The shortage of early childhood teachers is a well-known problem, but the lack of qualified substitute teachers doesn’t always get as much attention. By law, centers are required to maintain a certain number of adults for the children in their care. Without reliable substitutes, full-time teachers can barely leave the room for a short break, much less make longer appointments for something like a doctor’s appointment. The program also offers volunteer “business advisors” who provide back-office support to centers that need it.
“The field of early care and education is full of smart people who are trying to find ways to strengthen the system in any way possible,” said Elizabeth Pufal Jones, director of preparation and work environment programs at the Child Care Employment Research Center. Early childhood teachers are often seen as babysitters whose roles can be easily filled, she said, but that’s not true. With ECSC members, “you know they are well-qualified individuals to walk into these classrooms.”
Lisa Armao, who has worked in early childhood education for more than 30 years, founded ECSC in 2022, inspired by a documentary film called “The Season of Growth” which includes a program in Seattle that includes a senior center and day care center under one roof.
She visited the program in Seattle with the intention of trying to start a similar model in Denver. The pandemic derailed her plan to create a stand-alone facility, but Armao was able to raise more than $440,000 in state and local funding for ECSC’s model of placing older adults in child care centers as both substitute teachers and office staff.
Over the past three years, ECSC has placed about 150 volunteers in Montessori programs and other child care centers in the Denver area. Those who want to work as teachers attend three to four months of online classes offered by Red Rocks Community College. Those who want to work with children but do not want additional training take 19 hours of training modules offered by ECSC. Volunteer business advisors undergo seven hours of free training on early childhood policies before being placed in a centre. Some of the program participants are paid, while others provide support to children’s centers free of charge.
Family Star Montessori educates 230 children ages 8 weeks to 6 years in its two schools and its homeschool program. Alexander’s presence in the classroom means teachers can step out to take a phone call or go to the bathroom without worrying about whether there are enough adults in the classroom.
“We don’t talk enough about bathroom breaks,” Armao said. “If you have to go to the bathroom, you have to have someone cover you in that space, and that can make for a very uncomfortable work environment. Meeting the needs of adults helps morale.”
ECSC has attracted a steady stream of local media attention, which is how most seniors learn about the program, but finding corps members to fill the need remains a challenge. Armao said she has received requests for replication from people in California, Ohio, Oregon and Washington state.
Just as Family Star executive director Lindsey McNicholas relies on Alexander to care for the children, she depends on another ECSC member, Jean Townsend, for administrative support.
Before retiring, Townsend owned a local economic consulting firm and, among other accomplishments, helped launch the Colfax Marathon, an annual race that brings out thousands of runners. She came to Family Star with extensive contacts among business and political leaders, as well as a good attitude.
“I learned that if you have a problem, you solve it,” Townsend said. She is working with the center as it plans to sell one site and buy another with more modern heating, closer to where most families live.
Townsend’s business experience is invaluable, McNicholas said. “I was able to meet with officials and city planners in Jefferson County, which is a new county for us. That gave us a jump start on this really amazing opportunity for our organization.”
Armao said corps members come from a variety of professional backgrounds and have a set of different expectations for the experience. Along the way, they gain insight into a largely invisible profession. “They’re getting an education at an early age and they’re starting to understand it more deeply. Some latch onto the fact that it’s an economic engine. Others latch onto the simple fact that these kids are going to be the people running our world.”
Kit Karbler, 72, is a glass artist whose work is on display at the Denver Art Museum. “If I hadn’t discovered this, I can’t imagine what I would be doing,” he said of being a child substitute worker at an early learning center based in Emmanuel Temple in Denver. Karbler works 20 hours a week if they need more. “What would I do that would give me that emotional payoff?”
Kamal Fakhuri, 68, has worked in education and business throughout the Middle East. At Monarch Montessori, a public school with 250 children ages 6 weeks to 5 years, Fakhouri substitutes as a substitute teacher.
Born in Lebanon, she lived in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before moving to Denver to be near her daughter and grandchildren. This was at the height of the Covid pandemic. Fakhuri said he especially values the moments of connection. “I was reading with a kid in a class I hadn’t been in for a while when (a kid) just came up and hugged me from behind and started telling me what work they were doing,” she said.
Bethan Rodriguez, CEO of the five sites Thrive Preschool a Denver-area network that welcomed corps members said it appreciates their “older faces and older energy” — as well as the example they set for the rest of the staff. “They’ve had a career and they have that life experience to know and understand the investment that this job is,” she said. “They know what it means to show up for work and they know what it means to not call when you’re just having a bad day.”
One of the corps members at Thrive’s Littleton location is Yvonne Wilder. After the first week in the baby’s room, her muscles ached in places she had forgotten existed. The retired wetlands biologist, who spent decades cataloging ecosystems for the city of Tampa, was finding that an eight-hour shift there required a different kind of stamina than the field job once had.
“It’s a very physically demanding job,” said Wilder, 57. “I change diapers all the time. I do everything. I admire all the people who do this full time because it’s not easy.”
During her first year, Wilder says, she got sick all the time, and her grown children asked her if she really wanted to continue. Soon, though, her immune system catches up and she finds that spending time with her kids, germs and all, makes her happy.
“I had them asking me, ‘Are you my grandma?'” she said. “And I’ll say, ‘I can be your grandma at school.’ It is such a privilege to know them and for them to know you.”
Support for this reporting came from New America’s Better Life Lab.
