On Thursday
afternoon before heading to the special meeting regarding the transitioning of
day care services from the city of Plainfield to a non-profit provider, I wrote
a response to one of the local blogs (Plainfield Latino) to clarify my reason
for supporting the transition, as well as to clear up some misstatements in the
editorial--by the time you see this, my comment will probably already be published on the Plainfield Latino blog.
However, I figured I may as well post my reasons here, on my own blog, as
well--I have a couple of additions. In the time since I first sent
this comment to be published on the blog (yesterday afternoon), we ended up
passing the resolutions to begin the transition process. It passed 4-0, with “YES”
votes from Councilors Rivers, Storch, Toliver, and me. Councilors Brown,
Greaves, and Taylor were not in attendance. I am confident that I made the right decision in supporting the resolution, which will help all of our residents:
- the children will be well-served by HOPES - ask the parents/children at the HOPES center at St. Mary's Church, or at one of the other Plainfield locations
- employees who want to continue working at Bilingual Daycare may continue to do so - the Personnel Division is working with the affected employees on this
- HOPES will run the daycare at a more affordable price than we are currently paying (Bilingual Daycare costs for these 69 children are over $15,000--several thousand above the average cost of daycare from other providers)
I have made a couple of additions in red.
[Original comment published on Plainfield Latino]
There are some
inconsistencies in this blog post [post on the transition] regarding the
transitioning of the Bilingual Daycare Center to the nonprofit organization
(HOPES), which is very experienced, which has a great reputation, and which is
ALREADY providing bilingual education services in Plainfield (as are many
others, as Mr. Goldstein also noted). I hope to correct them, from my perspective.
We may still disagree on whether the transition is the best thing, but I
figured I should at least let folks know why I think the transition would be a
positive thing and why I support it. I could not be present at last Monday's
meeting, but I could hear (some of) the discussion and concerns, which are what
I want to address.
First, this has
been a topic ever since the previous administration--I know, because I remember
it from 2011 or 2012 (I came on the council in 2011). I think the CBAC might
have recommended it, given the cost to the taxpayers in comparison to other
daycare providers. [Alan Goldstein noted that it had been a discussion item
of the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee in prior years, when he served on the
committee.] The previous
administration had discussed it, but it never came to anything--possibly
because of turnover in the cabinet's top administrative ranks--I don't know,
but it was dropped for the time being. So, it didn’t come out of the blue—the director
and staff have known for a long time that the idea of transitioning to a
non-profit was in the air.
Regarding the
present, though, the 69 children who are annually served by the Bilingual
Daycare Center will continue to be served--they will stay in the same building
with the same name, and there will be no interruption of services for them. To
frame this as something the administration is doing to target Latino children
is very misleading--for what reason would any administration do this? The 69
children will not suffer but will be well served, as are the many thousands of
other Latino children currently being served other nonprofit providers as well
as by HOPES. The fact that the Bilingual Daycare Center only serves 69 children
per year clearly means that literally thousands of other Latino children are
being served by the other providers in the city.
I have not been hearing (and I
have talked to some of my constituents about this over the past few weeks) that
the services from all the other daycare centers are inadequate or lacking in
any way, and I have not seen any data or evidence from anyone on this blog to
that effect, either.
Again, the fact
is that the Bilingual Daycare Center is not closing--the way the program is
being administered is changing to a nonprofit, which is how many other
bilingual daycare centers in the city operate. HOPES has been around for 50
years, and has had great success. [HOPES will also be bringing several ADDITIONAL services
to the Bilingual Day Care Center. Services that are not provided at present: a
nurse, a mental health expert, a nutritionist, and a couple of other services.]
Please note: one of HOPES's Day Care Centers operates at St. Mary's
Church (and has been doing so for years) and primarily serves the Latino
community. It would make sense to talk to the parents of some of those
children, as others have, to see how they feel about the quality of bilingual
daycare provided to them by HOPES--also, talk to some of the parents at the
other day care centers in the city. I attended the graduation/move-up ceremony
of one of my goddaughters at St. Mary's a while back--the children, parents,
and staff all seemed quite happy and well-adjusted. Anytime I had to pick her
up, everyone was wonderful to her and all the other children. Posting accurate
information about what the transitioning of providers from the city to a
nonprofit organization means is important to our community—and we owe it to the
parents who have their children at some of the other bilingual day care
programs in the city.
If the city
council decides to approve the transition, I am confident that the children,
our primary concern, will be well-served. I hope that I have clarified my
position. Again, we may disagree on this as a matter of policy, but my
intention is to vote in the way that I feel will give the city (and especially
the children) the most positive result.
Best,
Rebecca
P.S. Keep in mind
as well that the administration makes proposals, but the city council has the
final say. Each councilor will vote for what she (or he) thinks will work, just
as each of us voted for the budget and its amendments.
The
theme for World AIDS Day 2015 is "Think Positive: Rethink HIV." #rethinkhiv 
Tomorrow (Tuesday) is Election Day. I am asking you to support Cory Storch and Barry Goode, the Democrats in COLUMN B.
I have served with Cory Storch (2nd Ward) on the council and he continues to put
Plainfield first. Barry Goode (1st and 4th Ward) has shown, through 20 years of community work,
that he will be a strong and dedicated public servant. I am also asking you to support Emily Morgan in COLUMN 3 for
the Plainfield Board of Education. Emily is a committed and
knowledgeable voice who is beholden only to the children and other
residents of Plainfield. She brings a fresh perspective to the issues
facing our school district, and she will serve with honor and
distinction. We
need strong voices on the city council and on the school board who will
serve only the people of our great city. When you vote tomorrow, please
support these three candidates. Polls are open from 6:00 am - 8:00 pm.
Today, October 11, we celebrate
National Coming Out Day, an international observance held annually. Many of us aware the homophobia can rear its ugly head in shocking and unexpected ways, such as at the last Plainfield City Council meeting, where my humanity (and the humanity of all LGBT folks) was challenged as we had to bear the homophobic and transphobic attacks of Alex Toliver, who came to the microphone to disparage me for standing up for myself. There are a number of LGBT and transgender teens and young people living in our city, as the support I was shown at the July 4th Parade will attest, so for anyone to demean and disparage any member of our community on the basis of who they are is deeply offensive and goes against the ideals of our nation and certainly of our community. This was covered in the Courier-News: 
The Plainfield Division of Parks and Recreation is hosting another summer movie night for the kids, hosted at Hannah Atkins Park this evening (Thursday, July 23). Tonight's film is PADDINGTON, which will begin at 8:30 pm. Melvin will be popping plenty of corn this evening--the weather is forecast to be beautiful--spend an evening under the stars! Bring a chair, snacks, and enjoy it with the kids! At right is the entire
summer schedule of films (for kids and adults) at a variety of locations. Next week's film is the Academy Award-nominated Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay (for adults, co-sponsored by Arista Care at Norwood Terrace/United Presbyterian Church).
