The rally is scheduled to take place on Sept. 28.
Parents of Teddy Bear Academy — the Evesham Township School District’s daycare program — are headed to the New Jersey State House for a rally this Friday to petition legislators to hear their pleas to keep the local daycare program open, as well as to change the law that caused the current threat of closure.
Administrative judge Solomon Metzger ruled in late July that the Evesham Township School District was outside of their rights to run a daycare program the scope of Teddy Bear Academy.
The case was brought forward by Under the Sun, a for-profit competitor of Teddy Bear Academy, who argued that New Jersey law did not allow school districts to operate full-day daycare programs during school hours for children that were not of school age.
Teddy Bear Academy accepts children throughout the year who can be as young as 6-weeks-old though 5-years-old. Attendees can also live inside or outside of the district’s boundaries.
Currently, New Jersey Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet has until Oct. 19 to decide whether he will uphold the administrative judge’s ruling.
According to a release sent by those organizing the rally on Sept. 28, the decision will “set a precedent that will impact the entire state and similar programs.”
“If the decision is upheld, hundreds of New Jersey parents could be at risk of losing their day care services. This will not only hurt the children and their families, since quality day care is lacking across the state, and it also hurts the tax payers as state funding for schools is on a decline,” the release reads.
The rally will take place at the New Jersey State House Annex on Friday, Sept. 28, from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Families organizing the rally are inviting all local families affected by this issue to attend.
