Public Employee Press

Local 1707 fights day care closings

AFSCME District Council 1707 is fighting the city’s plan to close after-school classrooms in 133 unionized city child care centers in September.

The plan would cut off child care for 5,700 young children, undermining the education of the children and creating a nightmare for parents, who will be forced to scramble for alternative care.

Parents, children and workers, including a contingent from DC 37, gathered on the steps of City Hall on May 24 to protest the elimination of the after school centers.

The city is switching its long-admired programs from the Administration for Children Services to the Dept. of Youth and Community Development. But the DYCD programs that would replace the ACS after-school classes are notin the same sites, so an estimated 5,700 children will no longer be able to attend structured after-school activities, according to the union.

For years, ACS school-age child care has been successfully serving close to 10,000 young school-age children in high quality centers designed to provide continuity of care for children from their pre-school years through their early years in school — a tremendous help for the thousands of working parents that have both pre-school and school-age children.

“I don’t know why it’s always young people and senior citizens and working people who get the you-know-what,” said Santos Crespo, executive vice president of Dept. of Education Employees Local 372, at the rally.

The DYCD programs do not have the standards, qualified teachers and structure that ACS centers maintain, and the ACS programs are being eliminated in the neighborhoods with the greatest need, according to DC 1707.