The OCFS continues to communicate with us inconsistently and with no purpose, direction, or resolution. Despite their request for yet another meeting, and our willingness to oblige under the condition that it is in-person with relevant OCFS members who are authorized and capable of making change, they have backtracked and now want local OCFS supervisors present for the meeting with the executives attending via WebEx. This was our response to them this AM:

As mentioned in our original e-mail from November 30th, 2023, we have already had pocket meetings with our respective regional managers to address these concerns for years with zero changes which is why we are attempting to engage with the OCFS executive team.  We repeated in our response to Nora on 12/6/23 that “we have been expressing concerns and having meetings statewide for years with no resolution.”  We are not interested in another fruitless meeting with [local regional supervisors] and members of [their] staff as they do not have the authority to make these changes.

On 12/6/23, Nora Yates responded to our formal requests for change with “[…] I would like an in-person meeting to address your concerns, but understanding that your members may be across the state.  I will send a follow up email with my assistant’s information who can assist with scheduling and we can arrange a location that is convenient for members.”  

On 12/15/23, Erin Cassidy discussed scheduling an in-person meeting.

On 12/19/23, Barbara DuVal discussed scheduling an in-person meeting.

To restate our position, as clearly outlined in our first response to Nora’s on 12/5/23, “[…] Though our requests are already very clear and reasonable, and we have demonstrated that our concerns are widespread and have been thoroughly discussed statewide for years, we are agreeable to an in-person meeting, if necessary.” We stated in our e-mail to Nora on 12/6/23 that “The only acceptable way to address our “concerns” is with the specific action making the clear changes we have described.  At an additional meeting, we will only be repeating and reiterating our requests in this email correspondence and the issues that have been expressed at the meetings referenced in the 11/30/23 e-mail.”

On 12/11/23, Nora asked for “more details […] on the subject of the meeting.”  We responded on 12/16/23 with a full agenda and pre-work as requested.  We answered on 1/4/24 with a headcount.  Barbara is again asking for a headcount and agenda items.

We have not been asking for an in-person meeting, you have.  We have been asking for clear, reasonable, actionable change.  The message from the NYS Childcare Owners has been, and continues to be clear, repetitive, and consistent.  The message from the NYSOCFS has been, and continues to be, contradicting, non-committal, and dismissive.  We are busy, hardworking business owners that support your careers and we need to see respect, attention, support, and concerted effort to rectify these injustices. 

If the same amount of effort was spent considering our valid points and reasonable requests as is spent asking for our contact information and scheduling meetings, we could have moved mountains together by now.  We are asking you, as real people who share common goals and interests in the same industry, to LISTEN to us and stop trying to pacify us.  Our conversations with the OCFS continue to go nowhere for years because reality and truth is falling on bureaucracy and deaf ears.  

We have explained and demonstrated the existing problems with the state of the industry, we have proven that there is a widespread consensus that these issues exist and need to be addressed with our petition, we have explained and provided the justification for our requested changes through real-life examples, and we have provided the specific changes to make with attachments and relevant documents.  You have all you need to provide a response and address these concerns.  If you want a meeting for us to re-explain further, we want an in-person meeting with the appropriate change-markers from the OCFS executive team who are prepared to look us in the eye, listen to what we are saying, and commit to making these necessary changes.  

Otherwise, you have enough information to respond or make these changes without further debate.

NYS Childcare Owners