Caring Kids Preschool in Rifle, closed suddenly on Oct. 30, less than 24 hours after parents received an email notifying that the child care center would be closing its doors. 

An email from the center cited financial impacts, including overdue tuition balances, changes in child care demand in the area, and urgent needs for repair on the building they were using for the center. 

“Our final day of care will be tomorrow, Thursday, Oct. 30th. This decision has not been made lightly — it has come after months of evaluation, community feedback, and tremendous effort to explore every possible alternative.”

The email was sent at 2:47 p.m. on Oct. 29, giving parents less than a day to find alternative childcare. One reason cited in the email for closure is evaluating the true need for child care in the community.

“I took my oldest daughter who’s three there and my second daughter is 10 months old,” said Taylor Ferraro, a parent of a student at the center . “For the past three years, it’s really helped my family.”

Ferraro’s oldest daughter transferred to the preschool where her husband teaches. Her younger daughter, however, attended Caring Kids Preschool up until its closure.

“It was the only child care, aside from what Garfield Re-2 offers, that accepted children aged newborn to three,” Ferraro said. “My daughters went four days a week.” 

Ferraro said that rates from the facility went up on Oct. 14, paying $83 dollars a day for her youngest daughter. Then the facility closed around two weeks later. The email the parents received stated that parents could move their children to the Glenwood Springs location.

“Most importantly, we are committed to ensuring that no family is left without care and no staff member is left without employment. Over the past week, we have been working diligently with our sister center in Glenwood Springs, where we have secured spots for your children, we will honor the same tuition cost at that location that families were paying at Caring Kids Preschool. The program in Glenwood Springs is open Monday – Friday and located in a newly renovated building with new equipment and materials.”

Ferraro said that as far as she knew, none of the 35 or so parents from Rifle had moved their children to the Glenwood Springs facility. 

“Right now I have family helping me care for the children,” Ferraro said. “Others might not have that.”

Ferraro said parents from Rifle and Parachute that used the facility can’t get their children to child care in Glenwood Springs and then get to work on time. 

Ferraro also said there was no communication between the director of Caring Kids Preschool, Jennifer Knott, and the parents about necessary renovations to the building. 

Ferraro was also unsure about citing an evaluation on the true need of child care in the region as a reason to close the facility, especially with the passage of Ballot Measure 7A in Garfield County. 

Ballot measure 7A, which asked voters from Garfield, Pitkin, and Eagle Counties to approve a new early childhood service district from a special tax of .25% of sales tax, was introduced to provide child care funds for children newborn to age 5, for the purpose of making child care more affordable and easily accessible. 

The ballot measure was discussed in the Roaring Fork School District, the Garfield Re-2 School District, and the municipalities in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle counties. 

Official results of the ballot measure will be posted on Nov. 24, but as of Thursday, Nov. 7, 56% of Garfield County, 66% of Eagle County, and 67% of Pitkin County voters voted for passing ballot measure 7A. 

Ferraro is alleging that Knott hasn’t paid her employees for the last few weeks they were at work, owing around $10,000 total. 

“She said they were losing around $20,000 a month, and she told the manager to pick which employees should get paid,” Ferraro said. “The checks bounced and then the employees didn’t show up, because they didn’t want to work without being paid, and then it closed.”

Ferraro also alleges that staff were threatened by another staff member that if they spoke about any of what had transpired, they wouldn’t be able to get another job in child care. Ferraro said she received all this information in screenshots of text messages between Knott to other staff, as well as text messages received from Knott to Ferraro on Oct. 23.

“Unfortunately, we just cannot sustain any longer. We are losing about $20,000 a month,” Knott wrote to Ferraro. “I’m asking you to please give us an opportunity to communicate with our families and staff without dragging us through the mud online or with other entities.” 

Following these texts was the email to all parents on Oct. 29 informing them of the closure. 

The company that ran the Caring Kids Preschool, Access Early Education Foundation, which Knott is executive director of, has taken over Little Mavericks and Mini Mavericks in Grand Junction, renaming it Little Adventures to be under the Little Adventures company, which opened on Oct. 28. 

However, on Sept. 19, the Little Adventures Child Care Center closed abruptly in Gunnison, also run by the Little Adventures company under Knott. 

Ferraro submitted a complaint to the Colorado Department of Early Childhood and called to leave a tip to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. 

Knott has not responded for comment. 

For parents in Rifle looking for alternative child care, visit coloradoshines.com/search to find licensed daycare centers, including home-based programs.