BOSTON — Boston-area childcare providers, educators and parents participated in a virtual town hall Wednesday to discuss the struggles of providing and finding affordable and reliable childcare during the coronavirus pandemic.
The meeting held via Zoom and hosted by the Boston-area chapter of The Common Start Coalition, also featured State Rep. Adrian Madaro and Boston City Councilor Kenzie Bok, who stressed the need for better funding and support for early education in Massachusetts.
Farzaneh Pahlavan, Executive Director of the Newton School for Children, said her business closed in March and reopened in September with far less enrollment and income.
“We didn’t have all the parents returning, but I was obligated or felt obligated to bring back my employees who have been working for me for a long time,” Pahlavan said. “And at this point, even now, I can’t afford to pay myself - I work but I don’t get paid. But I brought the majority of my staff back, and I’m very happy for that.”
Boston parents expressed their challenges in both finding and affording childcare since the pandemic began and the state’s emergency orders temporarily shut down facilities.
“It’s very frustrating for me as a working mom, as a resident of the city of Boston, to learn that even in a pandemic it is hard to find affordable, safe and reliable childcare,” said Mikeya, who said she has had to consider whether to pay her rent or childcare.
Emily Balkam shared her story of trying out a nanny share among families before the pandemic hit close to home.
“In March, my husband got COVID. We stopped our childcare situation, and I had three weeks of darkness, I call it my dark time where I tried to work full time, 40 hours a week, care for my husband, care for two children,” said Balkam. “I would wake up, to try to clean things, and cry when the kids couldn’t see me. It was a dark time, actually.”
Teachers, too, are dealing with a lot of stress, including burnout from trying to get young children to wear masks, use hand sanitizer and maintain distance from one another.
The town hall host urged participants to record and send videos of their childcare struggles so they can be forwarded to local legislators in order to push for additional funding for early education.
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