The Cranberry Economic Development Committee heard from three representatives of Child Development Centers at the committee’s monthly meeting Tuesday.
The trio expressed concern about the possibility of a Milton Hershey School being built in Cranberry Township.
The main message from the CDC representatives was that the Milton Hershey Schools are excellent, but CDC has the same mission and is already meeting the need for childcare in the community.
However, Cartwright said CDC has been a community partner for 50 years and provides something “incredibly rare” to the community.
“I have been talking to people in big cities, and they don’t have what we have here… I dare you to find another daycare with a physician, a speech therapist, and a dentist on staff… We aren’t a daycare, we are a pre-school,” said Cartwright.
Rina Irwin, chief executive officer of CDC, said the CDC schools in the area have room for more students.
Irwin expressed concern that if a Milton Hershey School were to be established in Cranberry Township, the local Child Development Centers would lose students, and in turn lose both state and federal funding that she said would be difficult to regain.
“If we don’t fill Head Start spots in Venango County, we lose them forever. We are concerned… We really want to be respectful of the Hershey Schools, but there is funding we have worked for that would be at risk of being lost,” said Irwin.
At the beginning of her presentation, Irwin outlined what CDC has brought to the community. Through its seven locations in Venango County, CDC has invested more than $10 million in the county, she said.
The Venango County CDC centers can enroll up to 1,083 children and employ 165 county residents.
CDC curriculum specialist Rebecca Sanchez outlined the strengths of the CDC curriculum.
Lisa Groner, a member of the economic development committee, asked the CDC representatives if they might be able to collaborate with the Milton Hershey Schools if a Hershey school came to the township.
Cartwright and Irwin said they would be open to that but that they weren’t sure what that would look like since they offer the same service.
After the CDC representatives left the meeting, township manager Eric Heil said the township still plans to send a letter to the Hershey Schools asking them to consider establishing a school in this area.
“I think we still need to hear them out,” he said.
Township supervisor Matt McSparen said the committee’s goal is to bring business to the township, and he wasn’t in favor of a Hershey School being put in a neighboring community.
Bonnie Summers, vice chairman of the committee, said she would like to see an assessment of the need for childcare in the area.
Heil said the Hershey Schools would do an assessment before establishing a new school in an area.
“If CDC feels Hershey needs to know how important they are to the community, they need to reach out to them, not us,” Heil said.
