By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Parents and Smart Start Child Care staff members continue to search for a way to keep kids and caregivers together after the center shuts down next week.

More than 30 parents met at the Mount Auburn Avenue day care center Thursday night to discuss their options. Because staff members and children have bonded through the years and because little or no care for infants and toddlers is available in Lewiston-Auburn, parents and staff had hoped to open their own day care center. But Thursday, parents learned that many available buildings simply aren’t up to state day care standards, said Roland Davis, father of an 8-month-old and 3-year-old.

Some churches had offered their buildings, but they did not have a state-mandated sprinkler system. Other spaces had sprinklers, but they were not on the first floor, as the state requires for infant care, Davis said.

“We keep running into roadblock after roadblock,” Davis said.

Staff members continue to check out other facilities, including churches and private buildings. They have less than a week to find a place. Smart Start is scheduled to close next Friday.

Smart Start opened in 1989 in a Mount Auburn Avenue building leased from the Auburn School Department. Jaime Bolduc, who also owns Lever’s Day Care Centers, bought Smart Start in 2003. The child-care center serves nearly 70 children and is one of the few Lewiston-Auburn facilities that accepts infants and toddlers.

Parents have been told that Bolduc had a disagreement with the School Department on the condition of the building and could not stay open in the face of maintenance and other costs.

Copy the Story Link