The impending closure of a Newington daycare is leaving parents rushing to find child care.
Bill and Holly Fuzzard say their children, four-year-old Juliana and two-year-old Evan, have attended the Bright Horizons child care center located inside the Connecticut Department of Transportation headquarters building in Newington since they were infants.
But not for much longer. Parents received letters from Bright Horizons yesterday, notifying them that the center will close August 28th.
“None of the parents were ever informed that this was a possibility,” Bill Fuzzard told NBC Connecticut Thursday. “We have no reason why or what they are going to use the facility for.”
The Fuzzards estimate that some sixty families count on the facility for their childcare needs. But the center has only leased the space; it has not been officially sanctioned by the State or the Department of Transportation, and very few DOT employees are clients. In an e-mail Thursday, the Department told NBC Connecticut, in part, “As we ramp-up our transportation initiatives, we are increasing our staff base and are looking for additional locations inside the building for new engineers (mostly).”
Regardless of the reasoning, parents say the announcement has sent them scrambling.
“Do you lose a job so someone can stay at home with the child?,” Bill Longo said, telling NBC Connecticut he already missed some work time just trying to find a new facility for his three-year-old son Easton.
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Bill Fuzzard points out that with the center closing instead of relocating, simple economics most certainly suggest an increase in cost.
“Of course when broader demand comes with a limited supply, prices will continue to go up,” he reasons. But he insists, the closure shouldn’t be just a concern to the families most immediately affected. Given that it traces back to a state agency, Bill Fuzzard says it’s counterproductive to the dozen or more child care workers employed at the center.
“They were very qualified, great people who provided excellent care for our kids, and they are going to be out of a job now.”
Bridget Perry, Bright Horizons spokeswoman, said the company will work with families to find suitable arrangements.
“We would have loved to continue operating the center,” she said in an email. “However, the DOT has made the decision not to renew the lease. We will do whatever we can to support families during this time as they look for new child care arrangements.”
The DOT emphasizes that Bright Horizons was completely independent of their department and that the corporation was only leasing space in the DOT building.
“We will not be renewing the lease or going out to bid on it and will in turn use the space for staff needed to carry out our increasing core functions,” DOT spokesman Kevin Nursick said in an email.
