Students, educators speak out against Early Learning Center closure

EVERETT — Parents, employees and community members spoke out against the closure of Everett Community College’s Early Learning Center at a Tuesday board meeting.

Public commenters at the meeting said they hoped for the college to reconsider its decision and keep the center open. They also said the college should have included center staff and parents in discussions about its closure and provided more notice.

The college announced its decision to close the Early Learning Center in a May 8 letter. The center is expected to close by June 30. Administration at Everett Community College have said the closure is necessary because of a lack of available funding for the Early Learning Center.

“I ask you to stop looking at us as dollar signs,” Phala Richie, whose children attend the Early Learning Center, told the board during public comment. “Look at the faces of the parents, children and teachers involved and please rethink your decision.”

Currently, the center provides early education to 71 children. It could host a maximum of about 200 children at full capacity, vice president of instruction at Everett Community College Cathy Leaker previously said. The college has said it seeks to find a private organization to take over operations of the Early Learning Center after it is shuttered.

But parents and staff who utilize or work at the center worry other organizations may not be able to provide the same level of quality education as the center currently provides. Many of those who currently utilize the center’s services attend the community college and receive free or reduced-cost care because of grant funding.

“What you call low attendance, we call an excellent classroom student-to-teacher ratio and excellent care,” said Nicole Lengyl, whose son attends the Early Learning Center.

Everett Community College has received funding for the Early Learning Center from the city of Everett, Snohomish County, the state of Washington and federal grants. But some of that funding has already lapsed and more is set to lapse in the coming months. Without a new, stable funding source, administrators previously said, the center’s financial problems would only get worse over time.

The community college expected the Early Learning Center would operate with a $300,000 deficit in the next fiscal year if it were to stay open. On Tuesday, Gov. Bob Ferguson signed the state’s two-year $77.8 billion operating budget, which included cuts to community college funding. Everett Community College will miss out on about $2.23 million of state funding this year and will need to cut spending, vice president of finance Shelby Burke said in a presentation Tuesday.

In a statement, the college’s board of trustees said the responsibility of the closure fell on the administration. The board said closing the center was a difficult decision but backed it because the center’s funding model is “unsustainable,” board chair Jerry Martin said, and is “currently significantly underutilized,” he said.

“EvCC lacks the dedicated resources and specialized staff expertise to operate a comprehensive early learning and child care facility,” Martin said Tuesday. “The college must also prioritize resources to maintain areas integral to our accreditation, our core mission and existing long-term contractual obligations.”

The Early Learning Center is nationally recognized as a top early education facility because of its high standards of care. Many of its educators have decades of experience in early childhood education, staff at the center have said.

On Tuesday, commenters also raised concerns over the college administration’s handling of the closure. The college did not communicate with the Early Learning Center’s director, Rachelle Refling, before it announced it would close the center, said Paula Krock, who teaches education and early childhood education at Everett Community College.

“Please hear us. We want the ELC to remain open,” Krock said. “And if there’s conversations around inviting industry partners, we want to be a part of that conversation.”

In an email Wednesday, Refling also said the college’s executive leadership team did not include her in any conversations regarding the closure.

“On May 7th, they notified me at approx. 1:00 PM,” Refling wrote. “I made arrangements for them to come down to the center and notify the rest of the staff at 4:00 PM.”

In a statement Wednesday, the college said Burke and Leaker worked with Refling to find sustainable solutions to keep the center open. They also spoke about the ongoing budget challenges, the loss of grant and supplemental funding, but not specifically about the timing of the closure, wrote Chris Woodward, an Everett Community College spokesperson.

The three — Refling, Burke and Leaker — attempted to create a new business plan for the Early Learning Center, including adjusting the hours and days it would be open, hiring a consultant to create a sustainable business model, having options for students of half-time or drop-in care, or “changing the model by blending the number of children from various payment sources in the center,” Woodward wrote.

“None of these proposed ideas resulted in finding long-term solutions or solutions that would work with our accreditation, grant/funding regulations, or other restrictions,” Woodward wrote Wednesday.

The college also attempted to find a consultant to hire to create a sustainable business model, but were unable to, Woodward wrote.

Staff at the center were also caught off guard by the college’s announcement to close the Early Learning Center, faculty union representative Nina Benedetti said in a report to the board Tuesday. The college had “no plan on actually trying to attempt to maintain that program,” she said.

“It was a total slap in the face to the hard-working, experienced and dedicated employees who, if given the chance to be in those discussions before the decisions were made, I would have ventured would have plenty of ideas to run a more cost-effective program,” Benedetti said.

The college previously tried to close the center in 2021, also for financial reasons. At that time, it walked back its decision after public backlash and an increase in funding from Snohomish County.

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.