Day care providers fighting for right to expand
Date: 5/21/2012
May 21, 2012By Chris Maza
chrism@thereminder.comEAST LONGMEADOW — If it's good enough for the state, why isn't it good enough for the town of East Longmeadow?
That is the message East Longmeadow resident and family home day care provider Bella Andrukonis has been trying to convey to people leading up to the May 21 Annual Town Meeting.
Andrukonis hopes that residents will look past the Planning Board's decision not to recommend Article 27 and allow family home day cares the option to increase their capacity to up to 10 children at one time.
Currently, family home day cares, which operate under special permit, may not care for more than six children at one time.
The article would allow licensed home day care providers to care for as many as 10 children at one time.
Andrukonis told
Reminder Publications that the proposed by-law amendment would simply bring East Longmeadow's regulations regarding home day cares in line with the state's standards.
"We just want to be in accordance with the law as we are with the state of Massachusetts," she said, adding that because of the special permitting required, the town would maintain control. "The state scrutinizes [us] and we go through so much to be licensed. In the next two to three years, if you don't have a degree in early childhood education, you cannot even do this."
The Planning Board voted 3-2 not to recommend the article at a March 27 public hearing. Former Chair Peter Punderson, current Chair George Kingston and member Michael Carabetta voted in opposition of the change it while Alessandro Meccia and Michael Przybylowicz supported it.
Andrukonis explained that the town's limit of six children per residential day care was in accordance with a state law that has since been changed.
"The reason [East Longmeadow has] the number six in their by-laws is because a long time ago when family child care started, [the state] only allowed six [children]," she said. "Between 1997 and 2000, they changed [the law] and allowed [day cares, with certain requirements, including more square footage in the house and more education, to be able to provide for more than six [children]."
Currently the state allows for three different kinds of licenses — one that allows a provider to host six children at a time; a second that allows providers to care for six younger children, plus two older, school-aged children; and a third that allows for 10 under the title of Large Family Day Cares.
According to Andrukonis, East Longmeadow has 17 licensed family home day cares with four of them, including her own, possessing a Large Family Day Care license. However, the town's by-laws currently prevent those with that license from actually caring for 10 children.
She said the state licensing standards are so strict that they should ease any fears residents might have regarding the quality of a day care.
"They've really changed and gotten better and have made this a field of education that ensures you're providing a good service," she said, explaining that the state's Office of Child Care Services regularly performs inspections, checking everything from the day care's license, files and certifications to menus, attendance and refrigerator thermometers.
Family home day care providers must also complete 30 hours of supplementary education every three years in order to maintain their licenses.
"There's so much we have to go through with [the state]. We don't want to have to go through that with the town," Andrukonis said.
By law, any day care provider with 10 children must employ an assistant. Punderson said at the public hearing that the town by-laws that prevent the operation of a business in a residential area would be broken if the proposed by-law amendment passes, opening a loophole for other businesses to slip through.
Andrukonis said the Planning Board should address businesses on a case-by-case basis and not lump a business in one industry with that of another.
"Every business in this town that is in a residential zone has to go in front of the Planning Board, so why not take that time to deal with each business as it comes? They have the power to do that," she said, adding that the state does not require extra help for other businesses like landscaping. "Don't put us in the same category."
Andrukonis said felt she similarly about concerns expressed by Kingston at the public hearing about increased traffic and complaints he has heard from abutters of family home day cares regarding noise and toys being left in yards.
"If one provider has a problem with the neighborhood, then the neighbors can go in front of the Planning Board and hash it out with them," she said. "There's good and bad everywhere. There could be one person that everybody has a problem with, but they have the power to go in front of the Planning Board and discuss it."
