Q & A with…Christy Gademsky

Christy Gademsky is brand new to her director’s position at Trinity College Community Child Center in Hartford. Coming from EASTCONN Head Start in Vernon, where she was center director and worked for eight years, Gademsky started her new job as director of “TC4” on Dec. 7, 2009. Prior to EASTCONN, Gademsky spent four years as a Disability Consultant for Eastern Connecticut Health Network’s Early Head Start program.

Q: How did you get your start in early care and education? What made you want to pursue this field?

A: “The same way a lot of people did. I started babysitting when I was young for friends and family through high school. I took an ECE class at 18 years old at Manchester Community College and the class required getting involved in early care and education centers. I was hooked. This is what I wanted to do.

One of my first fulltime positions was at Manchester Community College’s Child Development Center, and I had gone there as a child, while my dad took classes. I ended up teaching there.”

NOTE: Gademsky studied at MCC for 3-4 years as a part-time student, then went to St. Joseph’s College for her undergraduate in Child Study and her Master’s in Early Childhood and Special Education. She was the first in her family to get her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. She has now worked in the field for 18 years.

Q: What steps did you take to get to this point in your life? Do you plan to pursue further studies?

A: “I am considering getting my sixth-year [certificate of advanced study in administration]. I have my CT Director’s Credential. This would be the next step. The director’s credential includes administration and budgeting. This is the next step up on policy, procedure, etc.”

Q: What is the best part of your job?

A: “The best is being with people all day. Whether it’s staff, children or their families, and knowing they are there for you and they depend on you for resources. For children and families, we’re providing excellence in early care and education. They put a lot of trust in us by bringing their families here.”

Q: What is the worst part of your job?

A: “Regulations and policies – there’s a lot of paperwork.”

Q: What changes have you seen in the field since you started?

A: “There is more emphasis on early intervention and brain development. Early intervention is the best. There has been a pendulum over the years – one year [the focus] is on academics, then learning centers, now there’s a push for assessment. We need to use assessment to guide planning and procedures. There are also more families out there that need fulltime care. We need quality care for families that can accommodate [family] schedules. A lot of times, families take what they can find because of rates, but you need qualified staff that knows how to work with young children and families.”

Q: Do you think the current way CT offers ECE is the best it can be, why or why not?

A: “There has been a lot of growth made in early care and education. It is where it needs to be? No. More funding is needed for professional development and program enlargement for quality programs. More classes are needed on partnering with families – strategies on young children, warning signs to look for in developmental delays. More money is needed for families to become advocates for their children. More money is needed for training on assessment and data collection. More support is needed, more opportunities in the infant/toddler development area.”

Q: Do you think the state needs a more seamless system of care? Remove the silos?

A: “It needs to work for children and families. We need to make it easier for families to get access to, say, Care4Kids. They are waiting and waiting on services. I’m all for seamless, as long as it works for children and families.”

Q: Has the recession impacted your program in any way? More kids in need of care? Parents losing their jobs and dropping care? Have you lost teachers because of less revenue?

A: “All of the above. We have many staff members who love the field of ECE, but because we’re not certified [with state teaching certificates]; we lose teachers to public schools because they can earn $20,000 more. The economic impact has been huge on our families. Say they are paying $60-$80, [while on C4K]. They may have to make a decision to pay their child care and go without groceries, gas, etc, that week.”

Q: What is your feeling on the state of the young child in Connecticut today?

A: “There will always be work to be done in the field of young children. We need advocates who are not afraid to speak up for the voiceless children. Advocates need to train more parents to become advocates for their kids – what to look for in a center, how to become involved. There are a lot of good policy/lawmakers who have children’s best interests at heart and are sending funding to programs to keep doing the great work they are doing. The word needs to get out to the communities on how important [early care and education] is.”

Some notes on Trinity College Community Child Center:

Funding is tuition-based, school readiness, Care4Kids and grants to qualified Hartford families. The center serves children between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years. The children come from diverse economic backgrounds. They are the children of faculty members at Trinity, low-income, middle-income and upper-income families; children from the city and children from the suburbs. Gademsky thinks that’s what a lot of families are seeking – a variety of exposures for their children. The care offered at TC4 is viewed as an extension of a child’s home. Some of the children at the center spend more time at the center than at their own homes (9+ hours a day).

There is a huge waiting list at the center – they have 65 slots and there are currently 30 infant/toddlers and 20 preschoolers waitlisted. The center will be opening an additional toddler room with eight slots by the end of February.

Families need quality infant/toddler care and unfortunately, that type of care is hard to come by.