La Palma parents say the city-run daycare program is mismanaged and treats the employees poorly – an issue many residents have raised for months.
Yet city officials – including a majority of city council members – aren’t publicly saying much about the issue.
Earlier this month, dozens of La Palma residents showed up to City Hall calling out city officials for ignoring their concerns.
It’s gotten to the point where some employees have left.
Misty Torres – who ran the city’s “Tiny Tots” toddler program for nearly seven years – said she is not coming back.
“As you can see behind me, I worked hard to bring this community together. As a city employee, don’t you want that dedication from your staff?” Torres said during the April 1 city council meeting.
At the meeting, several parents gave their testimony about the importance of the toddler program to the La Palma community.
But some parents said that they felt city leaders were outright ignoring concerns about La Palma’s Tiny Tots program.
“I can tell that it’s not being taken seriously because Mr. Conal McNamara, the city manager, is texting during a heartfelt address from the parent in front of us.” said Chris Louie, a lifelong La Palma resident who had enrolled his children in the city’s toddler program.
McNamara was appointed to serve as the next city manager for Whittier on March 25 – although the city of La Palma decided to make the announcement public a week later during the city’s monthly council meeting.
After the meeting, McNamara clarified in an email that he will be serving as La Palma’s city manager until May 1.
In the same email, he also said that several residents approached him regarding the Tiny Tots program to address communications to residents and safety concerns in the classroom – meeting with a group of parents twice at City Hall in early March for about four hours.
“We as council members always want to take care of our residents,” Councilwoman Janet Keo said at the April 1 city council meeting. “Transparency is very important and we always want to welcome people if they want to know anything about what’s going on, and my door is always open.”
In a text message, Keo said that “residents should feel comfortable bringing any issues to the City Manager’s office so we can address them appropriately and maintain the high standards our community deserves.”
As for future youth programming in the city, she added “investing in our young people is one the most important ways we can strengthen our community’s future.”
The rest of La Palma City Council – Mayor Mark Waldman, Councilwoman Debbie Baker and Councilmen Nitesh Patel and Vikesh Patel – did not respond to phone calls or email requests for comment.
Residents Shining a Light Toward City Hall
In an interview outside of council chambers, Torres said she decided to leave due to the poor working conditions at the daycare center, particularly after sharing concerns last January about being overworked and receiving poor treatment from other city staff.
“Every time I said something, it just got worse and worse for me,” Torres said, adding it was this way until her last day on Feb. 25.
She continued, “I just didn’t want to let the kids and parents down. They pay for me to teach and help their kids grow, and that was a big reason why I stayed.”
In La Palma, the toddler program – known as Tiny Tots – is a daycare program that runs year round, Monday through Thursday for children of the ages three to five.
For Chloe Janioan – a La Palma resident for the past six years – the issues with the city run deeper than the daycare center.
Janioan, like other residents, approached the city and publicly spoke out in March against the workplace environment and general safety concerns of the Tiny Tots program.
In a phone interview, she said some of the issues of the program included low staffing, classroom size, and city employees not receiving breaks or lunches. The room in which the program is held also lacks a phone line.
But after meetings with city officials last month – which included La Palma’s city manager – Janioan said things didn’t go well.
She said that “multiple people in the city have told us to just leave the class if we’re unhappy,” following meetings with city staff. “That’s what those leaders have told us.”
“At this point, nobody is helping us,” Janioan said.
Raising the Next Generation: What’s The Future Look Like in La Palma?
For some La Palma residents, the daycare program has played a crucial part in raising their children.
Jasmine Ng, a mathematics professor at El Camino College in Torrance, said in a phone interview she relies heavily on the daycare program to help care for her children while she works.
Ng, who has two daughters – a four-year-old and six-year-old – had both gone through the Tiny Tots program.
But now, she isn’t as confident about the direction of the city’s toddler program, particularly due to the lack of transparency among La Palma city leaders.
“To be honest, I’m not quite sure what’s going on because everything is so vague,” Ng said.
La Palma is one of the last two cities in Orange County to not live stream city council meetings, along with Rancho Santa Margarita.
[Read: Why Won’t Officials in Two OC Cities Video Livestream Their Public Meetings?]
Ng said that she’d like to see city officials investigate the complaints of current and former employees as it relates to poor working conditions.
She’d also like to see more done by her elected officials.
“If they’re not going to thoroughly investigate what’s going on and try to fix the city, then I’m not voting for them the next time any one of them is up for reelection.”
Some La Palma residents are already losing faith in their elected officials.
At the April 1 city council meeting, Daniel – a lifelong La Palma resident with two daughters – spoke outside of council chambers with a Voice of OC reporter. He agreed to only give his first name in fear of facing backlash from city officials.
For Daniel, the Tiny Tots program that was once led by Torres – who is no longer running the program – was “not just a daycare.”
But now, he said that recent events at city hall “opened my eyes” to the priorities of city leaders, later continuing “the vision and support for this community just isn’t there.”
“It’s disturbing, once you dig into some of the selfishness and perhaps greed.”
Correction: An earlier version of the story stated La Palma’s Tiny Tots program runs in the summer. The toddler program in the city runs all year round. We regret the error.
Hugo Rios is a Voice of OC reporting fellow. Contact him at hugo.toni.rios@gmail.com or on Twitter @hugoriosss.
