Charlotte-area child care centers struggle to hire workers

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Child care centers are having a hard time filling the positions left open after staff departures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every daycare provider that WSOC reporter Tina Terry called today said the same thing: they are hiring, but they are having a hard time finding qualified workers.

“I think some teacher were fearful to return for fear of exposure,” said Oakcrest Preparatory Academy Facility Director Melissa House. “Others may have other options as well.”

House said they may need to create a wait list for kids if they can’t find more workers to care for them.

“We are hiring,” said House. “We are looking to fill multiple full and part-time teaching and teacher assistant jobs.”

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She said one major hold-up in the hiring process is the state background check used for child care workers, which usually takes several weeks to complete.

Maudie Vee Johnson is just grateful that she was able to get her 4-year-old granddaughter enrolled at Oakcrest.

When they opened the Pineville center in March, there were just 30 children enrolled. Now there are 125 children enrolled. The facility can accept about 240 children in total.

House has some advice for any parents in the event that Oakcrest or other childcare centers end up having to use wait lists.

“My advice would be to plan ahead. It’s never too late to start planning to look at schools,” said House.

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Cox Media Group