Daycare director updates school board

Ciciley Basse, director of daycare for the Hot Springs County School District, addressed the school board Dec. 15 to deliver her supervisor’s report.

Basse reported the daycare celebrated with “community helpers” in October, as members of the highway patrol and the local police, sheriff’s and volunteer fire departments visited the daycare, so the kids could explore their vehicles, “push all the buttons and make all the sirens” go off.

Moving to November, Basse recounted how the daycare hosted “a tool for observing young children” through the Wyoming Early Learning Standards for the Northwest Region, which also included two other daycare providers from Worland.

Basse explained that the Wyoming Early Childhood Professional Learning Collaborative is a partnership between state agencies, nonprofit organizations and the University of Wyoming to provide professional development opportunities for early childhood educators, with the goal of bolstering the quality of childcare programs in Wyoming.

“They’ve handed us all these books that we can hand out to any childhood educator in Wyoming,” Basse said, adding that the books’ target educational ages range from birth through kindergarten. “This is a pre-service training that’s required for all new staff. The whole section is about an eight-hour class for any new employees we hire.”

Basse then recalled how, on Dec. 5, the Bobkitten Den hosted the daycare’s second annual holiday open house, with soup and sandwiches, that welcomed a total of 55 families, plus school board members and administrative staff, all of whom “got to enjoy a night of crafts, snacks and play.”

For their crafts this year, the kids colored and oven-melted cups to make holiday ornaments, and in return, the daycare arranged for those kids to go home with Christmas gifts, including the book “Brown Bear,” on Dec. 20.

Basse went on to announce some new staff members at the daycare, in addition to welcoming Kaylee DeVries and her daughter Andi back from maternity leave, as Sesilili Shumway and her son Cashton are joining its part-time ranks, and high school student Morgan Slover will come over after each of her school days end.

“Lindsay (Bowman) and I were able to attend the high school career fair,” Basse said, elaborating that Slover’s schedule “was able to fit with ours,” and “during our busy times of drop-offs and pick-ups, (Slover) was able to come over and help us out. That’s a huge help for us.”

Jasmine Collins was another new staffer Basse named, who’s joining the daycare as either a part-time worker or a substitute, according to Basse.

“We do have an update on our playground equipment,” Basse said. “It has arrived, (but) I don’t know where; probably Casper.”

Basse identified an installation manager whom she anticipated would be reaching out to the daycare “soon, so hopefully, (by) winter? Spring? We’ll have a playground.”

Basse expressed her appreciation for the support of the Bobkitten Den in the meantime.