Ten kindergartens in Vilnius will not work in the summer

“I’m a single mom and I don’t have any help to look after my five-year-old daughter all summer. Her ex-husband invites her over only every second or third weekend, and my parents live in another city. By the way, they are still working, not retired. I myself also have to work, I cannot do my work remotely. I planned to go on vacation this summer for just one week – in July,” Kristina described the situation.

Her five-year-old daughter has been attending the “Skroblinukas” nursery school in the capital’s Naujamiestis micro-district since the age of two. The woman mentioned that the message she received scared her also because in previous summers the preschool was open as usual.

“I remember being very surprised by the teacher’s question in the first year – she asked all parents if they were going to send their children to kindergarten in the summer as well. I’m thinking, wow, not everyone has jobs where they can afford to take the entire summer off. Then I saw that the number of children really decreased, so the groups were combined,” shared the girl from Vilnius.

The letter sent by the kindergarten administration reads: “We are excited to inform you that Skroblinukas nursery school is scheduled to be closed from June 1 due to large-scale replacement of main pipelines. until August 31 We will inform you about more precise deadlines later. <...> We will offer families who still need kindergarten services to temporarily visit other kindergartens in the microdistrict.”

Kristina said that she will probably have to take advantage of the opportunity and ask her daughter to be admitted to another kindergarten in the summer, but she is worried about it: “I will be very worried about how my daughter will adapt to a new team, without her beloved teachers. But I have nowhere to go – no one will give me such a vacation, and I have no other alternatives.”

Parents of kindergarten children attending the nursery-kindergarten in Žvēryne also received the same letter – about the fact that the kindergarten will be closed for the whole summer, the father of the three-year-old Kęstutis told the editorial office. The man said that the news initially disrupted the family’s summer plans, but eventually managed to change them.

“We have another son, he is about to finish the sixth grade. We have planned a couple of day camps for the older one, and anyway, he is already big and the best summer for him is in the yard with his friends, so we were not worried. We planned to send the youngster to kindergarten for a couple of months, because we will all be on vacation together for a couple of weeks, and the grandparents are going to take a vacation with the grandchildren for another couple of weeks, – Kęstutis shared the initial plans. – After receiving the letter from the kindergarten, we immediately decided that our son was still too young to send him to another kindergarten for a while, and we still remember the difficult period of his adaptation. My wife and I decided to take turns working from home, and my grandparents also promise to help.”

After contacting both kindergartens, it was confirmed that their doors will be closed for the entire summer, because the repair work of replacing the main pipes is planned. These works are very necessary for the high-quality functioning of kindergartens, the administration employees assured.

Kindergarten representatives hope for the understanding and focus of the communities and apologize for the inconvenience.

“For families who still need kindergarten services during the specified period, we will offer them to visit other institutions temporarily during the repair. We understand this inconvenience and parents’ concerns, but we hope that the replaced pipelines will serve for a long time and with high quality,” read the responses sent by both kindergartens.

Parent surveys are currently being conducted regarding children’s attendance during the summer. The administrations assured that they will take into account the needs of each family and child and ensure the opportunity to attend kindergarten.

If there are any questions or uncertainties, parents are asked to contact the institution’s administration.

This summer, replacement and repair works of main pipes are planned in ten preschool educational institutions in Vilnius. Because of them, from June 3 until August 30 kindergartens “Eglutė”, “Gandriukas”, “Krivūlė”, “Lakštingala”, “Lokiukos giraitė”, “Ozas”, “Pagrandukas”, “Skroblinukas”, “Spygliukas” and “Vaidilutė” will be temporarily closed.

The municipality also ensures that parents of children attending institutions will be offered to temporarily take their children to other institutions. Currently, surveys of parents are being conducted, which aim to find out more precisely the need to attend kindergartens in the summer. The situation of each family will be assessed individually, thus ensuring the most appropriate temporary decision regarding attendance at the preschool institution, Gabrielius Grubinskas, media relations specialist of the Vilnius City Municipality assured.

Also, in most other kindergartens, renovation works will take place in the summer according to individual needs: roofs, external walls, kitchens, groups, stairwells, sanitary units will be repaired, institutions will be adapted for people with disabilities, the environment will be managed, he named the planned works. So far, the municipality has not received requests from the heads of these institutions to limit the educational process or to temporarily transfer children to other institutions, but if such a need arises, it will also be ensured, said the representative of the municipality.