Unexpected Sugar House daycare closure leaves parents scrambling
Jan 4, 2024, 5:40 PM
Lit'l Scholars Learning Center had a Zoom meeting with their customers Wednesday night to let them know that they can't afford the rent after this month. (Canva)
(Canva)
SALT LAKE CITY — Frustrated parents were left scrambling to find new childcare options in less than a month’s time Wednesday night because their Sugar House-located daycare couldn’t afford a rent increase.
Lit’l Scholars Learning Center had a Zoom meeting with their customers Wednesday night. There, they told parents that they couldn’t afford the rent after this month. That’s forced them to close their doors at the end of January, leaving their staff without jobs and parents without childcare.
Dan Reich has had his kids enrolled in the daycare for years. He said the owners told parents their rent went up by 60%. Lit’l Scholars has been at its current location in Sugar House since 1998, according to its website.
“They started trying to negotiate at least a short-term lease from like six months or a year so that it would give them time to move the daycare to another location. Basically it just never really happened,” Reich said.
With less than a month’s notice for parents to find childcare in a state known for high demand in childcare, Reich said he’s frustrated.
“My wife and I both work. We can’t afford really to go without daycare. We don’t have family in town that has the time or ability to watch our kids full time during the day so that my wife and I can work.”
Reich said the closure has had a ripple effect for everyone involved. As he called around to other daycare centers, Reich said people on the other end of the line knew about the issue the moment he mentioned Lit’l Scholars.
“They knew you’re in this really terrible situation,” he said.
Lit’l Scholars and 108 Properties have not yet responded to KSL NewsRadio’s requests for comment.
