Comments about Estrellitas on DC Schools aftercare thread not rumor

[Anonymous]

Jeff - this is a safety issue that families should be aware of. I didn't say Cristina was allowing anything to happen, I was stating the facts and saying what I would do (not send my child there). I hope this is clear enough to allow me to comment because there are MANY families who don't know the full, verifiable history.

Former LAMB Principal is Cristina Encinas - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/families-sue-top-ranked-dc-school-over-handling-of-sexually-abusive-teacher/2018/01/11/cbc04d54-f22d-11e7-b390-a36dc3fa2842_story.html
Current Operations Director at Estrellitas is Cristina Encinas - https://m.facebook.com/estrellitasmontessori/posts/2954411214883264?locale2=sw_KE
Her LinkedIn bio - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-cristina-encinas-05485663/
Email from Cristina Encinas sent to hundreds of families that have used Estrellitas at some point:


Estrellitas Montessori School Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Dear Takoma Families:

We would like to provide you with an update as promised. Unfortunately, the news is not in our favor, and we might need your help. We have had to jump a lot of hurdles to obtain the license. We have worked diligently to make sure we comply with every training, paperwork, signature, permit, additional license, etc.

It seems to me that instead of supporting us to provide more slots for quality early childhood education in Montgomery County, they continue to put obstacles.

One of the obstacles was the request of all the social security cards for our staff. They mentioned that some of the numbers have bounced back. We asked for the list of teachers whose numbers bounce back, and we are still waiting for it. I know that some talented staff is in the process of obtaining a social security card since they just obtain their work permit to work for Estrellita's some staff used an ITIN number. We asked for the regulations, they provided a law that has been in place since 2005.

I call the Regional Manager: Laurie Moran, [e-mail] and she explained to me as of yesterday they have to follow the law and that they could not give licenses to child care facilities where all the employees do not have a social security card. She added that as a director of her center "she never hired a person without a social security card because it was illegal, and she had to follow the law. I asked for the law and she mentioned the following document.

The following law was sited: https://law.justia.com/codes/maryland/2005/gfl/10-119.3.html

As an owner and Operations Director of the school, I have to provide them with my social security number and any legal paper but to assume that every single early childhood teacher working in a licensed child care facility in Montgomery country has a social security card is not realistic. However, all of our staff have been fingerprinted and background checked, and we have received their results

As you can see, this has not been easy, and we have tried it all! We have reached the Major of Takoma Park, and I will forward her this email. At this point, we are willing to talk to anybody who can make this process fair for all, and not come up with regulations that have not been implemented for all applicants. I

We also have until September 23rd, to complete the process or our application will be void. I know this is a lot of information, but many of you showed interest in supporting this application and asked what you could do. At this point, we are looking for legal advice and if you know of someone that can represent us, please let us know.

For now, we want to be responsible and give you enough time to make necessary arrangements for child care until we are fully licensed. We are going to pro-rate the tuition of September depending on how many days the license is delayed. The prorated price will be applied to the October Tuition.

We might have to open a few classrooms at a time, while we wait for the social security numbers to arrive for some of our staff. We will keep you posted!

Sincerely,

Cristina Encinas

Operations Director

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Jeff - this is a safety issue that families should be aware of. I didn't say Cristina was allowing anything to happen, I was stating the facts and saying what I would do (not send my child there). I hope this is clear enough to allow me to comment because there are MANY families who don't know the full, verifiable history.

That email actually contradicts the claim that you made that staff were not background checked. That was actually the reason I removed the post.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jeff - this is a safety issue that families should be aware of. I didn't say Cristina was allowing anything to happen, I was stating the facts and saying what I would do (not send my child there). I hope this is clear enough to allow me to comment because there are MANY families who don't know the full, verifiable history.

That email actually contradicts the claim that you made that staff were not background checked. That was actually the reason I removed the post.

That makes sense, thank you. The background check DC uses requires a SSN to complete the check, so I don't actually think that email was truthful because all of the false SSNs provided would have failed the background check. But the email was about the Maryland location and I don't know those regulations, so I guess it's possible they don't require SSNs and it's an entirely separate group of employees. I'll be more careful with phrasing to specify DC vs. MD.