 "Photo: Nashara Robinson")
In November, the STLCC Board of Trustees voted 4-2 to close the Child Care Center facilities at Meramec and Forest Park on July 1, 2010. Two hundred and ten students currently have children in child care, and one woman is not ready to give up on the chances for a turnaround. That woman is Gyla Myers.
Myers, 35, is an STLCC-Meramec student who currently has two children attending the Child Care Center. Her children, Lauren, 4, and Lola, 3, spend their days in Meramec’s child care every day while Myers attends class. Since the decision was made to close the Child Care Center as part of an effort to cut one million dollars from STLCC’s budget by July 1, Myers has become an active advocate, along with other women, to try and convince the Board of Trustees to re-open the center.
She said that she and the some other mothers keep in contact on a regular basis to organize information to present to the board.
"We talk about strategy and what we can do. We have brought a lot of facts to the table in regard to the decision to close Meramec and Forest Park," Myers said. "I think it’s a wonderful thing to have these 209 women as a support system, as women should support women. It’s so unfortunate that there was one male and five women on the board and three of those women voted against [keeping the Child Care Center open]."
She said that the Board’s vote to close the Child Care Center has been anything but easy and has even affected her studies. Myers said she recently dropped a course due to the strain from the decision and the grief she is experiencing from the loss of her mother.
"It’s been devastating. It has affected me emotionally. I struggle academically with the strain. I think, most importantly, what has affected me the most is the 209 women that I witness. Their stories are much worse off than mine could be. I am fortunate in a way," she said.
Myers, who grew up in southern Illinois, started at Meramec in January 2009 in the court reporting program but is now a political science major.
"My husband and I decided when the economy started to head for the worse that one of us should go to school to get further training. Even though my husband has a good job and has a degree, we opted that I would go forth," Myers said. "I stumbled across a political science class. Between taking those classes and becoming involved with the child care back in June 2009, I knew then there was something else down the road for Gyla Myers."
Myers said she is on the Dean’s list, is an honor scholar and a member of Phi Theta Kappa. She said she doesn’t have much spare time between taking 11 credits this semester, being a mother and a wife and even studying in the library for hours each week in the evenings. On top of all that, she said she spends hours each day researching the minutes of past Board of Trustee meetings from recently to years back.
"The board agendas and the board minutes are posted online. I even went back to 2005, and if I can’t find the information there, I make a formal Sunshine request under the Missouri State Law," Myers said. Myers said she is a strong believer in the possibility for the Child Care Center reopening because the caliber of care is so high.
"There’s nothing not to like to be quite honest. I like the convenience and seeing my children thrive in this environment because mommy’s at school and so are the girls. Not only am I bettering myself and gaining knowledge, my girls are gaining knowledge. I hear a lot of people state that it is economic, that’s a price point," Myers said. "For me, it’s not. I would pay more to send my children here because it is quality care."
Myers said she attributes her children’s development to the Child Care Center.
"I have watched my girls, especially Lauren, go from ‘I’m not going to use the potty,’ to wearing big girl undies and going to the potty. Her vocabulary has expanded by thousands of words, so I’ve seen remarkable change and a confidence," she said.
Regardless of Lauren’s and Lola’s progress, as of now, the Child Care Center is still scheduled to close in July. In order for Myer’s to continue her education, she said she might have to move back to Illinois so her father can assist with child care.
"Not only myself, but the 209 women will have to figure out what we are going to do as a solution to keep going to school. I think for the most part, at least the majority that I have talked to, can’t or won’t be going to school," Myers said. "That’s what’s sad. As an active member of PTK, honor society and being on the Dean’s list, I am receiving letters in the mail now in regard to transfer options, and if I have to stop going to school, everything that I have worked for is lost."
As for now, Myers said she is going to continue to hug and kiss her daughters every day as she drops them off before class.
"I have my eyes set on the prize. I have my goals set forth, and I think that’s another reason why I continue to go forth with the Child Care Center," Myers said. "I refuse to be silenced. I am going to continue to express my First Amendment rights."
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