Bay Cities Blues

Parents depending on the Santa Monica-based Bay Cities Jewish Community Center for after-school care reacted with concern last week to the program’s announced elimination.

The change was one part of citywide programming reforms approved June 25 by the Board of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles (JCCGLA), a beneficiary of The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. The ambitious and wide-ranging reforms are designed to help the JCCs meet changing communal needs.

During what became a busy and emotionally charged week, 40 galvanized parents, outraged by the news that the fall session of the after-school program would be canceled, converged at the Santa Monica center, on Santa Monica Boulevard at 26th Street, to meet with JCC representatives and protest the decision.

"We had no clue that this was under consideration, and I think if we had, we would have provided information to help … even pay more tuition or explore fundraising options," said Julie Rothblatt, the mother of a 4-year-old and a 4-month-old, who had intended to send her children to the after-school program in the future.

"People are feeling disenfranchised," said Steve Rottman, another parent.

The consensus among parents was that they felt slighted by the JCC’s last-minute notification and its failure to include parents in the decision-making.

"I don’t think the parents need to be there for the day-to-day or the budgeting," said Jared Breuer, father of a 4-year-old girl, "but when you’re talking about canceling a program, we’re talking on another level," he said. "That’s something that the community very much wants to be involved in. I’m certainly disappointed in the lack of communication in this instance. "

A spokesman for the center pointed out that its existing full-time preschool is being expanded, and that the summer day camp and family-education programs are thriving.

For parents, at the heart of the issue is the lack of adequate alternatives in Santa Monica for after-school care. They note that other such programs, for instance, at the YMCA and CREST, at the public schools, do not equal Bay Cities’ service.

"The other programs are not as structured and do not provide good supervision," said Michelle Prichart, mother of two young children.

Breuer referred to such programs as "custodial" and lacking in Jewish enrichment. "There’s a difference between teaching and developing children’s minds and just baby-sitting," he said.

Rothblatt voiced confusion at the elimination of the after-school program, since she had thought it was popular. She said friends of hers had called and were told that the program was fully enrolled and that no more children could be accepted.

In response, JCCGLA’s Executive Vice President Nina Lieberman Giladi told The Journal that a staff person who had occupied two positions at the center had quit on the first day of the 2000 school year, and the center could not enroll more kids because of state restrictions. By the time the JCC hired staff to fill the two positions, many of the parents on the waiting list had found alternative care. Ultimately, enrollment came up short and forced the program’s cancellation, Giladi said.

At a meeting June 27, Bay Cities parents formed an ad-hoc group and nominated representatives Breuer, Rottman and Nancy Nigrosh to meet with the JCC’s New Directions Committee on July 3 and offer potential solutions. One plan would entail finding another accredited facility in the area to house the after-school program. Another suggested holding after-school care at the Westside JCC, with a new staff member assigned to provide crosstown transportation for the children. Also discussed was a monthly fee increase of $75 per child for the after-school care, and the organizing of fundraising drives to help subsidize the costs.

At the July 3 meeting, Nigrosh, who said her 8-year-old daughter, Eden, has benefited from the program, focused on Shabbat.

"We live in a very high-speed, high-pressure modern world," Nigrosh said. "It’s important for the children to experience the Shabbat, which I can’t always be there to give her. In fact, my daughter’s the one who’s been teaching me about Shabbat."

Nigrosh feels that it will be hard to find a solution in what she deemed is "a rapidly closing window." With only eight weeks until school, and parents scattered because of work or vacation obligations, there is too much pressure to find an available afternoon alternative to the center that fulfills city code requirements.

"We’re just parents of kids," Nigrosh said. "We’re not educators or administrators with this kind of expertise."

The next conference between parents and the JCC Board is scheduled to take place July 13.

JCC officials are not making any promises, Giladi said, but added she was thrilled that parents voiced their concerns.

"What we’re doing right now is the appropriate process," Giladi said. "Together we’re looking for viable solutions. I’m very optimistic that we’ll find an appropriate solution and I think that everyone that attended the meeting shares that optimism."

Parents are cautiously hopeful.

"I don’t think things are likely to change, but the possibility of a change wasn’t precluded," Breuer said. "It’s a long shot, but a long shot is better than no shot."