Massive childcare center closure leaves Wilsonville families scrambling

WILSONVILLE, Ore. — Siemens announced it is closing its Child Development Center at the end of June as part of a campus downsizing, leaving families without childcare options and staff without jobs.

The multinational corporation said it is scaling back its Wilsonville campus due to the growth of hybrid work models. The Child Development Center or, C.D.C. as families refer to it, has provided infant to pre-K daycare for hundreds of families over the years, serving not only Siemens employee families but the Wilsonville community.

Riashelle Everett, who has a one-year-old and three-year-old at the center, said families were notified in early March about the closure.

“We did IVF to have our kids. After our transfer, when we knew that was successful, I was probably six weeks pregnant. We went on the waiting list to get into the CDC,” Everett said.

Everett said trying to find other childcare options is difficult, with waitlists that last for months. She said her three-year-old daughter is building connections with teachers and other children at Siemens’ childcare program.

“They matter to her. And having that community and the same group of kids that she’s been with since she started at the school, they keep those kids together and move them up through their age group,” Everett said.

Dawn Hill worked at the Siemens Child Development Center as a teacher for 25 years. All of her children attended the program from birth until kindergarten.

“I always say I grew up there. I learned how to be a teacher there. I learned, actually, how to be a mother there. Built community there. I still have really good friends. 28 years later, my kids all still have best friends that they grew up with since infancy,” Hill said.

A Siemens spokesperson sent a statement that reads in part: “Siemens is modernizing its Wilsonville campus as part of a broader effort to right-size our global footprint, so will invest in a new facility that reflects how our hybrid teams work today.” The statement said the Child Development Center is “not a standard offering across our U.S. operations and is not sustainable to maintain within the new consolidated building.”

Hill said the corporate cost-cutting by the company is out of touch with the real world impacts.

“I just don’t think they understand the context. I think it’s a line item on a budget for them. And they don’t understand what it means to the community,” Hill said.

Over 40 parents are working to form a nonprofit to lease the building and keep staff paid at least through 2027, prior to Siemens selling the property. The effort would cost over $1.6 million per year to operate.

It remains uncertain if they will meet the June 26 closure deadline.