Letter to the Editor: A response to “Child Development Center demolition date set”

Letter to the Editor: A response to “Child Development Center demolition date set” Categories: Letter to the Editor Opinion Letter to the Editor: A response to “Child Development Center demolition date set” By Childhood Education Department • October 13, 2026 The Child Development Center rests vacant on the edge of Parking Lot L on Crenshaw Boulevard Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. The center opened in 1992 to provide child care to community members and students, but has been non-operational for many years. (Oriana de Quay | The Union) Our childhood education department would like to clarify several points made about our department and the Child Development Center in the Sept. 17 issue of The Union. The article included some inaccurate and potentially misleading information about the Child Development Center building that is scheduled for demolition. The center, originally opened in 1992, for many years, served as a lab school. It provided child care to families in the community while also giving childhood education students valuable opportunities to gain hands-on experience working with young children. In 2014, the college closed the center as a college-operated program and subsequently rented the facility to outside child care organizations for several years before it was permanently closed. The article states, “While the program will still continue out of the Behavioral and Social Science building, it will no longer have its own designed building, which was described as being an essential part of the experience.” We want to clarify that our department has not operated a child care center or lab school on campus for many years. While our Childhood Education program continues to provide students with academic and vocational preparation, access to a lab school is an important component of that education. A lab school would be a practice classroom where students work with real children under supervision. Unfortunately, our students have not had access to such a facility for many years. Currently, in lieu of an on-campus lab school, childhood education students participate in mentorship experiences within the community. However, coordinating and monitoring multiple external sites requires significant time and some cost, while also being inconvenient to students. It is also important to clarify that El Camino College does not currently provide child care on campus. The article may give the impression that child care has continued elsewhere on campus since the Child Development Center closed. That is not the case. Our Childhood Education Department is an excellent program that provides high-quality educational experiences and prepares students to make a meaningful impact in the field of early childhood education. We offer courses that prepare students to earn certificates and degrees and to meet the requirements for permits issued by the State of California. We also have an active Child Development Club that provides students with numerous opportunities, including weekly professional development meetings, Parent Cafés, the You and Me Play Group, and other activities. However, these programs do not include on-campus child care. For many years, reopening the Child Development Center—or creating a new center on campus—has been a long-term priority for our department. A high-quality child development center would serve an important dual purpose: providing much-needed child care to children and families while also serving as a laboratory and learning environment for our students. Our students need opportunities to observe children, assess learning environments and programs, and develop practical skills under the guidance of experienced early childhood professionals. Hundreds of childhood education students complete coursework that requires classroom observations and environmental and program assessments. Students preparing to become early childhood educators benefit greatly from supervised, hands-on experiences with young children. A quality child development center would therefore benefit both the college and the broader community. It would provide families with access to child care while helping prepare the next generation of early childhood educators through meaningful, supervised experiences. Children are one of the most important investments a community can make. We hope that, in the future, ECC will once again have a Child Development Center on campus—one that supports children and families while providing our students with the hands-on educational experiences they need to enter the early childhood profession. Editor’s note: The letter was written in a collaborative effort from the Childhood Education Department.  Students and campus community members, including faculty and staff, are invited to send guest columns and letters to the editor to The Union. To submit a guest column or letter to the editor, please email [email protected]. All columns and letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and style.  0 Like This Story Share on Facebook Share on X Email this Story Print this Story Tags: child development center Child Development Club childhood education More to Discover More in Letter to the Editor Letter to the Editor: El Camino College must restore women’s sports programs A more accurate catalog: My degree doesn’t match my achievements Letter to the editor: We are dealing with Hamas not Palestine Guest Column: Hamas conspiracies do not belong at El Camino Guest Column: El Camino fails to support Muslim students Letter to the Editor: Former student defends commencement speaker More in Opinion Club systems should make it easier for students to get involved, not harder A lack of third spaces ruined my teen years VIEWPOINTS: How do students get to class? 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