Day-Care Center Closure Hits Home With Parents

Max Vanduzer cried Friday morning because he didn’t want to go to school. The toddler knew it would probably be the last time he would see his teacher, “Miss Charlotte.”

Max, who is 2 1/2 years old, was one of 24 children enrolled at the Edison Elementary School Children’s Center, the only infant and toddler day-care center in Burbank designed for low-income families. The center, funded by the state and the Burbank Unified School District, closed its doors Friday because it became too costly for the district to subsidize its operation, officials said.

For children like Max, who had to leave his teacher, Charlotte Laws, it was an emotional occasion, but the adult decision-makers said the closure reflected the harsh reality of running a school district during hard economic times.

“When it comes down to it, we would have had to have taken textbooks or teachers out of our classrooms to provide child care,” said district Supt. Arthur Pierce. “The school board was extremely concerned about it, but unfortunately, in these hard economic times, it’s a decision that we just couldn’t avoid.”

Many parents, as they were dropping their children off for the last time Friday, said they were worried about not being able to find affordable day care at other local facilities, which could cost as much as $160 a week. A few parents even thought they might have to give up their jobs and stay home with their children.

Parents, who must earn less than $2,000 a month to send their children to Edison, pay on a sliding scale. About half of them don’t pay at all, said Linda Gallmeier, the center’s director.

“I really have no idea what to do,” said Jorge Moran, 28, a nursing assistant at Valley Hospital Medical Center. Moran’s 15-month-old daughter was enrolled at the Edison center.

“My wife and I only make the bare minimum, so one of us may just have to stay home,” Moran said softly. “We’ve looked at other day centers in the area, and we just can’t afford them. This was the perfect place for us.”

Jessica Ambrose, 24, a clerk at Burbank Municipal Court who is currently separated from her husband, said she had made arrangements for her sister to watch her 1-year-old daughter, Kalani, over the summer.

“But after that, I don’t know where I’m going to take her,” said Ambrose, clutching the gurgling child in her arms. “This is so sad. I felt so good about this place. It was a safe environment. There are a lot of people who need this a lot, and it’s not fair to them.”

The day was especially emotional for Gallmeier. She comforted concerned parents and played with the children while movers hauled off furniture, fixtures and toys to other child-care centers in Burbank.

“It’s not the best of days,” said Gallmeier, who has worked at the center for about six years. Although she and most of her staff will be sent to other centers, she said that was little comfort. She said she felt the center could have been saved if government officials had tried hard enough.

“I just wish politicians would give less lip service and more action for programs like these,” she said.

Pierce said the school system, hard hit by state cutbacks for public education, could no longer afford to subsidize the $365,000-a-year program. The state would have contributed $260,000 this year toward the program. The district would have had to pay the remainder out of its general fund. Burbank school officials said that the center was already $94,000 in the red this year.

The Edison child-care program, which had three full-time teachers, three other teachers and eight part-time aides, is more costly than other day-care programs because state law mandates one adult supervisor for every four children, Pierce said.

The three other state-financed day-care centers in Burbank--located at Harte, Emerson and Washington elementary schools--do not require as much funding from the district because older children are enrolled and less staff is required to oversee them, officials said.

“It’s just really sad,” said Jennifer Vanduzer, 18, the mother of Max. “Max would have liked to have stayed here. It just doesn’t seem fair.”