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Parents confront FCC about delayed reopening of Children's Center

Frederick News-Post - 7/6/2020

Jul. 6--Families who sent their children to the Carl and Norma Miller's Children Center will have to find alternative childcare until at least January 2021.

In a letter sent to parents on May 26, Director of the Children's Center Teri Bickel informed families of the delayed reopening. Initially, parents had been told the Center would reopen in July.

The Children's Center operates on the campus of Frederick Community College (FCC) and provides childcare and early education programs. It initially shut down in March due to directives from the state. At that time there were 77 children enrolled.

Jessica Lertora has a nine-month-old daughter who used to attend the Children's Center daily. Lertora had also sent her six-year-old son to the Children's Center when he was younger. She chose the center for her childcare needs because she felt like it was a "diamond in the rough."

"It's like hidden away, nobody really kind of knows about it. It's set back on FCC's campus. It's gorgeous, it's away from the road, it's safe. And when you walk in the center, it's calm," Lertora said.

Lertora's husband is an essential worker and she is a licensed clinical social worker that focuses on infants and toddlers.

Having her two young children at home while trying to juggle court hearings and other aspects of her job has been difficult, Lertora said, but she also knows she is lucky.

"I am somebody who has a lot of resources, thankfully ... I also have an employer who, because they are early childhood focused, they get it," Lertora said. "I can't imagine if I was somebody who did not have those resources."

When Lertora learned of the delayed reopening of the Children's Center she was not only worried about how she would handle and coordinate the next six months, but she also had a lot of questions.

She felt like the college was not being transparent in their communications as to why the reopening of the Children's Center was being delayed. She decided to organize with other parents and some teachers of the Center who had been laid off to confront the college about their decision.

Lertora and another parent met one week ago with Bickel, FCC President Elizabeth Burmaster, and John Molesworth, Chair of the FCC Board of Trustees, among others.

Lertora expressed her concerns about the delayed reopening and asked that the college involve parents and teachers to a greater degree in decision-making going forward.

Molesworth said he was glad to meet with parents and hear their input. He said Bickel and college staff the college will develop a communication plan to continue involving parents going forward.

"We gained a better understanding of the many hardships they face," Molesworth said. "We are hopeful that our decision to inform families as early as possible that we would not be able to reopen the Children's Center... at the earliest January 2021, allows them to continue with alternate childcare."

Financial Impact

The Children's Center is not reopening until 2021 due to several reasons, said Caroline Cole, Communications Coordinator for FCC.

First, the Frederick Community College Roadmap to Resilience and Recovery Plan, which was distributed on May 21, says the college will be unable to resume full operations and face-to-face instruction until Stage 4, because of the risk of transmission among other factors, Cole said.

The reopening of the Children's Center was placed into Stage 4 and the college's Recovery Plan cannot go faster than state guidelines and restrictions.

But there are also financial concerns for the center.

The Children's Center is one of three auxiliary enterprises of the college. It is not part of FCC's operating budget and all its expenditures must be covered by the revenue it generates, such as through tuition fees.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cole said the center lost approximately $156,000 of its approximately $883,000 budget from mid-March through the end of June.

The center was not collecting tuition fees but the college had committed to maintaining the compensation and benefits of staff through June 30.

Lertora said she wishes FCC has reached out to parents and that she would have continued paying tuition if that meant keeping the center afloat financially.

"If that's what you needed in order to continue working and maintaining the center, then why did you not meet with us to ask about doing that? Because as a parent, I would have secured that spot and I would have been paying my tuition," Lertora said. "This is why it's really critical to reach out and have some shared governance with your parents."

However, Cole said the decision to not have families continue paying tuition even if they wanted to was considered the fairest option.

Although some parents may not have experienced financial loss during this pandemic, the Center serves some children from families that did, Cole said.

"We didn't feel it was fair for parents to pay for a service they were not receiving," Cole said. "Additionally, we couldn't charge some parents and not others."

Bringing in the YMCA

To make up for the financial loss the Children's Center endured, FCC decided to rent out the Children's Center space to the YMCA for the next six months.

The YMCA has leased a classroom in the Children's Center to independently run one of their programs for over six years, Cole said. During the pandemic, the YMCA was licensed as an emergency childcare provider for essential workers and first responders through the state.

Cole said that through the lease, the YMCA, "accepts all liability and risk, and provides their own insurance coverage, and provides their own custodial, cleaning, and security services."

FCC does not have anything to do with the operations of the YMCA.

The YMCA will pay FCC $6,349 monthly rent plus $214 per month for internet service and $25.04 per month for a single phone number and extension rental. This intake of revenue, according to Cole, is expected to offset a monthly deficit that the Children's Center will continue to accrue while being shut down.

"There is no profit being realized from the lease to the YMCA," Cole said. "The leasing to the YMCA was a goodwill gesture on the part of the College and Board of Trustees to provide, at no risk to the College, additional space for much needed childcare that the YMCA has the capacity to offer during this pandemic."

While the YMCA operates in the Children's Center space through December, Bickel will be creating reopening plans which will include rehiring teachers and providing them training.

11 teachers and 10 part-time staff members were not issued contracts for Fiscal Year 2021, Cole said. They were not furloughed due to the continuation of compensation and benefits that occurred through the end of the previous fiscal year.

Parents whose children were enrolled at the Children's Center have also been given a point of contact at the YMCA and the option to enroll their children in those programs.

Social-Emotional Impact on children

Going into the meeting, Lertora knew that FCC would not change their decision on the reopening date. Her goal was for them to understand the social-emotional impact the closure is having on her daughter and the other children who were enrolled.

"I don't know if they understand how critically important relationships and the teachers who have created relationships with our little ones are," Lertora said. "I don't think that they understand the actual ... impact on families."

Lertora said she understands the impact more because of her line of work. The relationships the children have developed with their teachers are key to getting through a time that is stressful.

"When you're looking at kids, no matter if they're infants or toddlers or preschoolers, what helps provide resilience is if you can provide buffers to possible moderate or toxic stress -- those buffers being relationships," Lertora said. "The longer the center stays closed, the more disruption it causes to their attachment."

Bickel said in a statement that the staff of the Children's Center is concerned about the impact the closure is having on students and that they have actively worked to maintain contact with students through live and recorded virtual activities.

Lertora said she felt like the meeting was a good start but that she plans on continuing to follow up with the college to ensure there is active participation and input from both parents and teachers. She hopes FCC will take this opportunity to connect with the community of the Children's Center and be more transparent in future decisions.

"I am hoping that this ... allows FCC to understand how critically important our teachers and the center is not only to FCC but to the community," Lertora said. "It's a community program...and really being able to connect to that, I think is critically important."

Follow Katryna Perera on Twitter: @katrynajill

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