THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 46, NO. 12 | NOVEMBER 1, 2024
Day care is a godsend for Miege, St. Agnes employees STORY BY TOM RACUNAS | PHOTOS BY JAY SOLDNER
LEAVEN PHOTO BY JAY SOLDNER
Stephanie Holmes, director of Little Stags and Rams Daycare, holds Jack Leavens as she watches Addie Huppe and Isaac Holzum play. Little Stags and Rams is licensed as an in-home child care program. It can serve a maximum of nine children, ages 6 months to 4 years.
LEAVEN PHOTO BY JAY SOLDNER
Huck Hurlbert (right) and Isaac Holzum play together as Little Stags and Rams Daycare provider Katie Young looks on. Huck’s mom, Mallory Hurlbert, is the Learning Resource Director at Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park. Isaac’s mom, Ellen Holzum, teaches second grade at St Agnes School in Roeland Park.
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OELAND PARK — The quaint Craftsman-style house here has a quintessential picket fence around the side yard. Inside, five toddlers, ages 12 months to 3 years, are fast asleep for their afternoon nap. Three infants (ages 6 to 12 months) are bright-eyed and all smiles as they are engaged with and cuddled by Amy and Katie, their two attentive caregivers. The children are enrolled at Little Stags and Rams Daycare, a new
service that is a collaboration between Bishop Miege High School and St. Agnes School, both in Roeland Park. Phil Baniewicz, Miege’s president, said he was approached last year by two teachers about the possibility of starting a day care for Miege staff. He decided to explore the idea because, he said, “Over the years, we have seen great Catholic educators who come to a point where they have to step out of Catholic education because they have to pay so much for day care. We always want to keep good quality educators. This is a very pro-life thing.
Let’s support our parents who are great educators by taking care of their kids.” St. Agnes is both a feeder school to and just down the block from Bishop Miege. Surmising that there might be staff there who also needed child care, he approached the administration with the idea. “They were quickly on board,” he said. So, how to start? They knew that St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park had been providing a day care service for some time, so organizers contacted Aquinas staff for ideas
and guidance. The Little Saints Child Care Center at St. Thomas Aquinas was launched in 1998. Starting as a part-time teacher, Jennifer Toy has worked at the center for 17 years and is now the full-time director and one of four staff. The center, a large renovated classroom, is licensed by the state of Kansas as a day-school program. The program can serve 10 toddlers and 14 preschool children. The center is always at capacity. The Miege campus was surveyed for >> See “GOD” on page 4