Pasadena : Child-Care Program to End

A child-care program serving six elementary schools will be shut down at the end of August unless about $25,000 and an agency to run the program can be found, officials say.

The child-care centers were a joint effort of the city, the school district and, last year, the YWCA.

Pasadena YWCA officials told a joint-session of the City Council and Board of Education on Tuesday that as of Aug. 31 it will no longer be able to run the program, which provides care for about 200 children. The YWCA said it could not again provide the $15,000 it paid for the program last year.

Early this summer, the city cut the $8,500 it usual provides from its budget.

The latest development leaves only the school district, which donates buildings and utilities for the program, which provides before- and after-school day care.

About $25,000 is required for the program to help parents who cannot afford to pay tuition, said Michael Klenstchy, director of elementary education for the Pasadena Unified School District. Tuition is on a sliding scale based on income.

Klenstchy said of the 200 children in the program at Don Benito, Webster, Jefferson, Longfellow, Altadena and San Rafael elementary schools, 60 to 70 are at least partially subsidized.

“This subsidy is the only way poorer people can afford good-quality child care,” said school board member Anne W. Pursel.

She said officials hoped to find one, or more, organizations to run the program and a sponsor by the start of the school year.

“The program won’t fly if we don’t have a provider and funding,” Pursel said.