BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) — Parents in Bloomfield Hills attended Monday night's school board meeting to address the upcoming closure of the district's early childhood education program.
Families with infants and toddlers who are in the program said it’s back to square one trying to find day care, after the school board announced it'll end in June due to budget constraints. That decision came in February.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report below:
Bethany Schwartz said she has two daughters who’ve gone through the program and another child currently in the program.
“It was just a huge shock to find out we had three months to find child care and reasonably priced child care," she said. “We’re on waitlists, but there are no guarantees that we’ll be able to get in anywhere. My husband and I both work, and we’re not sure what we’re gonna do. Even to get into this program, we were on a waitlist for more than 10 months.”
Patrick Kuptz said he moved from Grosse Pointe Park to get his child into the program.
“We were told it was shut down, shutting down pretty unceremoniously. Basically, there was an email,” he recalled. “Really tonight, we’re just hoping that they might consider bringing it up at a future board meeting now that they have the correct information about the long-term impact that this will have on this community.”
Kuptz said he has questions for the board.
“Why are we running a deficit? Where are we running a deficit? Are we not charging families enough?” Kuptz said.
Monday night, school board leaders did address the issue ahead of public comment.
Board President Tareq Falah told the audience, “We know that every level of early childhood education is critically important. We know that allowing people to have decisions for their families is critically important to our community. So, it wasn’t an easy decision for us and it doesn’t lessen the impact of these decisions on families and staff.”
He said early childhood education programs in Michigan are "the most costly to operate, the least publicly funded and the most difficult to sustain."
“We are still trying to work with families. We are still trying to work with staff. I know Superintendent West and his team are working diligently to try to do that," Falah said.
During the meeting, Superintendent Rick West said a review has taken place since the decision to end the program. He said accommodations have been made for 12 students who are approaching the 30 months of age cutoff for preschool and that the program will be extended for them through December.
