For student-parents trying to build a better future, EvCC’s Early Learning Center was more than just childcare — it was a lifeline. Now, with minimal transparency and even less input from those affected, that lifeline has been cut.
EvCC announced in early May it will be permanently shutting down its Early Learning Center (ELC) on June 30, 2025. The closure of the ELC is not a new issue. Many may recall back in November 2021, EvCC released a similar statement with the closure slated for June 2022. Thanks to public outcry over this decision, along with funding from Snohomish County, EvCC walked back its decision and kept the ELC operational.
What makes this time so different? Previously, staff, parents and the public were informed roughly eight months before the slated closure. Now? Barely two.
Student parents and staff felt they had the rug pulled from under them. For staff, it was specifically the visit from EvCC President Dr. Chemene Crawford that hurt. May 7, 2025, fell during teacher’s appreciation week. At 4 p.m., Crawford came down to the ELC, not to check in or to show her appreciation, but to tell the staff that they were going to be laid off.
“It was a complete shock to us,” early childhood program specialist Tamra Hill said. She is one of the 19 staff members who will be laid off in June. Official email records show Crawford and Vice President Of Human Resources and Compliance Josh Ernst asked via email on April 25 about potential plans to discuss offering a “interim (not permanent) vacant exempt role on July 1” with the director of the ELC. Ultimately, Ernst stated, “We’re still meeting w(ith) Richelle to go over what Shelby presented, but we’re not giving her advance notice of the closure; we’ll wait to tell her when we tell the rest of the staff on May 5. There’s some concern about her discretion.”
Court documents suggested that administrative staff at EvCC knew as far back as March that the ELC would be shut down, according to the Everett Herald. But parents and staff did not.
Parents had already begun registering at the ELC for summer childcare in April. Staff were in the midst of planning summer classes when they were hit with the news.
The letter to parents informing them of the closure was sent the following day on May 8, with classes cancelled for the rest of the week. The announcement coincided with Mother’s Day weekend – the mothers depending on the ELC for their childcare could not celebrate.
“It was the biggest shock of my life — and I’ve been told I had cancer,” Stephanie Henifin said.
Henifin was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with her second child. In 2023, she began attending classes at EvCC for nursing, and has maintained a 4.0 GPA ever since. Juggling cancer, being a mother of small kids, and attending school is a nearly impossible feat. Henifin attributed her success at EvCC to the ELC, with it being a huge part of her routine.
“It’s convenient, it’s right here … especially with my health issues. I’m at the hospital every single day. I will be for the rest of my life. I literally drop them off at daycare (the ELC) then go get my blood drawn or get my medication I need, then I go to school … then I pick them up and we go home.” Henifin said.
“I always thought that the only thing that would stop me from continuing with school would be cancer. Not budget cuts, right?” Henifin said in an interview with the Everett Herald.
Henifin had already registered for classes for the summer and fall quarters. The ELC, as far as she knew up until two weeks ago, was going to be open and available to her. With this sudden loss of child care, it left Henifin feeling completely derailed.
“I’ve already registered for summer and fall classes. I’ve registered for human anatomy in the fall … it’s not even an option to take online. It’s … four days a week, two hours. What am I supposed to do?” she said.
For this announcement to come all the way in May, after parents have already registered for classes
“Even if I could find a place, even if I could afford it … I was on a waitlist for over six months for the ELC. And we get a month?” Henifin said.
In an email sent to parents on May 30, Cathy Leaker, EvCC Vice President of Instruction, stated the college has decided not to keep the ELC operational during summer hours — despite parents already enrolling their children for summer.
Daycares often require parents to apply months in advance, and many parents are placed on waitlists long before being accepted. Most daycares, especially now, don’t have many (if any) spots open during this time. Most children are enrolled until late September, when they go off to kindergarten. Often, they give priority to those already enrolled in their programs.
The ELC was a resource available for the campus’ most vulnerable. Much of Snohomish county is already considered to be part of a childcare desert. Now, some of the groups who need the most help, like student parents and low income families, are in a worse position.
Another EvCC nursing student, Stephanie Macon, shared a similar sentiment.
