|
Public
Employee Press Fight
to save day care centers DC 37 activists supported their
union sisters and brothers in DC 1707 as they rallied in January against a rash
of child care center closings that are cutting jobs and depriving parents of safe
facilities for their children while they go to work.
DC 37 finds
it unconscionable that centers are closing and more are at risk of closing when
thousands of eligible parents are in desperate need of affordable child care,
said Moira Dolan, an assistant director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations
Dept.
The Administration for Childrens Services is downsizing the
citys role in providing publicly funded child care centers. Since January
2004, nearly 1,100 preschool child care slots have been eliminated.
Of
the 17 centers ACS has closed recently, 11 might have been preserved by finding
solutions to chronic problems such as ineffective management or financial improprieties.
Instead, ACS chose to close them down, cutting child care opportunities and city
costs. ACS has also announced plans to change its funding formula and provide
only partial funding for centers.
DC 1707 pointed out that this would have
a devastating impact on the citys day care centers. For almost 40 years,
New York City has kept child care centers open and properly staffed by funding
them with line-item budgets that cover their staffing and facilities costs.
The
Public Advocate and the City Council have both called for public hearings on the
closings.
Dolan points to an inconsistency in ACSs story: ACS
says the closures are related to underenrollment. This is very hard for me to
understand, since union members call us every day asking for help in finding child
care so that they can get to work. For example, when the Lucille Murray
Center in the Bronx shut down in January, said Dolan, This seriously affected
our members who work nearby at Lincoln Hospital.
We stand with
our brothers and sisters in DC 1707 in opposing these closings, said DC
37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. | |