At a public hearing on Wednesday, parents and teachers in Baltimore County gathered to save the daycare center they all call home.
The Baltimore County school district proposed that Campfield Early Learning Center be shut down by August 2026 at a school board meeting earlier this month, citing four elementary school projects in the area that will increase classroom capacity once completed in the coming years.
But parents and teachers of the three-to-five-year-olds at Campfield say this would negatively impact the center’s 377 students — especially the 33% of them with disabilities.
Jessica Miller has two autistic sons — one who graduated from Campfield and transitioned into Millbrook Elementary school, and one who will start attending pre-K in the fall.
“The very first week my child went to Campfield, he got off the bus and couldn’t get into the classroom,” Miller said at the hearing. “He could barely get off the bus.”
Miller said one of the center’s staff members carried her son into the classroom every day for the first week. That’s the kind of hands-on, individualized approach her children need — and they won’t get it in other schools, she said.
“Those students need a place to go that is specially geared towards them. Redistributing them into classrooms that are already overcrowded is a disservice.”
Miller’s oldest son is now in a classroom with 25 other students, and only one teacher and aide. At Campfield, each classroom with 10-14 children has a teacher and two aides.
Danny Chaney has been a special education teacher at Campfield for four years, and worked in Baltimore County in the classroom for ten years. He said Campfield offers a variety of support services that are unavailable at other schools.
“This continuum of services at Campfield has shown to be a great benefit to the vulnerable population of nonverbal, limited language students that I have the privilege to teach,” Chaney said. “And we have a wonderful administration that focuses on inclusion of our youngest learners, which I know doesn’t always happen in comprehensive schools.”
Six of Chaney’s 16 students last year will transfer into general education classrooms this fall — a feat he says is only possible because of Campfield’s approach and resources. Campfield is a state-designated Judy Center, which means it specializes in school readiness for Pre-K and kindergarten students.
Over half of the students at Campfield come from low-income families. Elaine DeCastro said when her son was diagnosed with autism, her first priority was to find a school that catered to his needs specifically — but private school was not an option because of the family’s finances.
Campfield is the perfect option, she said.
“For the past year, Campfield has been more than a school. It’s been a second home,” DeCastro said. “You wouldn’t be closing a regular school. You’d be closing and separating a family.”
Speakers at Wednesday’s public hearing also pointed to the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, a legislative investment of $3.8 billion into the state’s education system over the next ten years. The first pillar of the legislation focuses on increasing access to early childhood education, by expanding full-day programs and creating more Judy Centers.
Helene Groves, a social emotional learning teacher at Campfield, said these state goals will require an increase in classrooms and special educators — both of which Campfield already has.
“Instead of closing Campfield, a facility that’s already designed for young children - complete with tiny tables, tiny chairs, teeny tiny toilets - why not repurpose it to increase access for preschool and Pre-K students?” she said.
Sharon Saroff, a local special education advocate, urged the school board to keep Campfield open in alignment with the Blueprint.
“Let’s take this opportunity to increase access, as opposed to decrease it,” she said.
The Baltimore County Board of Education will vote on the closure of Campfield Early Learning Center on September 12. Vice Chair Robin Harvey said board members will take comments from the hearing into consideration when making that decision.
“The passion and commitment that has been demonstrated here by the parents is palpable. The dedication by the staff is clear,” she said.
