Finances, licensing rules lead to closing of school
By Per Peterson
Wee World celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014. Today, the doors to the day care center-turned early education school are locked.
Despite its longevity in Tracy, Wee World became a victim of finances and more stringent teacher license requirements, said Shanel Connor, who served as president of the Wee World Board of Directors for the past four years. She said Wee World was put in a financial hole a number of years ago at the time it added bussing for students.
“We’ve spent the last two years getting to a better place financially,” she said. “Enrollment numbers have always been questionable in the spring; however, we were in a pretty good place to start the year. Financially though, it’s hard to pay competitively in this field and licensing makes it very difficult to find qualified subs because everyone qualified under our license requirements is a fully-qualified teacher and are teaching already.”
Wee World also lost its teacher, who took another position late this summer, and Connor said with an uncertain future facing the school almost every year, she doesn’t blame her for making a change.
For more on this article, see this week’s Headlight-Herald.