“I had to call 26 daycares. Five of them had one slot open,” she said. “I was fortunate enough that I responded quickly to the closure … I got him a spot, the very last spot, until end of September, at another facility that is not the same.”
There are few daycare facilities that compare to the ELC. It earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). According to a press release from EvCC, “Less than 10 percent of all child care centers, preschools, and kindergartens nationally achieve this recognition.”
“Obtaining NAEYC accreditation means our program meets the highest quality standards in 10 areas including relationships, curriculum, health and safety, family support and community engagement,” former ELC Director Kristina Saunsaucie said in the same press release.
The ELC works hard to make sure parents feel supported. Staff members employ Mobility Mentoring, which helps families build financial independence by teaching skills, providing resources and developing behavioral changes. According to Hill, the ELC had a lot of growth and success with this program. And yet, EvCC didn’t ask to see this data.
The ELC hosts parent education events and family nights. It also offers referral services to other programs, as well as access to their food pantry, giving parents coats and winter jackets, access to free diapers, and more. The ELC also gave children access to regular meals, which now, these children will be left without.
The ELC is one of few facilities to also employ a “no-expulsion policy.” For parents with children who need extra help or with learning and other disorders, this has been especially helpful. Staff are trained with trauma-informed practices, utilizing empathy and understanding that can be difficult to come by.
“If they don’t have us, they (the children) don’t have a place to go,” Hill said.
“EvCC lacks the dedicated resources and specialized staff expertise to operate a comprehensive early learning and child care facility,” EvCC Board Chair Jerry Martin said during a Board of Trustees meeting on May 20.
The ELC has been operating below capacity, with 71 children currently in attendance. Half of those children have either one or both parents who attend EvCC. The ELC, according to Leaker, has a capacity of 200 children. Martin described the center as “currently significantly underutilized.”
Looking at the data presented by open records, with the current staffing infrastructure, the ELC is operating
The ELC, according to staff in an interview, had a waitlist of 200 students. While the ELC wanted to open more classrooms and serve more children, the college wasn’t as eager to oblige.
“We’re only at 70 because the college wants us to be,” family specialist Alejandrea Wood said.
The staff at the ELC go above and beyond to support parents — especially parents who attend EvCC.
“The amount of care and love they show our kids … when I went to pick up my son and he had him playing outside, and he had a dirty diaper, right?” Henifin said. “So Miss Patty brought him inside to change him, and I walk in the room and it’s just her and my son, and she is singing to him … I’m just standing there about in tears … because I am watching this woman who loves my baby so much.”
Hill said many staff at the ELC were former EvCC students. The Director of the ELC herself is an EvCC alumni, and her children attended the ELC as well. Hill also said that EvCC students who worked in the early learning development program at EvCC often received jobs and/or experience in the field at the ELC.
“We educate, equip, and inspire each student to achieve personal and professional goals, contribute to our diverse communities and thrive in a global society,” according to the mission statement on EvCC’s website.
With the ELC’s closure, EvCC is taking away one of the most valuable tools for student parents, jobs of highly-educated staff and learning opportunities for EvCC students trying to advance their careers in childhood education. The closure of the ELC is eliminating many personal and professional goals.
According to The Education Trust’s analysis, no student-parent working 10 hours a week at minimum wage in any state can cover both college expenses and child care, and many must work 30–90 hours weekly (on top of studying and parenting) to bridge the affordability gap. Even for community college students with lower tuition costs, the total financial strain remains severe.
It is also important to acknowledge the financial strain EvCC is going through, especially with Gov. Fergeson signing a bill on May 20 that will result in community college’s funding being cut. According to EvCC’s Vice President of Finance Shelby Burke, this means EvCC will miss out on $2.23 million of state funding this year. There have also been challenges with funding, with the college claiming they would be operating the ELC at a $300,000 deficit. Cuts in funding grants, such as Early ECEAP (Washington State’s free preschool program for eligible children up to three years old), will no doubt have an impact. More funding information for the ELC can be found here. ELC staff also stated that there were many other ways to get funding that were not explored by the college.
The timing of the closure could not have been worse for staff. Very few daycare are accepting new students, as previously stated, but fewer are hiring at this point in the summer. Not only are staff members left scrambling for jobs, but they also haven’t been offered any severance packages or further assistance.
