William Seklar emailed the parents of the ECC (Early Childhood Center) at The Community House in Birmingham, Michigan on April 1, 2021 to notify us that several reports had been posted online by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). These reports center around special investigations into disturbing allegations that took place in two different ECC classrooms and as a result, The Community House has been placed on a provisional license. The Detroit Free Press published an article detailing these investigations on April 19th.

Link to the infant room report: https://childcaresearch.apps.lara.state.mi.us/Home/ViewReport/280003

Link to the preschool room report: https://childcaresearch.apps.lara.state.mi.us/Home/ViewReport/279586

As the parent of a child who was in the infant room at the time of the investigation, these allegations were troubling. I emailed William Seklar about my concerns the day the article was published and he agreed to meet with me, in-person, right away. Our meeting was not productive and I left with more concerns than I had going in.

During our meeting, he claimed that he spoke to nine teachers in early December (“at least one from each classroom,” as he pointed out). He was very careful not to call it an investigation, as that would interfere with the ongoing LARA investigation. Based on his conversations, he decided to let five teachers go — however, he was very adamant that none of the teachers he spoke to gave any indication that there were any issues in the infant room, which was the only report I asked him about, as my daughter’s time in that room overlapped with the investigation.

This was supposed to be reassuring, but based on the LARA report, three separate staff members described witnessing very similar issues with the infant room teacher in question when interviewed by the LARA investigator, meaning one of two things: 

1) William Seklar is lying to parents of children that may have been impacted by this mistreatment

or 

2) The environment/culture is so toxic that the teachers and staff still don’t feel they can be honest with him.

Based on the LARA reports, I assume that it’s the latter, as one teacher indicated she did not report the incidents because she feared <redacted name>. Based on my interaction with him, which can best be described as aggressive and bullying, one can only imagine how he treats his paid staff. He pointed out that the entire management team has been replaced since these incidents; however, that is rather conveniently untrue: He is still president/CEO.

The only way to improve the toxic environment that William Seklar has created/allowed and repair the tarnished reputation of the ECC at The Community House is to say that bullying will not be tolerated and remove him from his position. I reached out to a board member shortly after my meeting with him, and implored her to take it to the board as a vote, but I have not heard back. While my family is no longer a part of TCH*, there are some truly amazing teachers there. The ones who have been with my daughter since December are incredible, and it was a joy to see her blossom in their care, but I worry that William Seklar’s continued presence leaves the staff afraid to speak up when they see an issue. This puts all of the ECC children at risk and badly damages the reputation of a program that has been so highly regarded for such a long time. It is my hope that, by speaking up and making his response to all of this public, the board will have no choice but to vote for his removal.

*In case William Seklar attempts to paint me as a disgruntled parent, just as he attempted to dismiss the complaints filed with the state resulting in a licensing change for the ECC as a former employee with an axe to grind, my interaction with William Seklar prompted my husband, who was unable to attend the meeting, to write him an email addressing his thoughts on William Seklar’s leadership and the situation he had created at the ECC. We received a response several hours later, letting us know that the executive leadership team had decided it was in everyone’s best interest for us to separate, effective immediately. We agreed with this decision, as we were already making plans to remove our daughter from the program, due to my concerns regarding William Seklar.