Hearing Monday : Day-Care Center to Ask Judge to Delay Eviction

Escuela de la Gente, which has provided publicly funded day care for poor Pacoima children for nearly a decade, goes to court Monday to fight an eviction that administrators say could close the school.

If the “school of the people” shuts down, parents of children there--many of whom are single mothers--say they may have to leave their jobs. The school has an enrollment of 75 children ages 2 1/2 to 5.

“I’d have to quit until I find someone to take care of my little girl,” said Antonia Mercado, whose husband is in jail. “It’s a problem especially for me because I need help from this school.”

School administrator Ruben Rodriguez acknowledges that the property owner, who has told him that he wants to sell the land to a mini-mall developer, gave the school plenty of notice--more than 1 1/2 years. An eviction notice was not issued until Dec. 13.

Beyond School’s Control

But Rodriguez said problems have come up that were beyond the school’s control. An agreement to move into a church fell through unexpectedly last fall after seven months of discussions. And he said the school has not yet worked out an agreement to move into buildings owned by a nearby Hispanic Methodist church.

Once a site is nailed down, he said, it would take at least four months to get necessary city permits, prepare buildings for licensing inspections and physically move the school, including two state-owned portable classrooms.

Property owner Keith Marcovitch has given the school two weeks from Monday to move out, Rodriguez said. If forced out after that amount of time, the school would have to close, he said.

“It’s not looking real good right now,” Rodriguez said. “They said we would only legally have two weeks,” although he said he hopes that the new landlord will let them stay longer.

“That makes us dependent on his good faith after two weeks,” he said.

Marcovitch refused to comment. His attorney, Valerie Mattson, would only say that “we’re hoping” that a mutually agreeable arrangement can be worked out.

“We’re in the middle of settlement negotiations,” Mattson said. “Beyond that, I can’t say anything.”

Attorney David A. Rothberg, who represents the school, said he will ask for a four-month extension at a hearing in Encino Municipal Court on Monday morning. Rodriguez said he hopes to convince the court that “this is not just a landlord-tenant issue. It’s a social issue.”

School Organized in 1979

The school was organized in 1979 by Latino activists, who believed that Spanish-speaking children need bilingual teachers, Rodriguez said. For their children to qualify for admission, parents must prove that they are working or in school, he said. Parents are charged on a sliding scale based on their ability to pay, he said.

The school’s annual budget is $344,000, most of which comes from the State Department of Education. Fees from parents and United Way contributions pay a small part of the school’s operating costs.

Continued need for such a school is documented by its 200-child waiting list.

“Before, I enrolled my daughter in a private school and they didn’t speak Spanish and so she got scared and had problems,” said Leila Otarola, the single mother of 4-year-old Leyla Sofia.

The two meals and a snack served each day at Escuela de la Gente are often the only meals that many children receive, school director Aurea Elmore said.

“I find out a lot of children are starving when they come in the morning,” Elmore said.

About half the children stay from 6:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., she said.