Kindertown remains open per judge’s order
By Kathryn Reed
Kindertown Day Care and Preschool was granted a reprieve this morning, allowing it to remain open for at least a month.
The South Lake Tahoe center for youngsters has been in a fight with the Department of Social Services for nearly two years.
This may not have been the last graduating class at Kindertown. Photo/Kathryn Reed
El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Warren Stracener changed his mind June 22. Six days ago he said the center must close June 24. Today he said owner Maria Barrows-Crist will have her day in court July 22 in Placerville.
“I’m not only thrilled for myself, but I’m thrilled for my families,” Barrows-Crist told Lake Tahoe News after the hearing.
Mike McLaughlin, who represented Barrows-Crist in court, said the judge reversed his stance from a week ago based on information he received in the last week. He wants both sides to present more information to him in the next month.
None of the families who have children at Kindertown had taken their kids out after being told last week about the threat of closure by Barrows-Crist. State licensing officials were also calling families starting June 17.
The center will be small and private again starting July 1 because the state has eliminated its funding. This leaves about 50 children at the center, though there is room for more.
With the loss of the children who were receiving the state subsidy, it means Kindertown needs fewer employees. A total of eight workers will have left because of this forced decline in enrollment.
Knowing more then a few facts of this case and sitting through the court proceedings, it is apparent that the licensing dept of CA has engaged in personal vendetta against Maria Crist, now going on two years.
All abuse of power is bad, but when a govt entity seeks to play hardball it is only the private citizen who pays to fight. They (the agency gets to use our tax dollars) I wonder how much they’d be willing to personally invest if this witch hunt came from their personal accounts?
This scenario begs for some reform. It has been seen both in court and in action to be a reckless and indiscriminate harrassment at the taxpayers expense.
Mike McClaughlin the attorney was superb before Judge Steven Bailey last year, and Judge Bailey smacked them down rightfully but here we are again.
Well said Dan. Maria is fighting a valiant fight and our community support is much needed. She had a caring hand in raising many of our children and their children, obviously making some tough changes in the recent years. She deserves our continued confidence.
Another example of why we don’t want more govenment in our lives.
Between this situation, and the CPS state of affairs statewide, it strengthens the idea of the Constitution – as Dan implies – so government can not come down on someone simply on their say-so. . .
And overusing the rationale of children “hides behind the skirts” . . .as a disservice to more righteous need.
What an abuse of power. A perfect example of how government can try to squash someone they don’t like, but parents and anyone that knows the facts of the case knows. Compare Maria’s Kindertown to all other similar facilities and you will see that this is
a very selective position by the state, while others get away with much more serious offenses. Stinks is not a strong enough word to describe the state in this matter.
That a travesty of this proportion could go on for this long is a real mind-bender. Having been away from SLT for nearly 18 months, I’m shocked to know this is still going on. This should speak volumes to every voter about the abuse of power that prevails in all levels of government. And you want the government in every facet of your life? REALLY? This is just the busywork of a low-ranking wannabe at the state level and look at the devastation it’s caused…irreparable damage to an outstanding citizen providing an outstanding service to an outstanding community on the say-so of nitwits. Clearly it is evident that once this ball was in motion, why, it would just be too humiliating for an ax grinder to back down and say enough is enough, so now it’ll have to be defeated in court, not only at the taxpayers expense, but I’d wager poor Maria has already lost most, if not all of everything she’s worked so hard for…to earn a living doing what she loves, enabling her to raise her own children and grandchildren and perhaps retire comfortably someday. Oh, but wait…a capitalist? Aaakkk! How dare she even think she could get away with that? That’s the government at your service. That’s the level of quality individuals we had better count on to serve the people at every level and every branch of government. A miscarriage of justice? Be prepared to give up your livelihood, your income and your retirement and resign yourself to draw off the system in your old age if you irk a government employee with an ax to grind at ANY level unless you think you’re bigger than they are. Just saying.