Four Popular NYC Child Care Centers Closing Due To Recession Woes

NY Daily News----

Bronx day care centers - and the working parents who need them - face an uncertain future under a city plan to cut classrooms and funding in September.

The city's Administration for Children's Services said last week that four Bronx day cares will lose classroom openings and all 5-year-olds in ACS day care must move to regular school kindergartens starting in September.

Day care directors and municipal union representatives say they fear the changes will mean layoffs and possible closings.

Cheryl Dewitt, 45, executive director at Williamsbridge NAACP Early Childhood Education, said unionized salaries depend on the number of day care classrooms, and that the cuts could also affect part-time aides and cooking staff.

The shift to kindergartens is in response to a $62 million ACS deficit, which will affect thousands of children in the Bronx alone, many from underprivileged, working class families.

Under the new plan, ACS day care slots will be available only to those who can't be enrolled in kindergartens. The number of classrooms will be cut based on enrollment.

Day cares unable to maintain a 92% enrollment rate over the last 12-month period will lose openings this fall.

In the Bronx, Anna Lefkowitz Day Care Center, Fulton Avenue Day Care Center, High Bridge Advisory Council, and Promesa Multicultural Day Care Center will all be shorted one classroom.

Many are concerned about what the new ACS policy will mean for working class parents who rely on day care instead of kindergarten because they cannot get away from work at regular school dismissal time.

"I'm not happy. Not at all," said Primrose Griffiths, 30, a worker in the Valhalla jail system, and mother of Christina Frimpong, 5, who will have to leave Williamsbridge NAACP Early Childhood Education in the fall. "Day care helps because I don't have to pay for a baby-sitter."

Because of the ACS day care closures, union officials say city schools can expect a flood of more than 3,000 new kindergartners, pushing average class sizes to 25.

Parents trying to preregister their children at local schools are reporting heavy waiting lists, even for needed afterschool programs.

"The impact of closing classrooms in day care centers will be traumatic to families and neighborhoods in the Bronx and the other boroughs," said Raglan George, executive director of District Council 1707. "At a time when more New York families need all the support they can get, the mayor is creating greater stress on children and parents by cutting early childhood services."


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