Brooke Skidmore opened her doors in rural New Glarus, Wisconsin, in 2013. The Growing Tree typically has over 100 children enrolled throughout the year, having a waitlist in all age ranges. In July, due to Covid-19, she went from 14 teachers to 4 and only about 50 students, leaving multiple rooms empty or full of storage in return.

Skidmore expresses her concern about finding teachers to hire; she states how unfortunate it is that teachers are only getting paid $10.66 an hour. It’s problematic that you can go down the street to a gas station, Target, or Walmart and make more money than you can as a teacher for childcare.