Daycare Debacle: NYC’s Sudden Closures Spark Parent Revolt, Forcing City Hall U-Turn

By: Serach Nissim

New York City’s Department of Education suddenly closed five city-funded daycare centers in January, blaming supposed low enrollment — but had to reopen them after heavy backlash from parents and officials. As reported by the NY Post, the city has reached lease agreements to keep all five centers open for one more year. The long-term fate of the daycare centers, however, remains unclear.

“While this temporary extension provides some relief, it does not address larger issues that led to the situation in the first place,” Chair Rita Joseph said at a City Council oversight hearing on Thursday. “The future of early childhood education should not be decided behind closed doors,” Joseph added, saying she wants to see more transparency from the DOE in its decision making.

Per the Post, the five centers located in Brooklyn and Queens, which collectively oversee 300 children include: Nuestros Niños in Williamsburg; All My Children in South Jamaica; the Grand Street Settlement’s Bushwick Family Center; Friends of Crown Heights and the Fort Greene Council. Furious parents and daycare administrators slammed the DOE as a “running joke” for the sudden closures and the quick reversal.

“The DOE failed to conduct even the most basic investigation into how the database inaccurately reported low enrollment numbers,” mother Stephanie Garcia testified at the hearing. “Instead, they chose to ban over 150 families and 80 staff members leaving them to scramble for affordable care options and jobs.” “It’s a running joke at this point. How can you trust an agency that is this disorganized to make the best decisions for our children?” Garcia said.

Nuestros Niños’ administrator Ingrid Matias Chungata cried during the hearing, describing the intense stress she was under with the sudden closure. “With less than 24 hours notice before families were sent to register their children for the next school year on the school portal, we were blindsided with the news that our lease would not be renewed,” Chungata said. “No conversations, no due process, no regard for our children, family and staff.”

Simone Hawkins, the deputy chancellor for early childhood education at NYC Public Schools, admitted that DOE officials used enrollment numbers from previous years to make the decision. “We looked at the years prior and it did not reach our standard of full enrollment, which is 95%,” Hawkins said. She also blamed the closures on the rents being too high. “Our decision was made primarily though on looking at any leases that are expiring already or are set to expire at times,” Hawkins said. “These five sites qualify for that based on their termination. “It is the exception not the standard for these providers to be occupying city-owned space,” Hawkins noted. Hawkins said that council members are looking for ideas to relocate the centers in empty spaces close by in the future, which may be more affordable.

The hearing also touched upon why the DOE is millions of dollars late on payments to the childcare centers. Per the Post, Hawkins blamed the late payments on a switch to a new payment processing system. “ We are looking right now to release a new system that we hope will improve not just our turnaround time on payments, but also allow providers to see where they are in the queue,” Hawkins said.