

Grand Beginnings is a nonprofit with a mission to promote a child-centered school readiness system and promotes family success in Grand and Jackson counties. The organization fulfills its mission by providing coaching, technical assistance and other support to ensure licensed childhood programs are high-quality.

Kate Hale, the executive director of Grand Beginnings, says that the organization also prioritizes building and sustaining child care capacity in the community so families can access child care.

“Grand Beginnings is working hard to uphold these priorities as we support Little Sprouts Learning Center through their recent transition period and temporary, voluntary closure. Child care is an essential piece of infrastructure for our community and its economy,” Hale stated in an email to Sky-Hi News.

She added that, “The historical and ongoing lack of investment throughout the early childhood industry has led to widespread staffing shortages and general instability for child care businesses, which ultimately decreases the number of high-quality slots available to families. That’s why working to build resources to stabilize and increase resilience of the early childhood system is a central part of Grand Beginnings work in our community.”

Tara Alatorre is the editor of Sky-Hi News. You can reach her at 970-557-6031 or talatorre@skyhinews.com.