Missoula, Mont. — Hellgate Elementary is opening on-site childcare for staff, giving teachers and other employees a closer option for their youngest children when school starts.
The new program, Roo’s Rascals, was set to open Aug. 24 when students returned to school. The center was set to serve infants through 3-year-olds on the Hellgate campus.
For parents who worked at Hellgate, that meant a much shorter morning drop-off because they could go to work and bring their young children with them.
Dr. Molly Blakely, superintendent of Hellgate Elementary, said the district started talking about the idea about two years earlier and went to the school board midway through the last year.
“Child care obviously is hard to find. People get on waiting lists. Sometimes they get into the place of their first choice, sometimes they don't. So we really started the conversation about two years ago, and then midway last year, we approached the school board and they were overwhelmingly in support,” said Blakely.
Blakely said the need had grown at Hellgate, where about two-dozen babies had been born to staff members in the last two-and-a-half years. Some employees had also needed unpaid leave when their usual childcare plans fell through.
Addison Chamberlain, a pre-K teacher and parent, said the new option made a difference as she thought about returning to the classroom.
“I cried tears of joy. I was so excited. I was really struggling with the idea of going back...” said Chamberlain. “I love teaching. I love being a teacher first. I love being a mom and my family so important to me in this. It's almost, you know, able to combine those two worlds a little bit better,” she said.
Before the center could open, the district and Roo’s Rascals built the childcare space from the ground up with help from community donations.
“It was a lot of time-consuming things, building from the start, getting the whole setup ready. Lots of donations have been super helpful from the community, and the whole district has been great helping out, building things for the facility itself,” said Kinsey Henthorn, director and owner of Roo’s Rascals.
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