Cypress : City Criticized in Preschool Lockout

Residents have charged that the city mishandled events surrounding the resignations of four staff members at a city-run preschool, claiming that city workers padlocked the doors of Kids Corner and prevented the employees from retrieving their belongings.

Police were called to the preschool at Darrell Essex Park Friday to handle a protest by the instructors and parents that arose after the padlocking, said Police Chief Daryl Wicker. Wicker said officers were dispatched to keep order and that no arrests resulted.

The City Council, on the advice of City Atty. John E. Cavanaugh, declined to discuss the situation in public Monday but later were briefed in closed session.

In comments to the council, residents accused the city of trying to humiliate the four instructors who resigned over a dispute that involved the scheduling of work hours.

Gerald Creager, the husband of Susan Creager, one of the four workers who resigned from Kids Corner, told the council that the padlocking action was “a blatant act of public humiliation.”

Later, in an interview, Creager said, “The children were out in the park playing--they had just had a picnic--when all of a sudden maintenance (employees) showed up with padlocks. Parents came to the support” of instructors.

Susan Creager said that she and the three other staffers submitted letters of resignation June 9. The resignations stemmed from disagreement over work hours policy and how that policy affects potential retirement benefits, she said.

Gerald Creager told the council that he plans a wrongful-termination lawsuit against the city on behalf of his wife. After he made that comment, Cavanaugh advised the City Council to say nothing publicly about the Kids Corner staff resignations.

During the Monday night City Council meeting, Mayor Richard Partin said he did not know much about the Kids Corner controversy and asked for a staff briefing. “I’d like the details of it,” Partin said.

But Cavanaugh repeated his warning and the council later held a closed-door session to be briefed on the matter. Such sessions are allowed by state law when the threat of litigation is involved.