Janet Lora is a single mother in Corona. Every weekday at 8 a.m., she drives her 5-year-old son, Freddy, to kindergarten at the Small World Day Care Center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, before going to work as a medical secretary in Manhattan. Freddy, stays there until 5:30 p.m. when his mother comes back to pick him up.
“He’s been there since he was three,” said Lora. “He loves the other kids and the teachers there.”
On February 16, Lora got a letter from the city Administration for Child Services (ACS) telling her that starting next year, Freddy will not be able to attend kindergarten classes in his day care center. The letter advised her to try any public school in Queens instead. But when Lora went to her local school, she said she was told that it’s too crowded and that she needs to find another one.
“I am frustrated, stressed out and scared to death about the situation might happen,” said Lora. “For me, [day care] means knowing that my son is safe while I’m working.”
All-day kindergarten classes at certain ACS-subsidized day care centers were once an option for working parents. But in the next school year, ACS plans to cut about 3,300 slots from the program to save costs.
Parents will now have to send their children to public schools and pick them up much earlier while the schools get even more crowded. The decision raised an outcry among thousands of parents, day care union workers, teachers and legislators.
An ACS statement said that the agency is “providing these families with information about the enrollment process for public school, and we are working with the Department of Education (DOE) to ensure that these children are accommodated,” an ACS spokesperson said, declining further comment.
However, some parents have reported difficulties registering their children for school.
“Parents get this letter and go to local school, the principals will say ‘we’re not admitting you’ or ‘we don’t have room’ or ‘we’re not letting you in, this is not a mandated program,’” said Neal Tepel, the New York City chair for Healthy Schools Network, an education advocacy group. “Many parents did get turned away. The letter is absurd. If the school has no room for you, it doesn’t tell you where you’re going to go.”
When Lora tried to enroll Freddy in his local school, P.S. 132, she said the administrator told her the school is overcrowded and that her son would be put on a waiting list. She tried six more schools throughout Brooklyn and Queens. The only one that accepted Freddy without a waiting list is the P.S. 14 annex in Fresh Meadows, about five miles from his home. Freddy would have to get on a bus at 7 a.m. to get there.
“There is no way that I am putting my 5-year-old son on a bus for that long,” said Lora, who may have to change her morning driving route.
There are still challenges even if a parent successfully places a child in public school. School generally lets out at 3 p.m. while most parents are working. Day care centers usually stay open until 6 p.m., giving the nine-to-fivers time to pick up their kids.
Afterschool programs also face the chopping block. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s preliminary fiscal budget calls for a cut of 8.2 percent to social services, a category that includes afterschool programs. Some children will have to be bused to different schools to attend the programs.
Many parents will face the decision of whether to stay at work or pick up their kids from school. Some may have to cut down their work hours. Others may even face unemployment along with the hundreds of day care teachers expected to be laid off because of the closures.
“They said we wouldn’t be able to replace the children of kindergarten age in September,” said Cathy Casale who teaches at the Small World Day Care Center. “So for our small center with about 95 students, we’re going to lose 40 or more placements. So, we will not be able to stay in business.”
The ACS contends the cuts will save money. However, according to Tepel, the cost to the DOE will cancel out any ACS savings. A Daily News report estimated the total cost to accommodate children in public schools and afterschool programs will actually set the city back by an additional $7 million.
Opponents of the plan have attracted allies on the City Council. Councilmember Bill DeBlasio, the chair of the General Welfare Committee raised a coalition that includes lawmakers Leroy Comrie, Letitia James, Joel Rivera, Annabel Palma, Charles Barron, Oliver Koppell and Alan Gerson.
“First of all, we expect a significant amount of stimulus money to come into New York State earmarked for childcare, an estimate of 97 million dollars,” said DeBlasio. “Why are we rushing to take apart a system that’s working for our five year olds?”
Parents, meanwhile, are keeping their fingers crossed. Lora doing her best to take a wait-and-see approach.
“Every school I went to, I tried and my tears came back because I don’t know what to do,” she said.
