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During the Monday, July 8 meeting of the Park and Recreation Commission, the public learned that the Terrific Two’s program has been paused indefinitely due to building code licensing requirements for programs serving children 2.9 years or younger. The program was not previously licensed.
Park and Recreation Director, Dennis Mannone, indicated that the Town likely does not have interest in running a licensed preschool program. He expressed frustration with the value-engineering process for the new community center and went on to add “We have a pre-school room that’s not a pre-school room, that’s sitting there in the fall.” (2:02:00)
Park and Recreation Commissioner Mara Huston pressed on the issue, as Mannone was pointing to the building design changes and upcoming drainage work outside the building as the cause of the problem. Eventually it became clear that the licensing requirements would apply regardless of the design of the building and ongoing construction work. Mannone stated: “No, that drainage work kind of precipitated people digging in further, rightly so, and finding out that, well the program really should be licensed regardless because you’re dealing with 2.9 and under years, by code, by building code, it really needs to be licensed.”
Mannone went on to explain: “Because the years are 2.9 ages, legally we are supposed to be licensed anyway, regardless of the egress that that door’s in there or not.”
Mannone noted that the Terrific Two’s program has been running for “forty-something years.” Member Laurie Eliason lamented the news and the impact on families: “I will say; that is a beloved Sudbury program.” She called for the group to do all they can do to maintain the program and characterized the program as an attraction to families coming to Sudbury. (2:09:30)
The group resolved to add the issue to a list of items to discuss with Town Manager Andy Sheehan at an upcoming meeting.
The outlook for the department was rather bleak throughout the meeting. Continuing on the theme of childcare, they also spent a significant portion of the meeting talking about what the Park and Recreation department can do to address the need for more after school care options in Sudbury, but those discussions quickly reverted back to their prior conclusion that a Town Manager’s Working Group would need to be established to bring the relevant community groups together to devise a solution. The Commission advocated as much to the Select Board previously, but the Select Board did not take any near-term action when they discussed the matter in May; opting instead to have the Town Manager study the issue further.
With the Terrific Two’s program being put on ice, Sudbury’s childcare options are diminishing, even as some boards and committees have discussed the need to increase childcare options. While the Select Board was hesitant to take any decisive action on after school care, the Sudbury Public Schools School Committee was resolute in declaring that after school care was entirely outside of their purview in February.
Since then, newly-elected school committee member Mary Stephens asked the committee to add the topic as a future agenda item, and was summarily shot down on the basis that the committee didn’t need to discuss anything unless a group brought a proposal forward to establish such a program. (2:45:00)
The next step for Terrific Two’s and after school care is a conversation between the Park and Recreation Commission and Town Manager Sheehan, unless the Select Board puts it on their agenda before then.