In a notice sent out on May 7, the college stated that EvCC does not intend to have a contract with whomever leases the building to provide services; so staff and families alike will not be guaranteed a spot at the new daycare. EvCC offered to review their resumes for other jobs on campus. However, staff expressed reluctance at the possibility of getting other positions.
The local community has also expressed outrage at the sudden closure of the ELC. Since the shut-down was publicly disclosed, posts on FaceBook, X and Reddit have been buzzing with disappointment and sadness at the announcement. On r/everett, Reddit’s main hub for citizens of Everett, people even started a letter writing campaign protesting the closure — all in the hope that their voices would be heard as they were in 2021.
Though it seems like back in 2021, there was more notice to prepare and fight back. Now, it doesn’t seem like there is much hope.
One of the first things EvCC got rid of on their website, in terms of links and pages relating to the ELC, was the staff bio page. It was removed in May, despite staff still being employed, further showing a lack of empathy towards the ELC and its staff
UPDATE: As of June 17, Everett Community College and the Board of Trustees are being sued for alleged violations of the Open Public Meetings Act and college governance rules for closing the center without a board vote or any public commentary. The hearing was rescheduled from June 18, 2025 to June 25. The case number is 25-2-05203-31, and is a superior court case. It was deemed by the Snohomish Superior Court that the Everett Community College Board of Trustees had violated Washington State Law when it closed the Early Learning Center without a notice period or allowed for public comment.
After the hearing on June 25, EvCC’s Board of Trustees held a special meeting Thursday, June 26 at 2:30 p.m. The meeting was open to the public to attend either in person, in Jackson 101, or via Zoom. The meeting was focused on the ELC’s closure specifically. And unfortunately, it did not go well for those who wanted it to remain in operation.
Parents, students, council members and even children attending the ELC gave public comments for an hour — and the meeting went well over the anticipated 20 minutes the Board of Trustees had scheduled in their agenda.
“I fear you have already made up your mind,” said Samantha Sommerman, the criminal law attorney who filed the suit against EvCC. “But you don’t have to close it, you want to.”
Sommerman brought up many important points during her public comment; such as the fact that EvCC didn’t have accurate enrollment numbers prior to giving their financial presentation to the Board of Trustees back in April, how the ELC director asked back in January of this year to open more classrooms, only to be told no and how EvCC has not properly looked into various opportunities to funding the ELC — citing her sources via public records from EvCC and the city of Everett.
At the meeting, Snohomish councilmember Megan Dunn sent a letter in support of the ELC staying open, and got 13 signatures from council members from both Snohomish and Everett, as well as eight Washington legislators. She went on to say she would have likely gotten more, if she had more than just 24 hours. She said that many people would be willing to work with EvCC to secure more funding.
The fact this meeting was scheduled for 2:30 p.m. on a Thursday brought up much criticism between the various attendees. It was so last minute, Board member’s were missing, and even one of the Trustee’s didn’t have a copy of the resolution they were deciding upon. It had to be read out loud. Some highlights include:
The President of EvCC decided to close the Early Learning Center as of July 2, 2025, and they will uphold this decision
The President has the appointing authority for all faculty, classified, exempt employees and has delegated to the President the ability to terminate classified and exempt employees (without council)
The President is recognized as the authority to determine which services are necessary to maintain the education of the district and to determine the number of academic employees to be laid off
The Board of Trustees formally delegated authority to the President in a resolution passed in June 2023. This delegation grants the President broad power to manage administrative functions, including who gets laid off and what programs stay. It calls into question how much anyone has a say in what happens here at EvCC.
Despite the unconventional time, the turn out was still noteworthy. Almost every public comment shared a similar sentiment of disappointment in how the school has handled the whole decision. The hour of comments was filled with emotion — many public commenters teared up, and after every comment rounds of applause rang out. There was not one comment in support of the closure.
It took the Board of Trustees less than a minute to all collectively say “I” in support of the resolution to close the ELC by July 2.
After the meeting was adjourned, members of the audience all began shouting “Shame!” in unison.
The closure of the ELC is a shame, but the way EvCC has handled this closure, above all else, will ultimately impact its reputation in the community.
