DAY-CARE DILEMMA CENTER'S CLOSING UPSETS PARENTS.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

CHATSWORTH - Barbara Andrews grips her daughter's hand and leads her out of day care, knowing that soon Sarah won't be coming back.

Sarah has been attending the Washington Mutual Child Care Center for nearly all of her three years. Her mother loved the center, praising its staff of 30 teachers. But in two months, Sarah and 112 other children won't have the center; Washington Mutual has decided to shutter the popular day-care facility Dec. 31.

``I have no problem with Washington Mutual's decision to close, it's their business,'' Andrews said. ``But it's the style. If they'd told us they were contemplating closing it before the school year started, we would have been sad, but thanked them and looked somewhere else ... (but) since they started subsidizing this place, they have a moral responsibility to these kids.''

Parents are now scrambling to line up replacement centers, jockeying for a small number of spots in an already crowded market. Furious that they weren't given more notice, parents are trying to both console their children at the same time they find a new day-care place.

The center, on Nordhoff Place near Corbin Avenue, dates back more than a decade, opened by Great Western Bank for its employees and surrounding community members. Washington Mutual took it over in 1997 when it acquired the bank, contracting with day-care provider Bright Horizons Family Solutions to run classes. Early in its history, it began accepting children from the surrounding community, who now make up the bulk of attendees.

Currently, 30 children of Washington Mutual employees attend the center, with the other 83 coming from the surrounding community. Employees pay a slightly reduced rate, $600 to $900 monthly, depending on the age of their child, while unaffiliated parents pay $700 to $1,000 monthly.

Though parents criticize Washington Mutual, bank spokesman Tim McGarry defended its actions.

He noted that the bank spends $800,000 a year subsidizing the day-care's operations, and though 30 children of employees are able to attend, the bulk of its 60,000 employees are based out of the region. In the interest of fairness, Washington Mutual elected to transfer the $800,000 to pay for health care programs available to all workers.

``The people here have been attacking Washington Mutual with the standard and simplistic cry of corporate greed, but that accusation does not fit the facts,'' McGarry said. ``We're trying to make things fairer for all employees.''

Company-sponsored child-care operations are fairly common in the corporate world, with most major movie studios offering them locally, along with Amgen Inc., California State University, Northridge, and Northridge Hospital Medical Center. Though it adds a charge to the balance sheet, experts said companies generally recoup the costs with less employee absenteeism and reduced staff turnover.

``Research has shown on a large scale, for a large corporation, that corporate child care does provide enough stability in the work force that it's financially desirable to (offer it),'' said Alyse Akers, a professor of family and consumer sciences at CSUN. ``You need to have an administration that understands that and that an employee who's not worried about child care will be much more productive.''

Though the economic troubles of recent years have caused companies to scale back on other benefits, employers have largely left child care alone, said Renee Mula, director of the Employee Services Management Association, a trade group of human-resources professionals.

``It's not a trend at all,'' she said. ``Many of them are actually expanding, because they have waiting lists. It's a huge blow to morale, so I'm surprised they'd do this.''

In the past five years, Bright Horizons has seen strong growth in its number of corporate centers nationwide. Last year saw its biggest growth, adding 75 new centers to bring its total to 465, according to its annual report. The same filing also shows the company does business with more than 400 clients, including Bank of America, Starbucks and Wachovia Securities.

McGarry didn't disagree that corporate child care is a good idea, but said it wasn't feasible to continue for only a small group of its employees.

``The Dec. 31 date was chosen because that was when the contract with Bright Horizons expires,'' McGarry said. ``We looked at the possibility of extending the operations an additional six months, but have determined that it is not a practical operation.''

Kathleen Malaske-Samu, director of the office of child care for the Los Angeles County chief administrative office, said the closure will throw parents up against waiting lists of up to 12 months. Though there are 41 licensed child-care providers in the area, placing the children on short notice will be tricky.

Washington Mutual contracted the Van Nuys-based Child Care Resource Center to track down spaces at other centers throughout the area. After parents received notification a week ago, seven parents have contacted the service, with three finding new slots.

The search has left Saul Molina's son, Bryant, in tears. The 5-year-old has been attending for two years, honing art skills and making friends. The production manager has tried to explain to his son that he'll have to make new ones, but can't get the message across.

``As parents, we'll do whatever it takes to keep it open, but they won't give us six more months,'' said Molina, whose 3-year-old, Bryana, also attends the center.

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Barbara Andrews walks her daughter, Sarah, from the Washington Mutual Childcare Center, set to close at year's end.

(2 -- color) Saul Molina worries that his children will have trouble adjusting when the Washington Mutual Childcare Center closes.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photograph