Four months can make a huge difference and in the case of the Ellsworth Childcare and Learning Center, it’s all for the better.

“I think the story here is that the childcare center is solvent,” director Stacie Schmidt said this week.

Following a meeting in December at which directors outlined the serious economic challenges faced by the center, a second session Friday night painted a much more positive picture of the facility, which serves 55 families in Ellsworth, Rice, Saline and Lincoln counties.

One of the bigger changes has been the center’s financial condition.

“Early Childhood Block Grant gap funding has been secured to fill the monthly gap, thereby creating favorable forecasts for the center’s future,” directors said in an information sheet prepared by Schmidt and distributed to those in attendance.

Directors made the center’s problems public late last year after director Stephanie Roehrman was charged with three counts of theft.

Roehrman, who has waived her preliminary hearing, awaits arraignment at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 16, in Ellsworth County District Court. She is expected to enter a plea at that time.

Directors called the theft “devastating to the center.”

That, too, has changed, the audience was told.

Staff retention is up and “employee satisfaction is improved, with the stability of Lindsey Hlad as the center’s named director, and a favorable financial projection.”

Safeguards also have been put in place. Before, financial conditions were largely unknown, directors said. Now, “financial reports are available, accurate and thorough.”

In addition, policies are being written with the assistance of other professionals, including former director Teresa Pearson and her husband, Roger, retired chief executive officer of the Ellsworth County Medical Center, and other childcare centers.

And still the work continues.

“The crisis management is over, but there’s still a lot to do,” Schmidt said.

The Ellsworth center has 24 employees, who care for 83 children. Two classrooms have waiting lists.

Schmidt said despite the turmoil of recent months, teachers and other staff have continued to focus on the children. Ellsworth recently received the highest scores in early literacy and math in the centers that fall under the Saline Early Childhood Block Grant, a statesponsored program for lowincome children.

Schmidt suspects the work done by directors and many others over the past few months has paid off in other ways. Only about nine people showed up for Friday’s meeting, an indication parents and those with a stake in the center have fewer concerns about the future than they did four months ago, she said.

In addition, she said directors have opened the lines of communication between the center and parents — an easier task with more accurate information flowing to the board.