Open Letter

The following is a partial re-print of a letter sent by Jaquiline Asher, Emeryville parent, to parents and Emeryville residents. The City Council will decide the fate of the Child Development Center on Tuesday night. Citizens may contact the city council at the city's website at:

www.ci.emeryville.ca.us

To Emeryville residents and parents-

The City Council needs to hear from you right away. If you can't attend
the meeting on May 11th, you need to e-mail.

The future of our Center will be decided in a few days and despite all of
the work that the parents have put into the task force and the concern
they have expressed, the City Manager has said he will recommend complete
outsourcing of the Center to the Berkeley Albany YMCA (BAYMCA).

The final word on ECDC's future rests with the City Council, and they need
to hear from you over the next three days.

Decisions will be made next week. The Center needs your help before May
11th. There are several ways you can help the Center in the final days
before budget meetings:

*Come to the meeting on May 11th @ 6pm at City Hall.
This is where the parents' proposal will be presented. We need to be
visible and supportive of our teachers and Center. If you can't attend,
write an e-mail.

*Write to the Council:
Let them know that you stand behind the parents' proposal and that we have
made serious efforts to create a fiscally responsible model for this
long-standing City service. And after a single year's transition to
institute our plan we will require $0 contribution from the City's General
Fund. The councilmembers' e-mails are below for you to cut and paste.

*Tell them that you don't believe in an income-segregated model of care.
The parent's proposal does not separate kids from one another based upon
income. The City's "parallel" plan does.

*Tell them that they will be getting rid of State-subsidized spots if they
vote for outsourcing
BAYMCA's model relies upon Head Start funding. The families that use the

State subsidy @ ECDC typically earn too much to qualify for that program,

but still need subsidies and deserve reliable childcare. Families at this
income level will not be served if the City goes with outsourcing.

*Accelerated Timetable to outsource:
Patrick O'Keeffe (City Manager) has stated that he will recommend complete
outsourcing of the Center no matter if the budget gap is closed or not.
It's also clear that he favors an accelerated timetable for handover to
BAYMCA if this option is chosen--not the one year's timeline that we
received in the BAYMCA's response to the RFQ.

ECCL Busting City Budget

Austerity Measures Enacted City Wide Except At Center

City to Toddlers: Go To Hell

Hidden Agenda Revealed

By Brian Donahue

City officials plan on privatizing the city's public preschool---regardless of what parents say or do.

Top city officials outlined why the school must be turned over to private operators in a memo sent out hours before the same officials met with parents at a workshop billed as a venue for parents to "provide input."

The meeting was held last week at the Child Development Center.

An excerpt from the memo, between city finance chief Edmond Suen and City Manager Patrick O'Keeffe, leaps from an otherwise banal list of fiduciary proposals.


"At the December 15 meeting, the City Council authorized staff to issue Request for Qualifications to Providers of Infant and Preschool Child Care Services for the Emeryville Child Development Center (ECDC). This RFQ is an example of staff’s quest to identify alternative delivery mechanisms to provide equal or better services in the most cost effective manner. Obviously, there may be other considerations in pursuing the outsourcing option, but outsourcing and resource sharing is gaining traction in the face of unsustainable Agency cost structures."

The Tattler obtained this memo Friday.

A translation of the legalese reveals that behind closed doors, officials are hurrying to privatize the center along with other government functions.

Pressed for an explanation Monday, Suen sought to qualify the memo's wording, saying the idea for privatization didn't start with him, and isn't his decision. "Many agencies in these challenging economic conditions are looking at outsourcing as an option," Suen said. "We take our direction from the city council, and they have authorized an RFQ at ECDC but the decision has not been made to move forward necessarily with outsourcing at this time." An RFQ, or Request for Qualifications, is an initial step in identifying private companies to bid on a project.

Parents are nevertheless crying foul. Last week city officials were busy assuring parents that two avenues for keeping the center public were being pursued. Many parents argued that a third 'fund raising option' be considered, a concept Mr. O'Keeffe embraced at Tuesday's forum. Yet, the memo had already been written.

Emeryville resident Jaquiline Asher, activist and mother of two students at ECDC was chagrined at the revelation that the meeting was nothing more than a dog-and-pony show. "In the wake of hearing uniformly from over 60 parents that they wanted options outside the Request For Qualification options, this memo indicates they are not listening to the parents," she said. She pointed to a damning sentence that states that privatizing is "gaining traction" and this sentiment relayed by the staff shows the true agenda regardless of any public statements made by the politicians or other government officials.

Mr. Suen disputed Ms. Asher's interpretation of the memo. A "different interpretation of the staff report and specifically a different interpretation of the ECDC statement within. The outsourcing reference in the report was meant in a general way".

The Emeryville City Council is scheduled to address the issue of the Child Development Center at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday March 2nd at Emeryville City Hall.

Parents Decry Cuts, Privatization Scheme at Child Center

Parents Angered By Choices Offered

By Brian Donahue

Faced down by some 75 angry parents and community members, city officials last night delayed making steep cuts and privatizing the city's public pre-school.

Boisterous parents booed City Manager Patrick O'Keeffe after he chided parents for being 'too emotional.' "You need to be realistic here," Mr. O'Keeffe said.

The outbursts followed an official presentation from city officials explaining that the city's pre-school on 53rd Street, officially called the Emeryville Child Development Center, must be turned over to a private operator to cut costs.

Officials have been slashing budgets and trimming services from the center for many years. Several years ago, funding was cut and the most experienced, and consequently highest paid, 'Master Teachers' were let go. In 2005, the city council terminated the infant program at the center. Councilwomen Nora Davis and Ruth Atkin said the city could "no longer afford" day-care services for infants. The ensuing controversy led Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis to replace some of the funding, with the stipulation that the children of the company's employees get priority for any open spaces. The Novartis campus, formerly Chiron, is just down the block from the center.

To quiet Tuesday's crowd, which appeared to be growing volatile, Councilwoman Nora Davis rose to praise the center, after spending years trying to bury it. The performance, according to one observer, was worthy of Shakespeare.

Ms. Davis, who Tuesday called the center one of Emeryville's "jewels" has voted against it at every opportunity.

Omitted from the official presentation of stark budget realities, tied financial hands and heavy hearts, was any mention of plans to construct a $125 million super-building to house a new high school, junior high school, elementary school, senior center and recreation center. Plans for the so-called Center of Community Life are moving ahead despite the city and school district's financial problems.

Parents received no answer from Ms. Davis, Ms. Atkin or Mr. O'Keeffe as to why their oft stated commitment to the education of all children excludes the city's youngest learners. Mr. O'Keeffe, however did say that the city is forbidden from using any of the Redevelopment Agency's copious cash for actual human needs. Those millions and millions can apparently only be used to subsidize more shopping malls and office buildings and are forbidden to be spent on any operational costs. One parent demanded to know why the city couldn't get money for the center as part of a development agreement before projects are approved. There was no response from any city official.

Whether city officials have the brains or the cajones to recover some funding back from developers to help pay for programs like the city's pre-school, remains to be seen.