Opinion: Families Deserve More Notice When Programs Close

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1. Natalie says

   April 1, 2025 at 8:55 am

   I would argue that private owners deserve more notice from their Heads and teachers when they (their Heads and teachers) are ready to leave. Often, in hierarchical top down, command-and-control situations where non-educators have opened a childcare center primarily to make money, someone at the top is making all of the financial and programming decisions, and the educators who see the train rolling off the track don’t have the power to do what’s needed to fix things. So, over time, they become frustrated and find themselves in a job that doesn’t align with their values. Once a Head or beloved teacher leaves, it can be a quick succession of multiple departures, and you find an owner unable to operate because the school has no staff. That owner isn’t able to give families notice. But that owner likely made the decisions that led to the departures – and he or she likely had plenty of warning signs, requests from staff, suggestions, and ideas and just ignored them because what was humane and healthy for children and educators didn’t align with the books. This doesn’t happen as often in programs with a clear vision based on a desire to nurture and grow a thriving program solely for the purposes of human flourishing. When the words “revenue” and “leads” take precedence over “thriving” and “peaceful,” the childcare center is nothing more than a business, and businesses fail.

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