Aug 01, 2024
New Fire Code Limiting Occupancy to Five
Written by: Melanee Cottrill, Executive Director, Head Start California
Last month, I wrote about a new issue many of our programs have encountered. In short, the State Fire Marshal changed the building code to restrict the number of children ages 0 – 36 months in a classroom or facility to five. This is impacting programs seeking to obtain or make major changes to their license.
In partnership with Child Care Resource Center, Kidango, the Santa Clara County Office of Education, and EveryChild California, I have been working diligently to resolve this issue as soon as possible. We have met with the Community Care Licensing Division of the Department of Social Services, the State Fire Marshall, Legislative leaders, and the Governor’s Office. We know that this is impacting our programs now and limiting enrollment; I have also apprised the Region 9 Office of Head Start of this new challenge for our members on enrollment plans.
While no resolution has yet been officially proposed, we are cautiously optimistic that a legislative solution can be identified in these last few weeks of the legislative session. If a solution is not found, we will continue working with state entities to minimize the impact until a more permanent solution can be enacted.
If this has impacted your program, please send me a brief email describing the situation, number of children impacted, and the specific impact. The more stories we have, the more pressure we can put on our state officials to resolve this issue promptly.
