Parents and guardians of the 32 children currently enrolled in the Secaucus Day Care received a letter dated June 15 stating that the childcare program will close July 15. In the letter, Town Administrator David Drumeler explains that the town cannot afford to provide the day care service any longer. The center’s classrooms have been given to the Board of Education as the site for a new pre-kindergarten program while a portion of the building will be used to house a town historical museum.
“We gave it a year and a half to break even or turn a profit and neither happened,” said Mayor Michael Gonnelli in an interview last week.
“We gave it a year and a half to break even or turn a profit and neither happened.” – Mayor Michael Gonnelli
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The center currently employs 12 staff: 3 full-time and 9 part-time. The staff found out of the formal plans to close the center at the time the parents did. Other than being asked for their resumes and being told that the city would do their best, no formal transition plan has been announced for the current staffers.
A parent could pay anywhere between $115 to $215 a week for day care at the center. Fees depended on the age of the child and whether or not the child was enrolled part-time or full-time. Enrollment rates barely rose over the past year from 29 to 32 children. The center had the capacity to enroll 60 students.
Center unsustainable
Located next to the Engine Co. 1 firehouse at 150 Plaza Center Road, and once home to the original Secaucus Public Library, the day care center was created after the town’s new library opened its doors in 2003. The expectation was that the day care would be self-sustainable and that enrollment rates would go up.
But that did not happen.
Parents have multiple options of day care within the town, with three other day care centers and a new one on the way at the Secaucus Xchange.
Pre-k plans to move in
The town has given the day care center classrooms to the Board of Education (BOE) to accommodate the pre-kindergarten program and has also offered to cover the cost of any necessary modifications to the building in order to meet with Department of Education codes. Those modifications include adding a ramp for children with special needs, upgrading air handling units, painting and cleaning up the space. The school district anticipates the building changes will be complete by September. The entire pre-k program will be moved the day care building with the exception of one multiple handicap class that will remain at Clarendon.
The pre-k program is open to Secaucus children who turn 4 by Oct. 31. The program currently has 92 students, of those 12 have special needs. Superintendent Cynthia Randina said in an interview that there is a waiting list for the program, which is capped at 100 children.
Uncertainty about future use
BOE member Dora Marra expressed concern about the ability to accommodate new families with young children that are moving into the town. This concern has been shared in the past by the town in regard to the three largest developments in Secaucus: Harmon Cove, Xchange at Secaucus Junction, and Riverside Court.
While the day care classroom space is needed to accommodate the pre-kindergarten program, Marra isn’t certain that pre-k can be sustained long-term.
“It is a wonderful thing if we can keep it – it is expensive, and it isn’t mandated – [pre-k] is very hard with all the cuts to keep it going. We will be okay this year and the coming year but I don’t know where we will find the funding.”
Superintendant Randina says the school district will continue to seek ways to maintain the pre-k program. “I would like to continue with the program. I really do believe in literacy education, which is a strong component for the pre-school program. We may have to look at alternative sources of funding and the possibility of offering extended time to parents that work…which could be somewhat of a revenue source.”
The pre-k program costs $550,000 based on salaries plus additional costs for supplies.
The school budget for next year was cut by $1.1 million from $32 million after the board had initially taken out $1.8 million. The pre-k programs were a key issue in disputes over what to keep in the school budget at a special meeting held earlier in June.
To comment on this story online visit Adriana Rambay Fernández may be reached at afernandez@hudsonreporter.com.