Aaron Soriano

Beatriz De La Rosa is the director of daycare at Morton East.

Morton Mini Mustangs — preschoolers and  babies who attend our in-school daycare — are cared for by Morton East-trained students and staff.

According to Google AI, the Children’s Center at Morton East was opened in 1991 and has been providing help for teen parents and staff for over 30 years now. The Children’s Center’s purpose is to help and support teen parents by providing them with a safe place for their children while the teen parents can attend school. This program has helped over 1,000 teenage parents graduate.

In Room 108 at Morton East, five preschoolers and eight babies are being educated and cared for.   The preschoolers include children of student and staff parents, as well as children enrolled from community members outside the school.  The babies are limited to students’ and staffs’ babies.  Signing up for preschool is free—no payment needed. The daycare has spots for up to eight babies. In a survey of 100 students, nine people said they have babies at home.

So, how much does it cost for a child to be a Mini Mustang at the school’s daycare?

“Our daycare is $60 a day. The Action for Children gives out stipends, so it would depend on that, but the full cost would be $60 a day,” said daycare staff member Beatriz De La Rosa.

However, if a student has a child and remains in school without a job, they don’t have to pay that full amount. Those teen parents have to pay only $1 for the month.

“In daycare, we are licensed for at least eight babies, and for our non-visiting program, it’s 80,” said daycare staff member Beatriz De La Rosa.

“If interested, you can come to Room 106, and we will help you and guide you through our paperwork and filling out the application. All you will need is a birth certificate and shot records,” said daycare staff member Beatriz De La Rosa.

And, the children in pre-school get the benefit of working directly with Morton East students.

“In Pre-school we are learning how to work with kids.  We help them with the basic,  for example their gross motor skills, and their social emotional skills.  We make sure they have activities with each skill they need to learn for each week. For example, in the past couple weeks, we had the children do yoga and draw pictures of their favorite foods,” said senior Fatima Gaona-Diaz.