Helping Working Parents Balance Jobs and Family

A child plays in the childcare center at Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov day school.

New on-site childcare program at JDBY-YTT fills critical gap for teachers

Malkah Wajchman is a working mother who values her job. As the chief operating officer of Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov-Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi (JDBY-YTT), Malkah is a core member of the administrative team at one of the largest Jewish school systems in the midwest.

And she’s also no stranger to the struggle of trying to maintain a full-time job while making sure her kids have affordable, high-quality care.

“I’m privileged that everyone here in JDBY-YTT’s business office is very accommodating and family-friendly,” Malkah said. “In addition, being in an administrative role, I’m very understanding of the need to be flexible with other working mothers in our office, accommodating family needs while they also hold down a job.”

But teachers at JDBY-YTT have a less flexible schedule, working from 8:30 a.m.– 4:15 p.m. They are also challenged by a lack of sufficient daycare in the area to serve the growing community. Even with the limited hours, existing programs often have waitlists.

After many meetings and with input from the community, Wajchman and her colleagues came up with a plan: develop an on-site daycare facility to provide high-quality, convenient childcare to serve the children of JDBY-YTT staff and faculty. The daycare center, which has received resounding support from the school board and CEO, will launch this fall for the 2021-2022 school year, and support staff from all three of JDYBY-YTT’s campuses—the Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov girls’ school, the Yeshivas Bais Yaakov-Yeshivas boy’s school, as well as the business office and preschool site. The daycare will utilize existing, newly renovated classrooms at the three sites and accommodate children from newborns to age 3. Nearly 100 children from 57 JDBY-YTT families are already enrolled in the new program, and that number is expected to grow.

“Childcare in school is literally a lifesaver!” said Zipporah Rosen, a fifth-grade English studies teacher at Joan Dachs Bais Yaakov. “The community does not have enough childcare providers that work long enough hours to service teachers. School-organized and reliable childcare gives me the requisite peace of mind to allow me to put forth my kochos (strengths) in my teaching without compromising my role as a mother.”

The Walder Foundation’s support of the daycare program aligns with a goal to advance quality education in the Jewish community. The program allows for JDBY-YTT to retain quality teachers and staff and can serve as a model for other schools to replicate.

“I’m getting calls from other working mothers in the community who want to know if they can send their kids to our childcare program. Since our program is exclusive to children of JDBY-YTT staff, we are not able to accommodate them. But it just continues to demonstrate the tremendous need in the community,” said Wajchman.

This project was funded as part of a series of capital investments by the Walder Foundation to support critical infrastructure needs at schools, synagogues and community centers in Chicago. Collectively, these investments total over $20 million and will be applied to projects for expansion or new construction so that these organizations can continue to provide valuable services to the growing Jewish community.