Shattuck Child Care Center is granted extension to stay on campus

The state has granted the Shattuck Child Care Center (SCCC) an extension to the end of June to remain on the Shattuck Hospital campus.

The center had previously been told that it needed to vacate by the end of September. The state plans to demolish the building that currently houses the center.

The center, which currently has 39 students, is located in the Personnel Building on the Shattuck Hospital campus and was told by the state in 2012 that that building would be closed. A solution to its facility problem was thought to have been found several times since then. Last fall, the state Legislature granted SCCC a long-term lease for $1 annually to put a mobile unit on the campus. SCCC was going to find financing for the mobile unit, but was unable to do so.

The child care center was founded in 1969 as the National Council of Jewish Women day care center and renamed in 1989. It was used as a recruitment tool for state employees to come work at Shattuck.

Danielle Sommer, a Shattuck parent, alum, and fellow member of Shattuck Kids & Community, a group advocating for the center, said that it was “really awesome” that the center was granted the extension.

“We are happy about that,” she said.

Sommer, who attended the center during the 1980s while her mother worked at the Shattuck, said that it appears the center will have to move off campus after the extension expires. She said that SCCC is still looking at its options. Sommer said that the center moving off campus makes it harder to achieve its goal of affordable child care for working families.

The Gazette asked the Executive Office of Health and Human Services for a comment on the extension and a spokesperson responded in an email, “The Shattuck Child Care Center has an agreement to use the Personnel Building at Shattuck Hospital during their transition and a written agreement that they will vacate the property no later than June 30, 2017.”

Local state Rep. Liz Malia and local state Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz backed the center’s effort for an extension and helped facilitate meetings.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *