Business

Town Trying to work with daycares to uphold their reputations

By Chelsea Rice

BROOKLINE—Waiting for their parents to pick them up from daycare, a group of 10 toddlers on a recent afternoon on the stoop of a Pleasant Street apartment, unaware that their fun day violated town bylaws.

Family daycare facilities such as this one operate out of private residences all over the town. When Alex Shabelsky, an owner of a family daycare, proposed to change the town's zoning bylaws this fall at a Planning Board meeting, the town discovered that 10 state-licensed large family daycares have been violating the town's regulations for years because Brookline does not allow the large daycares, which care for 10 children, versus the six children town limit.

Owners of daycare centers feel that the town should regulate these large family daycares, which are run out of people’s homes, for the safety of the children.

“[Daycare is] something people need,” said Etty Brown, owner of Etty’s Early Child Development Center on Dwight Street. “But without regulations, everyone would go crazy.”

Because of a demand, the state regulations changed in 2003 to allow facilities zoned as large family daycares to have 10 children with two attendants, instead of only six children with one attendant.

Massachusetts did not inform the towns of the regulation change, but continued to distribute licenses to daycares in Brookline that were not zoned by the town to have more than six children, said Jeff Levine, the director of Planning and Community Development .

This week, the Board of Selectmen will discuss this disconnect and Shabelsky’s petition, Warrant Article 14, to match the town's regulations with the state's.

“Those people licensing, as much as I am aware, are following the regulations of the state, and always have been,” said Nancy Witherell at the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education.

The facilities outside of the town’s bylaws worry they will have to close if Warrant Article 14 does not pass at the Board of Selectmen’s meeting this week.

“The petitioner [Shabelsky] may not have realized what he’s gotten into,” said Selectman Betsy DeWitt.

“Now, in the middle of the year, over 60 families could lose care providers and employees will lose jobs,” said Shabelsky, who owns a large family daycare on Hammond Street. “When I took a petition around for this change, only one [family daycare] provider would sign it, because they are afraid.”

Because selectmen are concerned that the state may not be inspecting the larger facilities adequately, an 18-month provision is proposed to allow these facilities time to register have their facilities inspected for the four-child increase, which would take into consideration the concerns of the neighborhood higher safety standards, said officials.

“The goal is not to put people out of business but to provide stability for transition,” DeWitt said.

This grace period would also allow the daycare centers avoid challenges when they apply for new licenses with the state.

“I don’t think they were trying to consciously get around the town; it was simply a change in the state law and the town not catching up with it,” said Levine.

Immigration

Senior Center Reaches out to Chinese Population

By Chelsea Rice

BROOKLINE—At the Brookline Senior Center on a recent Monday afternoon, multiple tables on the center’s two floors are packed with Mah jongg games, a popular past time here. The recently opened center hosts the traditional Chinese game of strategy and chance weekly as a part of its Asian Outreach program.

In cooperation with Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center, the center provides informational programs to make sure its Chinese community, the largest ethnic minority in the town, remains informed about important issues, such as health care.

“A lot of [elderly Chinese] come for more social things, then when they feel comfortable, they think of us as a safe place to come and ask questions about more difficult things, like health care,” said Judith Gimble, the center’s newsletter editor.

Since the state has tried to mandate state-wide coverage for health insurance in 2006, officials at the Council on Aging said it is even more pressing for seniors to understand their healthcare programs, medications and insurance policies.

In a 2001 study by the Brookline Public Health department, 57 percent of 177 senior Chinese immigrants said they “experienced language difficulties when using health care services.”

The Brookline Senior Center, began its Asian Outreach Program in 2001—when it opened its new Winchester Street facility—to help its elderly Chinese community understand and adjust to life in the United States.

“Even for people who understand English, it is all too much for the elderly because of all the changes in the healthcare and insurance,” said Lili Mei, the program’s director. “We [the staff] even have to update on a daily basis for our own knowledge.”

Bilingual case managers and social workers visit the senior center every week. Understanding insurance policies and medication are the main questions the Golden Age Center’s case managers address, Mei said.

“They [Chinese immigrants at the Senior Center] are very polite and appreciative, and they are comfortable with me,” said Grace Fung, a bilingual case manager who has worked with the Asian Outreach program for seven years.

During her weekly visits to the center, Fung calls doctors to schedule or cancel appointments, helps fill out paperwork and translates insurance policy statements for the elderly Chinese.

“We would’ve loved to pay for a full time Asian Outreach worker,” said Ruthann Dobeck, the director of the Council on Aging. “But we have a lot of volunteers to fill in the gaps.”

Blood pressure screenings with bilingual nurses are held at the Senior Center each month along with conversational English classes.

Although the program director noted an increase in the services available for the Chinese in Brookline, Mei would like to see the community develop language programs for other minorities.

“There is still a lack of translation services around, and mainly only one language [Chinese] provided,” she said.

Recently, the center has recruited bilingual student volunteers from Brookline High School. The volunteers visit the elderly at their homes to help with errands and housework. During the winter, when it is more difficult for seniors to travel, help with health care is always available by phone, Dobek said.

Crime

"Carelessness could reverse downward trend of Car Thefts"

By Chelsea Rice

BROOKLINE—The police department attributes the recent decrease in motor vehicle theft and an increase in larceny this year to a change in criminals' thinking and residents’ carelessness. They are more likely to steal the items on the dashboard than the car these days, said Chief Daniel C. O'Leary. Which he said is even easier because more people are carelessly leaving their cars unlocked.

The Brookline Police Department reported a 26 percent decrease in motor vehicle thefts from 2006 to 2007, but a 22 percent increase in theft, of which 31 percent were motor vehicle break-ins. In the 2007 crime report, the police department attributes the spike in thefts to an increase in car break-ins.

Residents said the statistics reflect their personal experiences.

Even though there was a higher trend of car thefts in the past, Sandra Gail, a 56-year-old Brookline resident of 20 years, said they are more likely to steal things on the car—her hubcaps were stolen a couple of years ago.

"But I've always felt perfectly safe," Gail said.

Stephanie Albero, a junior at Simmons College, had her car stolen three years ago, and when it was retrieved, everything in the car, her first-aid kit, money, had been stolen, but neither she nor her roommate who also have cars, have since had an incident.

"There is a prevalence of electronic devices that are so easy to transport that people leave in their cars," O'Leary said. "It is easier for [criminals] to get rid of GPSes and laptops, especially when people are leaving their cars unlocked."

Lea Cohen, a real estate agent who lives in Brookline and works along Beacon Street, had her old Honda Accord broken into five years ago in Brookline. She said she parks her new car, a luxury vehicle, on the street and accidentally left it unlocked recently.

"Obviously I think Brookline is very safe," Cohen said.

From 1996 to 2004, Brookline exceeded 100 vehicle thefts or attempted thefts each year. In 2007, it ranked far below the national average, which had 279 car thefts or attempted thefts per 100,000 people, according to the U.S. Department of Justice statistics. Brookline, with a population of more than 50,000 in the 2000 Census, and only 47 car thefts last year, is at least four times lower than the national average.

Although the most recent statistics from the first half of the year show that vehicle thefts are up to 14 in comparison with nine from this time last year, O'Leary said he isn't concerned because of how minor the increase is so far.

"The new anti-theft devices make it too difficult to steal the car," O'Leary said of the national decrease in car thefts. "They almost need a tow truck."

Education

Brookline Freezes Hiring in Response to State Budget Cuts

By Chelsea Rice

BROOKLINE— Runkle School principal David Summergrad has missed the district’s data analyst. The woman who used to provide the principal and other school officials with quick test results and specifics on student performance moved last March, and the position remains vacant, like a growing number of other positions in the school system.

Responding to $3 million cuts in the state's school budgets this week, Superintendant Bill Lupini froze hiring yesterday for positions outside the classroom. The freeze coincides with this week's decrease in funding for Circuit Breaker, a special education program, and Metco, which transports inner-city children to schools in Brookline.

"The first state cuts affect the school systems throughout the state only in a relatively small way," said Alan Morse, the finance liaison for the Brookline School Committee. "It will affect our special education cost and we were looking for an increase in funding for our Metco program, and that will probably not happen."

The Circuit Breaker program pays for the needs of students with medical and learning disabilities by transporting them to specialized schools where the tuition can cost $100,000, and providing teaching and medical aides make their participation in regular school possible. Officials say the contingency fund set up by the school system, which is set aside in the budget for unexpected cases, will now be used to cover the cuts made by the state in this program.

"I think we are absorbing the cut right now," said Summergrad, principal of Runkle School in Fisher Hill, which runs an Autism Spectrum program with more than 30 children. "That money we put aside for 'just in case', we are now having to use."

The hiring freeze and budget cuts won’t affect the majority of classrooms or class sizes yet, said Peter Rowe, deputy superintendent for Administration and Finance. The hiring freeze does not affect teachers, but it will freeze open positions at the administrative, maintenance, and clerical positions through the school system, Rowe said.

"The forces are all pushing though," Morse said. "It is difficult because the population of kids is growing, which requires us to hire more teachers—unless we increase class sizes, which the citizens don't want us to do."

Kindergarten classes have grown 25% over the past four years, according to the Brookline Public School statistics.

"We've defined [the hiring freeze] as a review of all positions and a freeze on non-classroom positions," said Rowe. "Direct classroom positions we have to fill, we don't really have a choice [because of community's priority to maintain small classroom sizes]."

Metco, a state-funded program which expected an increased budget this year, will not receive increases and will also have to tighten its budget by $80,000. The program, established in 1966, helps 300 inner-city children attend Brookline schools.

Transportation for Metco will probably face the most cuts, especially buses from after-school programs. This will avoid affecting the students' school days, but will limit their access to after-school activities.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we won't be looking at significant cuts or layoffs,” said Summergrad. “Hopefully three or four months from now it may all go back to normal.”