MARK WAITE / PVT Youngsters frolic on the playground equipment at Child's Play day care center at Mount Charleston Drive in Pahrump. Advertisement

While Nye County School Board Vice President Tracie Ward cuddled an infant in her arms, she made a motion to look into the school district's leasing or purchasing the Lil' Rascals Day Care Center, which recently closed, during a board meeting earlier this month.

The school board attorney is studying the idea to see if the district can operate a for-profit business, Nye County School Board President Debbie Wescoatt said.

Superintendent Rob Roberts said the district is only obliged to provide free education for children at least seven years old, and it would have to charge for the care of children below that age.

Wescoatt said the school district could use the vacant East Calvada Boulevard facility to provide low-cost day care for school district staff and substitutes called in to work at the last minute. She said the building isn't in foreclosure. The owners have four months to sell the property or it will go into foreclosure.

"Day care is going to be an issue when school starts. There aren't any more openings," Wescoatt said.

The motion passed 5-2. Trustees Edna Forsgren and Dennis Keating voted against the motion.

"I don't think we're in the business of running day care centers," Forsgren, a trustee from northern Nye County, said.

Trustee Cindy Marcotte said she wanted the school district's legal counsel involved. Keating cited the pending legal costs and the fact the district can't run a business for profit as his reasons for opposing the idea.

Wescoatt said the Clark County School District operates day care and a pre-school in conjunction with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Mardene Wright, interim director of the Lynn Bennett Early Childhood Education and Care Center at UNLV, said her child care center has a contractual agreement with the Clark County School District to care for children with disabilities who are from 3 to 5 years old. It's also a training program for special education teachers.

"It would be a selling point for our teachers coming out here with families," Wescoatt said. "It's also puts a pre-school out there."

The pre-school could result in improved test scores later on, she added.

Trustee Dawn Murphy added, "Day care is a huge issue in Pahrump. We don't have enough."

Lil' Rascals, a child care business on Calvada Boulevard since April 2003, closed abruptly July 24. Teachers at that facility said about two-dozen children were transferred to other child care facilities.

Representatives from the Nevada Child Care Licensing Bureau were unavailable for comment on the child care offerings in Pahrump.

Rachelle Puckett, owner of Child's Play, a licensed child care facility on Mount Charleston Boulevard, said in a written statement that she reserved comment, as it was the first she heard of the proposal. She also talked about consulting with her attorney.

"Personally I feel that our school district should not be spending taxpayer dollars on day care centers when our grammar schools need after-school programs and our middle school and high school seem so overcrowded," Puckett said.

Puckett said that, contrary to statements at the school board meeting, her child care facility, Child's Play, has openings and anticipates 30 more vacancies when the school year resumes in September. Her facility honors Economic Opportunity Board child care subsidies for low income mothers.

An August newsletter published by Child's Play Learning Center states Child's Play will honor any EOB certificate formerly issued to Lil Rascals.

The newsletter states: "The most important issue right now is to ensure that the children and families who relied on Lil' Rascals find their way into a safe program and not be forced into an underground or unlicensed environment where supervision and standards might be at a minimum."

The Nevada Association for the Education of Young Children estimates parents of over 322,000 children in Nevada go to work every day with their children cared for by licensed child care facilities.

Any decision on the operation of Lil' Rascals by the Nye County School Board will be brought before the board of trustees for a vote before any further action is taken.