Preschool Closures

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Pre-School in danger of closing - seeking options

Jan 2012

My four year-old son is in a pre-school that is in danger of closing, but the parents all want our kids to stay together. We love the teachers. If the school closes, is there any way to ''retain'' the teachers and keep the kids together? I can't imagine what this might involve but am hoping someone has advice for the legal and practical implications (licensing? finding a space? taxes?) Thank you for any advice - love our teachers


There are numerous options for your group of parents and teachers. The most important question is why the school might be closing. Is the reason that the facility site is no longer available? If this is the case, then you all just need to find a new location. Usually, notice is given about when the location is no longer available; so, you know what the deadline is for finding a new site. Once you find a new site, then you just need to have a new site application submitted to licensing. Of course, you need to make sure all of the prerequisites are met such as having a qualified director, having the new site meet safety requirements, proper facility size for the anticipated capacity, etc.
 

If the reason for the closure is more legal (e.g. serious licensing violations at the site, no qualified director, etc), then this is a more difficult question to answer. I would highly recommend you give a call to Community Care Licensing in Oakland. If the case is in Licensing's Legal office, then you can ask to speak to the attorney assigned to the case to get more info on what is going on with the case, and to get an idea of timelines for possible closure, and options available to parents and teachers.

For background on the facility's problems, I would highly recommend you look at the archives of your child's pre-school in two places: here on BPN - if there are violations that are possibly shutting down the facility now, I am willing to bet other parents complained about those problems in the past; and in Licensing's facility file for the pre-school - same bet for these files.

The Licensing office at 1515 Clay Street in Oakland is your best place to start to get answers to your questions. A second option is to call up Bananas to see what other options may be available to you. They are a great resource for child care questions. hopes this helps point you in the right direction


For a small number of children, say fewer than 5, you could do a nanny share at one of the children's homes and hire the teacher to be a nanny. For more children, you will need a facility license from the state, either a daycare license (if children are going to someone's home) or a preschool license (if children are going to a site that is not someone's home.)  This would take some effort, and probably isn't worth it for just a year or two. You could wait to see if the teachers are hired by a new preschool and then enroll there.  Or you could just resolve to get together regularly with the kids - say every Friday afternoon, or something like that.