GREENFIELD — The Greenfield Parks Department preschool program is adding a myriad of security measures to its site in an effort to meet the standards of the state Family and Social Services Administration.
Parks superintendent Ellen Kuker said the parks department received a letter from the Indiana FSSA on June 5, which informed them the preschool’s current programs, which included half-day and whole-day preschool offered five days a week at the Patricia Elmore Center, established the program as a childcare center. As a result of this designation, the program had to be certified by the state, otherwise it would be in violation of FSSA regulations, Kuker said.
The parks department has operated its preschool program since the 1980s and had never received any censure from the state until this year, Kuker said.
The letter was a result of a visit to the parks department preschool site in April, Kuker said. Officials with the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration said they did not know what specifically spurred them to visit, only that they are required by law to investigate all complaints or inquiries they receive.
“Someone may have contacted us and complained — maybe they thought there were too many children and not enough supervision, or they were concerned about another issue,” said Marni Lemons, FSSA deputy communications director.
About 50 children and families were affected by the issue, Kuker said.
Letters to parents originally indicated the preschool classes could be postponed for up to a year while the parks department altered its site, adding several security measures, but the start date for the preschool program was moved back about a month to September instead of August as planned, according to emails sent by the parks department.
To keep from being designated as a childcare center, the preschool program this year is reducing its days of operation from five to four, and will only offer half-day preschool, for a total of four hours, Kuker said.
“Structuring our program with this format designates us as a preschool, and not a child care,” she said in an email to the Daily Reporter.
The parks department is simultaneously installing security cameras, locks and an extra set of doors in the Patricia Elmore Center to make the site, which also holds the city’s senior center, more secure for the preschool students, she said. The additional security measures, which amount to about $15,500, were approved by the parks board at its most recent meeting. The money for the upgrades will come from the parks department’s operating and program funds, Kuker said.
The additions will triple or quadruple the current security camera coverage of the building and permit teachers to keep people from coming into the preschool area without authorization, Kuker said. The locking doors being installed in the building will unlock automatically in case of a fire alarm, she said.
The Elmore Center is a public building used by the community, with people coming in and out for senior-focused activities, art classes and more. But the FSSA guidelines require the site to have the ability to lock doors and be able to buzz parents in, either with an intercom system or an access card system, Kuker said at the July parks board meeting.
Kuker said the preschool program doesn’t have to become certified as a childcare center by the state to continue operating.
“We don’t have to get licensed, but we would be limited in the number of kids we can serve, and then we can’t grow,” she said.
