Wesley House Family Services exists to “serve the children and families of the Florida Keys,” but the chair of the nonprofit’s board has become increasingly concerned about whether future generations of young families will be able to live in the island chain.
“The children represent the future of Key West,” said board chair Kris Pabian. “If we don’t take care of childcare and education issues today, we will face a very dark, troubled tomorrow. If we don’t have people who want to live in Key West for the next generation, we’re in trouble,” said Wesley House Chair Kris Pabian. “At Wesley House and our Inez Martin child care center, we are working on solutions daily and talking to everyone who will listen. Personally, I want to scream from the rooftop each and every day. We must come together as a community NOW to solve this very real crisis involving education and housing. Everyone talks about the problem, but the time to act is today.”
The sudden closure on Aug. 4 of Sunbeam Christian School, a long-time daycare and preschool run by Fifth Street Baptist Church, brought that emergency into stark relief for Pabian and others, as the parents of 50 children, aged 8 weeks to 4 years, desperately looked for other child care options with only a week’s notice of the closure.
Fifth Street Baptist Church Pastor Josh Dryer closed Sunbeam after its teachers — who are of varying religious denominations — refused to sign a 22-page personnel manual in which they would commit to living a “Biblical lifestyle,” as defined by the conservative, born-again Christian denomination and tithe 10% of their income to the church. Employees of the school were also expected to sign a statement about any other jobs they have. Second jobs are common in the Florida Keys, where the cost of living is among the highest in the country. “Any outside employment that contradicts the faith and values of the Fifth Street Baptist Church is forbidden,” the manual states.
Dryer has refused to return repeated phone calls and emails seeking comment, and no one has answered the door at the church office during repeated visits by the Keys Weekly..
A bigger problem
“Daycare teachers can’t afford to live in the Keys, and as we lose them, we lose a vital part of this community,” Pabian said, adding that Wesley House and other organizations stepped up as best they could to help in the wake of Sunbeam closing.
“Wesley House has taken in the majority of the Sunbeam kids. We went from 65 kids to our capacity of 90 at our Inez Martin Child Care facility. We also took on some of the Sunbeam teachers as well, so now we have nine teachers at Inez Martin, but what if two leave tomorrow? We’ll have to reduce the number of kids we serve.”
Sunbeam was also the only facility that accepted infants, a gap that continues today, Pabian added.
“Wesley House was founded by the Methodist Church, which is still very active in our organization, but we don’t require any sort of religious commitment from our teachers or the families we serve as our mission,” she said, adding that Grace Lutheran Church also worked to accommodate some of the Sunbeam kids.
But Wesley House’s Inez Martin center can’t afford to lose any kids or teachers.
“Wesley House/Inez Martin intends to be in the community for the long-term and is committed to its long standing practice of giving scholarships to help families in need, but it will need additional assistance from the community and the government,” Pabian said, adding that she and the staff at Wesley House have been in touch with Key West and Monroe County officials along with The Early Learning Coalition to come up with ideas and solutions to help the working families that are becoming an endangered species in Key West.
“The Pre-K Program at Wesley House/Inez Martin, is a Gold Seal School, providing a top tier education experience with many extras including daily meals,” Pabian said. “Our kindergarten readiness scores are at the very top. I am very proud of our program. Even with this stellar program and the backing of the Wesley House name with its benefits for employees, we must face the real issues related to housing and affordability/quality of life. That is, many Pre-K teachers and daycare workers cannot afford to live in the Keys and cannot find a home.
“We are constantly trying to find new ways to help our own employees while balancing the needs of our community,” she added. “Because of teacher/student ratios, we must send children home when staffing gets out of balance. If kids can’t attend school, parents can’t go to work. This creates a very stressful situation for everyone involved. We end up losing families, as they move away to a place they can afford. This is why other schools and daycare facilities have closed.
“We all need to bond together to address this issue,” said Pabian.
Early Learning Coalition steps in
The Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe is another organization working to tackle the problem of child care and help working families. The statewide organization stepped in following the announcement of Sunbeam’s closure and helped families find other facilities, said Laurie Dunn, the coalition’s Monroe County manager.
“We only heard about the Sunbeam closure at the same time as the parents and teachers,” said Evelio Torres, CEO of the local Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade and Monroe. “We have a number of issues in Monroe County and throughout Florida. The situation with Sunbeam reached a critical point in highlighting the difficulties of child care. Facilities need enrollment to remain financially viable, but to do that, they also need employees in a student-to-teacher ratio that meets state requirements.”
The struggle for child care comes down to the overall struggle of the Keys community — the workforce. When people can’t afford to live here, they don’t.
In addition to helping families find child care centers, the Early Learning Coalition administers a school readiness program that pays for child care for low-income families, but is unable to help most people in the Keys because the income restrictions are too strict, Torres said.
“A family of four can only earn $44,000 a year to qualify for school readiness funds,” he said. “That’s 150% of the federal poverty line. And in the Keys, very few families earn that little. They don’t earn enough to pay for child care, but they earn too much to qualify for assistance. We even hear from some families that they’re turning down raises at work so they don’t lose their child care subsidy. And if they lose that, their dollar-an-hour raise isn’t going to be enough to cover day care.”
The coalition is in the process of trying to convince state legislators to raise that income threshold, but that will take time and an act of the state congress.
“School readiness programs are an economic investment. We need to look at how we’re taking care of our families and residents. When we put support for working families in place, we’re enabling families to stay and work here in the Keys,” said Chuck Mohr, a Keys businessman and board member for the early learning coalition.
Mohr has also suggested that the coalition meet with the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association to see if they’ll help lobby state lawmakers to change the income threshold. Thousands of working parents in Florida are employed at restaurants, bars and hotels. Helping them with child care would help the entire industry, and Mohr said, the FRLA is very interested in helping to find a solution to the child care crisis in Florida.
Meanwhile, Dryer closed the termination letter he sent to all Sunbeam teachers with, “We will be in prayer for you as you search for your next place of employment.”
