Williams College operates a center on the college campus for the early education and care of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers as well as after-school and summer programs for elementary aged children. The Center is located at 44 Whitman Street. Interested families are welcome to contact the Center at 413-597-4008. Information about the Center is also available at: Williams College Children’s Center.
Although the Center is not exclusively for the children of College employees, priority for available slots is given in the following manner. The Center may also ask a family to delay enrollment in a desired classroom if their child is too close to the upper age limit of the desired classroom. For criteria below, the date on which the school receives a family’s deposit will influence a child’s place on the waitlist.
- College families already enrolled in the school have priority for both increasing the numbers of days their children attend (when new slots become available) and for bringing new siblings into the school.
- Ties for all College priority slots are resolved by giving priority to faculty and staff members who are employed full-time by the college.
- For purposes of infant enrollment (including infants in the Infant/Toddler room) regular faculty and staff have greater priority than short term employees such as fellows and visiting professors
- For other classrooms, short-term employees have priority equal to other faculty and staff
- Families of faculty, students, and staff have first priority followed by alumni of the college, followed by community members at large.
- Children of faculty, staff, and students of the college have priority for full-time slots
- Children of faculty, staff, and students of the college have priority for part time slots over full-time slots for other constituents.
- The order of priority for part-time slots is three full-days followed by two full day slots followed by full week half day slots, either AM or PM, (half day for Pre-School only)
- Once families employed or schooled by the college have been offered slots, priority is given to College related and community families already enrolled in the school for both increasing the numbers of days their children attend (when new slots become available) and for bringing new siblings into the school. These constituents have the following order of priority: Alumni, community at large.
Related Childcare Resources
Babysitting and Other Childcare
Resources for sitters and nannies are listed on the Babysitting & Childcare page.
Dependent Care Reimbursement Accounts
A Dependent Care Reimbursement Account provides an opportunity to pay for eligible dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars through automatic payroll deduction. Employees with expenses for dependent care services can enroll during Open Enrollment or following a Life Event (i.e. birth of a child) in the bswift Benefits Portal.