ROSSMOOR : Closed Day-Care Site’s Pupils Are Relocated, District Says

Most of the 250 children served by the Creative Horizons day-care center that abruptly closed last week have been relocated within the Los Alamitos Unified School District and at private day-care providers, district officials said Thursday.

Parents who brought their children to the day-care center Friday were surprised to find it closed. A notice posted by preschool owner Boyd Rollins gave little information except to say that “unfortunate” circumstances had caused the preschool to close.

“Those people really had to scramble to find day care,” said David Hatton, assistant superintendent for the Los Alamitos Unified School District. “We were able to accommodate some of the children. A number of the private preschools in our area were also able to take some of the children who were displaced.”

Creative Horizons, a private preschool, infant care and day-care center, had leased empty school sites from the school district for 15 years. The business was leasing the former Weaver Elementary School in Rossmoor from the district for $80,000 a year. But district officials say the business had not paid rent since November and was ordered by a county Superior Court judge last month to vacate the school by April 30.

Laguna Hills attorney Melvin Thomas, who represents Rollins, declined comment, except to say, “There was a dispute ranging over a number of years” between the owner and the school district.

Although school district officials were aware since April 17 that the preschool had been ordered by the court to vacate the site, Hatton said the district decided not to notify parents.

“The parents were clients of the business of Creative Horizons,” Hatton said. “It would have been inappropriate for the district to intervene in any way.”