Head of the childcare survey committee Linda Pierce met with administration officials behind closed doors yesterday to discuss the possibility of requesting service from independent daycare providers on campus.

The meeting was closed to the media.

The results of the meeting will be released today, and Pierce said she could not comment specifically on what would be discussed before the meeting or the decision until later today.

Monica Prisk, the owner of Courtney's Kingdom Child Care and Learning Center, a childcare facility in Bellefonte, said she is "very interested" at the prospect of providing childcare to the university.

"This gives small childcare owners a chance to provide for the university," she said.

"I think it's a shame the university is closing the childcare center, but it's wonderful that they might be giving the outside childcare owners a chance to get some of these children," Prisk added.

After the university announced plans to demolish a portion of Henderson Building South, which houses the Child Development Laboratory (CDL), talks regarding the construction of a new childcare center began after parents, most of whom are faculty, voiced their opposition.

The College of Health and Human Development's solution -- a consolidation of the CDL with the existing Bennett Family Center (BFC) located at the intersection of Bigler and McKean roads -- upset many students, faculty and staff parents who said the BFC alone would not adequately accommodate the number of children who need care.

Currently, there are 600 families on the waiting list for university childcare.

At the Faculty Senate meeting Tuesday, Spanier told the members that all children currently in the system would be accommodated until they go to kindergarten.

Eric Plutzer, a political science professor who has a daughter currently enrolled in the CDL, called Spanier's remarks "ambiguous," and added that they could be read two different ways.

"One way to read them is that we're just going to look for private entities in the community to serve the needs of the faculty, and that would be analogous to renting out a ballroom at the Days Inn because we're short on classroom space," he said.

"On the other hand, if the president is talking about building a facility on campus but looking to members of the community to manage it, then I think this is potentially positive," Plutzer added.

Lee Ann Banaszak, Plutzer's wife and a member of Nittany Area Families for Children, said she does not think the university would be able to find a high-quality institution with a company-run childcare facility.

"Looking at corporations, the bottom line is profit, and they don't pay their workers enough to maintain high quality care," she said.

"They can't hire people with university education or pay people enough to keep them from leaving for other jobs," she added.

Prisk said this does not apply to her daycare center, and that she provides the best care possible, regardless of the family's financial situation.

Prisk added that she would get more resources to cater to more business.

"When you're a daycare owner you always know you can grow," she said. "You hire more teachers and more aides."

Banaszak said she did not know if the university's request for proposals is in response to the 381 signatures submitted in a petition to Spanier and Vice Provost Rodney Erickson earlier this week. "We did provide a petition, but it only reached his desk on Monday, and we have not yet gotten any response," she said.