Nikki Brown said she and her husband were shocked to discover their children’s day care would shut down Friday amid a state investigation, giving them and about 70 other parents just days to find another facility.
Parents with children enrolled at two Little Harvard Learning Centers in Hall County were told Thursday morning the facilities would close at week’s end.
Now Brown, a nurse, said she and her police officer husband are hard-pressed to find another facility for their two children at the same price.
“I have a 2-year-old who goes full-time and a 9-year-old who goes in the summer,” she said, fighting back tears. “I drove 25 minutes out of my way each way to take him to that daycare because they were good to my babies.”
The facilities, one in Gainesville and the other in Oakwood, shuttered voluntarily, said Reg Griffin, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, the agency that licenses and inspects day cares.
An investigation into the Gainesville location was opened by the agency after “allegations regarding supervision and watchful oversight” related to a May 8 incident, Griffin said, but the state played no role in the closures.
“We were not notified in advance,” he said in an email. “Our consultant called and spoke with the director of the Gainesville location, who said the owner called a management meeting Wednesday night with the directors and assistant directors. He stated that they would be closing both locations Friday and then handed the directors a letter for the parents and then a letter for the staff to hand out Thursday.”
The letter, Brown said, was dated Monday, and many of the day care workers weren’t aware they’d have to find new jobs themselves until they arrived to work and had to answer questions from angry parents.
At $110 a week, Little Harvard was the cheapest option, Brown said, estimating alternative facilities could cost her family twice as much.
“This is gonna put us in a bind,” she said. “And the workers do not deserve it. A couple of them were single parents who depended on their jobs.”
DECAL declined to say what prompted the investigation into the day care, citing an open case. Parents at the facility, however, said it could be related to a 3-year-old who was discovered near the road earlier this year.
The owner of the day cares did not return phone calls requesting comment Friday.
Parents impacted by the closures are asked to visit www.qualityrated.org or call 1-877-ALLGAKIDS.
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