REMARKS
Explanation of reasons for potential closure of five early childcare sites
0:46:29
ยท
131 sec
Deputy Chancellor Simone Hawkins explains the reasons behind the potential closure of five early childcare sites. She outlines the structure of the early childhood education system in NYC and the factors considered in the decision-making process.
- NYC Public Schools supports about 4,000 sites across 1,000 vendors, with most managed by CBO partners
- Decision to close sites based on lease expiration dates, community saturation, site utilization over three years, and lease terms
- Goal is to stabilize and optimize the system with least harm to providers and families
Rita Joseph
0:46:29
So what does New York City public school reason for potentially closing the early five child early site five early childcare sites?
Simone Hawkins
0:46:39
So thank you for that question chair.
0:46:42
So initially I would like to kind of lay out the kind of the structure of the system.
0:46:48
Under New York City public schools, we support about 4,000 sites across about a thousand vendors.
0:46:54
The majority of those sites are managed by our CBO partners.
0:46:58
It is the exception, not the standard for these providers to be occupying a city owned or leased space.
0:47:07
And so as I mentioned in my testimony, we inherited about 86 sites, city leased and owned from ACS during the transition.
0:47:17
Around 60 of those sites are leased and these five sites clearly are occupying a cohort of those 60.
0:47:25
We also have about another 20 that we opened and acquired during the expansion under de Blasio.
0:47:32
Some of those are vacant and we are paying rent on them, others are underutilized.
0:47:37
And so it was very clear from the onset when I started in this role that it was my charge to stabilize and optimize the system.
0:47:44
And so I looked at every corner of this current portfolio to see where we can make that possible with least harm to providers and families.
0:47:52
And so decision was really primarily built on looking at any leases that expired already or set to expire by 2026.
0:48:00
These five sites qualified for that based on their termination dates and their leases.
0:48:05
Looking at those three factors and those considerations that were mentioned around community saturation, meaning are there other programs in the community that can absorb the capacity of these sites?
0:48:15
The site utilization over three years, not just the current fiscal year, but also looking at two prior fiscal years based on their capacity and enrollment records and the lease data, right, the terms, the length of that lease, and the cost both current and potential.
0:48:32
And so weighting those differently, each of the five sites have a very different and unique story.
0:48:36
We made a decision not to renew the leases for the upcoming school year.