Perks for Teachers: Onsite Child Care At Just $100 a Week

High School teacher Jyl Mason loves her job, but felt she had little choice but to resign after the birth of her son Levi. “I started thinking, how am I going to be the parent I want to be, and the teacher I want to be at the same time,” she told Education Week. But the Pekin, Ill., school district where Mason works, didn’t want to lose her. They proposed a part-time schedule, and a child-care slot right at the high school. Pekin, south of Peoria, has long had a child-care facility as part of the district’s career and technical education program. Students work with infants and toddlers of community members, who dropped off their children for a few weeks at a time. This year, the district revamped the program, opening it up to staff members with children ages 6 months to 5 years, and charging just $100 a week. Superintendent Danielle Owens says turning the facility into a full-time child-care center for staff was a leap of faith - but she’s been thrilled at the response. There’s now a waiting list. “Teacher’s lives are really stressful,” says Owens, “I’m really hoping the center provides our staff one less thing that they have worry about during the day.”