A downtown day care center is scrambling to find a new home after the federal financial reform legislation eliminated the federal agency that hosted the tots rent-free.
Small Savers Child Development Center operates in the basement of the Office of Thrift Supervision, scheduled to be absorbed into the Office of Comptroller of Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Federal Reserve by July. Neither the reform act — nor any of the agencies — has said what will become of Small Savers, its 22 employees or the 65 children who attend.
The Office of Thrift Supervision, which pays the parent-run day care’s rent, utilities, maintenance and custodial fees, sent Small Spaces a letter terminating its sponsorship by July.
The day care’s board of directors sent letters to the absorbing agencies asking them to take on Small Savers, but spokesmen for all three said they have no current plans to sponsor the center.
Small Savings won’t receive top billing among pressing decisions such as employee transfers, computer system changes, benefit calculations and regional office coordination, said Thrift Supervision spokesman William Ruberry.
“There are a lot of balls up in the air … where it falls on the priority issue, I know there are a lot of other logistical challenges to resolve,” Ruberry said.
Adina Renee Adler, vice president of the day care’s board of directors, said the center is seeking an alternative sponsor to step up much sooner than the July deadline.
“Wait lists are a mile long,” she said. If the day care disbands, “teachers are going to be competing for a limited number of jobs.”
Adler said agency sponsorship is preferable because it allows Small Savers to reduce monthly tuition. Small Savers charges $1,155 for 5-year-olds and $1,475 for 6-week-olds per month; nearby centers reported tuitions of $200 more.
An FDIC spokesman said there have been no discussions with the center. While the Federal Reserve has agreed to meet with the board, Ruberry says it’s more likely that the Thrift building will fall to the OCC, which plans to asborb the largest share of Thrift’s functions.
The OCC received the board’s letter, but “we haven’t made any determinations one way or another,” a spokesman said.
Adler could not confirm that Small Savers would remain open without a free facility. “We’d like to keep our center as it is right now,” she said.
Federal employees with young children founded Small Savers in 1986, and about 55 percent of the kids come from families with at least one parent in the government.
