The President’s Committee on Child Care Options (PCCCO) announced today that the university again is partnering with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) to provide children’s programs during an upcoming school holiday.
The committee began providing limited-duration child care programs in 2013, beginning with two spring break programs—one on campus provided through The Music Settlement, and the other at the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood. Nine months later the committee sponsored a winter break program, again with the Mandel JCC. The most recent offering, on President’s Day, 2014, involved CMNH; it proved so popular that members of the campus community have clamored for similar programs in this academic year. The first of those opportunities will be Thursday, Sept. 25, on Rosh Hashanah.
“Our President’s Day program filled within hours, and families’ reviews afterwards were overwhelmingly positive,” said PCCCO chair Eileen Anderson-Fye, the Robson Associate Professor of Anthropology. “We are delighted the museum is eager to partner with us again, and that the president’s office continues to provide financial assistance to make the program a possibility for even more families.”
The day’s program will include a tour of the museum’s Traveling the Silk Road exhibit, a planetarium show, exploration of the Smead Discovery Center, and use of chromatography techniques to make a bandana to take home. CMNH will provide snacks, but children should bring their own sack lunches with a drink. This activity is one of several in which the museum’s leaders work to strengthen ties with the museum—a priority of CMNH Executive Director and CEO Evalyn Gates, who earned her doctorate in physics from Case Western Reserve more than 20 years ago.
“Dr. Gates has been extremely enthusiastic about these efforts,” Anderson-Fye said, “and we are deeply grateful.”
The program, open to children in kindergarten through sixth grade, will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25, at the museum, located at 1 Wade Oval Drive. Enrollment is capped at 25 and pre-registration is required. Cost for the program is $50. As with the committee’s earlier child care initiatives the committee has launched during winter and spring breaks, President Barbara R. Snyder’s office will provide financial assistance to families with household incomes of $50,000 or less. Those with questions about financial assistance and their eligibility can contact Human Resources Manager Amy Sheldon at amy.sheldon@case.edu or 216.368.5000.
Those interested should complete the form available here. Check-in begins at 8:30, Sept. 25. Those with questions can call the museum at 216.231.4600, ext 3214.
The PCCCO is exploring opportunities to offer another President’s Day program next year, as well as some programming during the week of March 30—a common spring break period for local districts in 2015.