The results of a survey assessing the need for additional childcare at Penn State will not be available until March 24, about a month after its expected release.

The survey was administered online from Jan. 10 to Jan. 22 to gather feedback from parents about the university's decision to demolish the Child Development Laboratory (CDL) and the subsequent reduction of childcare on campus.

Last semester, the College of Health and Human Development's decision to make room for additional classrooms and offices by demolishing South Henderson Building, which houses the CDL, caused several upset parents to petition for more childcare at Penn State.

Linda Pierce, head of the survey committee, said the delay was due to her unexpected hospitalization.

"We had a slight delay because I needed an emergency appendectomy," she said in an e-mail message. "I was in the middle of collecting some demographic information."

Once released, the results of the survey could play a large part in whether the administration decides to build a new childcare center to replace the CDL.

Several parents are dissatisfied with the university's current plan to relocate children from the CDL to the second childcare facility, Bennett Family Center, located at the intersection of Bigler and McKean roads.

Lee Ann Banaszak, associate professor of political science and women's studies, took part in the survey and said although she is anxiously awaiting the results of the survey, she understands the reason for the delay.

"I'm not very happy with it, obviously, but my understanding is that there were a number of things that were unavoidable, such as the person running it got very ill," she said.

Sarah Scheidemantal (graduate-physics) took part in the survey and said she thought the release date was pushed back because the survey failed to address certain important issues.

"It didn't really cover everything so we pushed for some focus groups so we could discuss some things that could have [been] discussed on the survey," she said. "My understanding is that is the reason it was pushed back."

Scheidemantal said she and other parents felt the survey failed to address potential learning curriculums in the childcare center.

"We wanted a facility that wasn't just a storage unit for our children, but a place where they would be challenged and encouraged appropriately for their age level," she said. "That was addressed in the focus group along with location of the new center and flexibility for student parents."

Barb Schaefer, an education professor with an infant daughter at the Bennett Family Center, is part of Nittany Area Families for Childcare, a group dedicated to addressing the need for quality childcare in State College.

"Our current push is to see the university step up to the plate and do what it needs to do to get affordable and accessible childcare to all families that need it," she said.

Banaszak, also a member of Nittany Area Families for Childcare, said the group includes people from all areas of university who are concerned with the decrease in childcare.

"It's made up of people who work at Penn State, but they're not all parents of children in the childcare centers," she said. "The group includes students, faculty and staff who are concerned about childcare because it's important to make the university a top-flight institution."

Schaefer said Penn State needs to create a childcare program accessible to all parents at the university.

"I've been very satisfied with my experience, and I hope that other families would have similar access, but I don't think that it's been as readily available as it should be," she said. "There needs to be mechanisms put in place to make the childcare more affordable and accessible."