Interview with Tom Smith, Executive Director of Long Run Children's Learning Centers Center

I have been working with a Minneapolis-based nonprofit called First Children's Finance for about 8 months now.  We do a lot of training and consulting for childcare center directors, so when I remembered that my Uncle Tom is the Executive Director at a center in the Pittsburgh area, I thought I'd email him with a few questions for the first ever interview on this blog!  As I have mentioned before on this blog, early education and childcare is extremely important.  Here is the interview in full, with a few notes that I have added in.

Question 1:  How long have you worked for Long Run Children's Center, and what attracted you to work there?
A:  I assumed the position of Executive Director in August of 1999. The school opened in 1962, and the founder, Bertha Mae Chaplin, had been its only Director until she decided to retire. It was an attractive job for someone looking for an administrative position in early childhood – a well-established program in a brand-new building, NAEYC-accredited, and (at the time) well-supported financially.

Question 2:  What is the mission of Long Run and why is it important?
A:  The Mission Statement is too long to insert here; let me just say that the Center was created to provide preschool services for children with special needs, a population that was largely un-served at that time. In the years since, the service has evolved, and now consists of inclusive preschool classes which also offer benefits to local typically-developing children. We believe that preschool education in general is of critical importance to the future of our communities, and that no one should be excluded from the opportunity to maximize his or her potential. We also feel that the inclusive program supports broader understanding and tolerance, an outcome that has been reported by a number of “alumni” parents.



Question 3:  Are there other childcare centers in your area dedicated to serving special needs children?
A:  By law, early childhood programs are not allowed to discriminate. In practice, however, very few centers are comfortable with enrolling students who have identified special needs

Question 4:  What challenges have you run into in your position as Executive Director?
A:  Ha!! Every day is a challenge, though I’d have to say that my excellent staff makes this much easier to deal with. I’m sure it will come as no surprise if I identify fundraising as probably my biggest challenge, because early childhood programs do not follow the ordinary marketplace laws of supply and demand. That is to say, it’s impossible to charge high enough fees to cover the cost of running a quality – accredited – center. Long Run’s deficit was made up for years with Early Intervention funding; that went away in 2010, and we’ve been struggling to fill the hole while sustaining our focus on our mission. Challenging? You bet.

Question 5:  I saw on the website that Long Run is accredited by NAEYC - how does this affect the center?
A:  The NAEYC accreditation process is ridiculously complicated – and expensive – but we all really like saying “We’re accredited.” It’s nice external validation. It’s certainly a nice shortcut when approaching a potential funder, i.e. I don’t have to into great detail about the classrooms and staff and curriculum and administration and on and on. I just have to say, “We’re nationally accredited.”

[Blogger's Note: At my work we recently talked to a center director whose center lost their NAEYC accreditation status in 2008, and couldn't find out from NAEYC what exactly they were doing wrong - not exactly helpful.  All the directors I have spoken to have said that NAEYC's process is very time-consuming and difficult.  But it is good that there is a national measure of quality for childcare programs.]

Question 6:  I also noticed that you are rated Four "Keystone Stars" by Pennsylvania's childcare quality rating system. Minnesota also has a state quality rating system, but ours is in danger of losing its funding. What is the status of the Pennsylvania system?   [Update: The Minnesota Parent Aware! childcare rating program is definitely ending.  It's sad that we are willing to pay for new stadiums and tax cuts for the rich, but not for quality early education]

A:  During an eight-year Democratic administration, PA’s early childhood infrastructure was grown and strengthened (including the Keystone STARS assessment program, a widespread professional Development network, and a statewide publicly-funded preschool system called Pre-K Counts). Somewhat surprisingly, in the face of large deficits, the new Republican administration has proposed to continue funding for most of these programs (while making huge cuts in other areas of education which are likely to impact school districts and higher education institutions). Currently the task is to work out the differences between three competing state budget proposals (Governor, House, Senate); we will see in the next two weeks how this plays out.

Question 7:  There was an article in the Pittsburgh paper [here's the link] about how Long Run is losing some government funding. Why is this money important to your center and what are your plans for the future?
A:  I noted the loss of Early Intervention funding in my answer to question #4; this represented almost 2/3rds of our total budget, and about half of our student body. We are hoping that our mission, and our experience with service to children with special needs, will help us locate another source of funding that will enable us to, well, stay open.

Question 8:  How do you balance quality care, affordable tuition rates, and still stay in business?
A:  We have to seek outside funding, wherever we can find it – foundations, fundraisers, local businesses, our participation in the PA Pre-K Counts program, whatever. As I said above, we are hoping to develop a funded program that will provide the support we need to pay our overhead, compensate our staff adequately, and provide the kind of quality service that is deserving of NAEYC accreditation and four Keystone STARS.


Questions?  Thoughts?  Leave a comment below.  For my next interview, I'm thinking I'll try to get one of my former Macalester Economics professors to talk about the financial crisis.