Skagway’s sole daycare provider now only serves up to age six. Parents of older children, still too young to be left home alone, are anxious about child care for the upcoming tourist season. Skagway’s Child Care Council says they’re working hard to find a solution for summer, but time might not be on their side.

 

Skagway mom Erica Drahozal works from home. But that doesn’t mean she can tend to her children at the same time. She manages safety and compliance for a cruise company. 

“If any emergencies happen on site, I need to be available,” Drahozal said. “I’m talking to clinics. I’m interviewing people … I need to be available at the drop of a hat. I also have like, five meetings a day, if I’m lucky. My work is pretty involved. There’s a lot going on, and it of course, just becomes even more in the summer.”

Little Dippers Learning Center recently capped their age limit to be in compliance with state regulations. Older kids need a separate room from the toddlers, something the center doesn’t have the space to provide. 

Skagway’s Recreation Center also cut back on their summer programming to four weeks in the summer, to accommodate state regulations.

That’s on top of two in-home daycares closing in the past few years. Now, working parents are left with few options for their big-little kids.

“I’d say I’m pretty nervous,” Drahozal said. “Just to give you some of my background – our family tried living in another small Alaskan community in 2021 and 2022 and we ultimately could not make it work due to a lack of childcare.”

Drahozal said her family reluctantly moved to the Lower 48 to secure daycare. They later moved to Skagway when the right job materialized. At the time, the town offered age appropriate child care.

Drahozal’s children are a little older now, five and seven. She doesn’t anticipate having to leave town this time. 

“I mean, will we survive this summer? Yes, but it is going to take a toll on our family if we don’t have a childcare solution lined up.”

The good news is Skagway’s Child Care Council was awarded a $369,000 grant through an organization named thread (that’s a lowercase ‘t’) and the State of Alaska. The funds are earmarked for five things: grants for two child care start-ups, continuing education for staff, summer camp programming, a childcare needs study and a program evaluation for Little Dippers.

Eliza Russell is a child care council board member. She said community members might not realize the board meets frequently and is working multiple angles to try and get child care for older kids by summer.

“It’s hard to do the work and also market that you’re doing the work,” she said.

Russell says the board is attempting to get the basement of the Presbyterian Church approved as a location for a licensed childcare facility. There is concern that state code might require a sprinkler system, which the historic building does not have.

The board is also hoping to help at least one community member open their own licensed daycare to serve older children. A $100,000 grant will soon be available for that endeavor.

Child care woes are not unique to Skagway. Haines’ preschool didn’t reopen this fall. A task force is still trying to solve that problem. 

Kaitlyn Jared is helping Skagway’s child care board administer their grant. Her full-time job is at Southeast Conference. 

“One of the region’s priorities is child care,” she said. “In my other line of work, we’re updating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy, and child care is number three priority for the region. Before it is housing, and then the ferry system.”

While Little Dippers might be having growing pains, board member Russell, who is mother to a three year old, said she’s happy with the services it offers to its current clientele.

“It’s more than just daycare right now,” she said. “I dropped Theo off this morning, and they’re in circle time, going over their letters and things like that. And that was so exciting to see.”

She said the center is hiring “quality’ people. A pay increase might be helping with the hiring process.

“I worked at Little Dippers when I was pregnant with Theo,” Russell said. “I got paid $17.50 an hour. And the starting is $19 to $20, just as an assistant. For teachers, it’s like $21 to $23, so it has gone up. And we’re trying to offer more benefits.”

Those benefits could include a health spending account, a 401K or a housing stipend.