Around Town

LETTER: First Path Day Care Center Moved Into New Location on Boyd Street

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First Path Day Care Center relocated to its new home at renovated historical University Prints Building on Boyd Street in Watertown that is 0.5 mile away from its old location. For over a quarter of a century First Path Day Care Center has been providing affordable high quality child care services to the Watertown’s community. We are happy that First Path that was founded in Watertown in 1998 is staying in Watertown and will continue to serve the Watertown’s families. We are grateful to everyone in the community who supported First Path, our families and our teachers during the trying transition period. First Path’s last day of operation at the old location at 25 Whites Avenue was on Nov.

Around Town

Agreement Reached to Allow Day Care to Stay in Boys & Girls Club Until New Home is Ready

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The Watertown Boys & Girls Club building also houses First Path Day Care Center. First Path Day Care Center and the Watertown Boys & Girls Club have negotiated an agreement which would allow First Path to remain in the Club’s building so that children can attend the day care while construction is finished on its new facility. The day care center has been located in the Boys & Girls Club building since 1998, but the Club has plans to expand its program so in 2021 it informed First Path that its lease would not be renewed. The lease was supposed to end on May 31, 2024, and the Club’s board gave an extension to June 30, but First Path wanted two more months to allow work on their new facility to be finished. First Path declared bankruptcy in an effort to prevent an eviction, and the Boys & Girls Club filed a motion in Federal Court to remove the eviction protection.

Around Town

Federal Judge Rules Boys & Girls Club Can Evict Day Care Center

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Watertown Cable

A Federal Bankruptcy Court judge sided with the Watertown Boys & Girls Club’s motion to allow them to evict the First Path Day Care Center from the facility on Whites Avenue. On Monday, Judge Janet E. Bostwick rejected First Path’s request for a preliminary injunction preventing the eviction, and ruled that the bankruptcy filing does not prevent the Boys & Girls Club evicting the day care center, according to a report by the Boston Globe. In the ruling, Bostwick said lease had “unequivocally expired,” according to the Globe, and that under state law any other agreements “needed to be in writing to be enforceable.” First Path has been located in the building owned by the Watertown Boys & Girls Club for 26 years, and currently serves 60 families. In December 2021, the Boys & Girls Club informed First Path that its lease would not be renewed because it seeks to expand its program into that space.

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City Manager Clarifies City’s Role in Dispute Between Day Care and Boys & Girls Club

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Watertown City Manager George Proakis. [UPDATED: The story was updated on Aug. 15 at 8 a.m. about the status of the building permit.]

City Manager George Proakis weighed in on the City of Watertown’s role in the ongoing strife between First Path Day Care Center and the Watertown Boys & Girls Club over the space leased to the daycare provider. He said he was limited in how much he could say because First Path has ongoing suits against the City. The dispute over First Path’s lease at the Watertown Boys & Girls Club became public in recent weeks, first with a letter from the Boys & Girls Club leaders saying they have plans to expand the Club’s program but the day care has not left the space after its lease expired.

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Boys & Girls Club Court Motion Seeks Eviction of First Path; This Would Shut Down Business, Day Care Rep Says

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Watertown Cable

The Watertown Boys & Girls Club has filed a motion in Federal Court seeking to evict the daycare center that has been located in its building on Whites Avenue for 26 years. Representatives of First Path Day Care Center said this would lead to the business closing and create a a crisis for its families and staff, while Boys & Girls Club representatives said they have plans for the space and have already given an extension after the lease expired. In a statement, First Path said that it has sought a new home for more than two years, and the eviction notice comes as construction on its new facility is nearly complete, said Max Bolyansyy, General Manager of the First Path Day Care Center. “The child care crisis being created by the Boys and Girls Club is completely avoidable, if they were truly interested in supporting the families and children we serve,” Bolyansyy said. “For more than a year we have been paying 50 percent more in rent to assure we were being good partners to the Boys & Girls Club.

Around Town

LETTER: First Path Day Care Center’s response to Boys & Girls Club Chairman Medville

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“WBGC has a choice to either work with First Path in a friendly manner to help it and its families through a difficult time or to continue to wave the stick of eviction over the heads of First Path’s families and staff that include infants, children with special needs, refugees from war in Ukraine and long-term day care teachers. We would like WBGC to remember the Golden Rule that we teach our children, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.”

As a local business, providing daycare services to the community of Watertown for more than 26 years, we were disappointed to read the recent Letter to the Editor from the Chair of the Watertown Boys and Girls Club (WBGC) {Boys & Girls Club Planning to Expand, Obstacle Hindering Its Efforts; July 26}. Our disappointment arises from Mr. Medville’s incorrect assertion that “now the only barrier to moving forward is First Path Daycare’s consistent failure to live up to their agreements.” In 2020, 3 years prior to its lease expiration First Path wrote to the Club in an e-mail “Our lease is expiring in 3 years. We need to plan ahead and would like to start discussing lease extension… 3 years might sound as a long time, but in reality it is short period relative to long term plans. ” Club’s reply; “Board President … will work … on developing a plan for lease negotiations.