April 10, 2021

The Rockport Early Childhood Center had to close its doors after nearly four decades.Da'Shaunae Marisa for The New York Times

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta

Gender Reporter

"People who take care of children are still viewed as glorified babysitters."

— Valerie Norris, director of Rockport Early Childhood Center

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Aug. 28 was both a somber and a monumental day for Valerie Norris. It was a Friday. It was pouring rain, the kind of rain that falls sideways, and thunder rumbled in the distance. It was the day that Rockport — a child-care center where Ms. Norris had worked for almost four decades — shut its doors forever.

Located in Rocky River, a small suburb of Cleveland, Rockport had been open since 1981, and Ms. Norris, who started working at the center in 1986 and became its director in 1996, had watched generations grow and flourish before her eyes.

"I literally have had moms who came to Rockport as children bring their babies to Rockport," said Ms. Norris, 61. "I've also hired teachers who were babies at Rockport."

"One little boy who I was really close to discovered that he had this wonderful baritone singing voice," she recalled. "Years after he left Rockport, his parents invited me to come to his high school solo recital."

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The average cost of infant care in Ohio is $9,697 per year — or about $800 per month — according to the Economic Policy Institute, an independent think tank. Rockport, which was owned by a church, cared for children as young as 6 weeks old all the way up to 6-year-old first graders. It took in only privately funded children. Full-time fees per month ran about $1,068 for a 6-week-old, which made it "not the most expensive center in the area, but not the cheapest, either," Ms. Norris added, meaning the center wasn't in a financially vulnerable position at the start of last year.

So its closure came as a surprise to everyone in the community.

On March 13, Rockport, taking a cue from the Rocky River School District, temporarily shut its doors. At that point, 70 children were enrolled at the center.

The playground at the Rockport Early Childhood Center.Da'Shaunae Marisa for The New York Times

Four months later, in July, it reopened with a new business model and safety protocols that complied with local health requirements. To cut costs, Ms. Norris shortened the number of hours the center would be open.

But parents were still nervous about Covid, and only 33 children came back in that month, 25 of whom were full-time — less than half of the center's pre-pandemic enrollment. That first week back, the center made $7,600. In a typical July, it would have made $17,500.

Still, Ms. Norris was optimistic that in August, when schools reopened, parents would be comfortable sending their toddlers in, too; she projected that she'd have about 50 children back.

"But then Rocky River announced that they weren't going to open schools," she said.

"Now these parents have nannies. So parents using a nanny at home, for example, with the school-aged child who is virtual learning, have to pay us to bring the little one in? They're just not going to do that," she added.

"That projected number that we had began to dwindle, dwindle, dwindle," she said, making her business model more untenable by the day.

Just a few weeks after reopening, the finance committee at the church informed her that Rockport would have to shut down permanently. "We had one week's notice," Ms. Norris said.

So on Aug. 28, she drove to work for the last time. Her teachers had planned a safe, socially distanced farewell ceremony outside in the parking lot. But of course, there was the rain.

The rain was just so fitting, Ms. Norris said. "My preschool teachers taught the kids the song 'The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow' and then they sent the video to me," she said.

Some parents sent her emails of gratitude. "To us, you are heroes," one said. Children wrote notes and made signs. One wrote: "Thank you Rockport! I hate Covid-19. Boo!"

"I feel like I lost my identity that day," said Ms. Norris, who is now on unemployment benefits and looking for a new job.

"People who take care of children are still viewed as glorified babysitters," she added. "But we prepared countless numbers of children for kindergarten; we're serving their minds, their bodies, their spirits."

In the coming weeks, In Her Words will highlight the stories of child care providers from across the country and how they were impacted by the pandemic. Read the full story here.

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In Her Words is written by Alisha Haridasani Gupta and edited by Francesca Donner. Our art director is Catherine Gilmore-Barnes, and our photo editor is Sandra Stevenson.

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