07/19/2025
Lakeview Childcare and music grew from a Kindermusik class. In 2013, I took a leave from the public schools after 25 years as an Early Childhood Special Education teacher to create “Kindermusik plus.” This was a Kindermusik class with preschool programming. The state rule said I could teach 30 sessions a year three hours or less and not need a childcare license. They would also not give me one when I sought it out as my program was three hours and met 30 times a year. I was also teaching 12 Kindermusik classes, doing Kindermusik play dates, and co- running ProBaby,LLP which was promoting our information on the importance of tummy time and getting babies out of equipment and back on the floor and in caregivers arms.
Kindermusik classes and Get ready get set for Kindergarten classes started at Pilgrim Congregational church, to Lakeside Presbyterian, to Eastridge Church, to Concordia Lutheran Church. Each move was made as churches had their own programming and as we were growing, needed to find a home to land. We were met with challenges each time but met them and kept on growing. We became licensed by the state at Concordia Lutheran Church in 2016 to allow children with identified needs, IEPs to be able to be placed in our program and more time for families to have care. We had to have an architect, fire Marshall, and childcare licensor approve us and make appropriate changes. We became Concordia Community Arts Playcare. We were not allowed to have preschool in our name as we were under a family childcare license. At Concordia, I started teaching music lessons, continued teaching Kindermusik classes, and ran the childcare with staff. We kept our doors open during Covid and ran two programs: one for toddlers to preschoolers and one for K-2nd grade. We went through seven different licensor changes and continued on.
In July of 2021, we moved to my home on Lakeview and became Lakeview Childcare and music. We had a new fire Marshall and our licensor set up restrictions of how we needed to run Lakeview with parking, handwashing and cleaning, and were given set guidelines on capacity and made changes to our home and garage based on fire Marshall and licensing mandates as instructed by our licensor. We have been running our program now for four years at Lakeview. We have had a licensor two times to three times a year come out unannounced for relicensing, check ins, and we had an investigation that we were part of from a complaint from a family. We have worked through all of it and continued our care of children.
January 2023 became a new journey for our family as our son had a seizure which required hospitalization and a new way of life. We also had significant staff changes. In October 2023, our son had another seizure and was in a serious car accident. We decided in January of 2024 to retire and close the childcare. We wanted to make sure families had a place to go and find other care. Through this process tried to sell our house and the childcare so it could stay open and families could continue to receive care. We found this was not a viable option so began the journey of finding a teacher who could take over the program, rent and live in the house and eventually buy the house.
This puts us where we are today. We have been in transition as our daughter whom has worked for the childcare since 2018, was in our home as she is moving to the cities. Our son had recently moved out and needed storage for his tools and his transition. We were moving childcare out of upstairs to allow our new teacher to move in with her family, and we were trying to comply with square footage rules and capacity. It was summer and we were tired. We received a surprise visit from a new licensor and then a scheduled visit in which two licensors came and listed a lot of citations to us. The snapshot of Lakeview Childcare and music and years of service was deemed unsafe, messy, and immediate changes needed to be made. Lakeview has had the same set up the whole time and no licensor had expressed any concerns nor asked the questions the new licensors had done. Lakeview made the changes immediately and were evaluated by a new fire Marshall and we made all of the necessary changes. We did make choices with staff and numbers and background checks that made us be out of compliance but I was there the whole time and we provided the care needed. We fixed it all and as this was all happening, it became clear that we needed to evaluate if we should stay open and continue.
Many of the violations are extension chords for lights, eye hooks on top of doors to keep doors closed such as a paint closet in basement or Christmas closet, eye hook to keep closet door open as children could figure out child safe door k**b handle , propane powered sink ( have used whole time we were in garage as we were told to have propane outside of garage) and our licensor told us we needed running water if we were eating or changing diapers in garage. We were using compostable toilets and were making the garage space work for all. Our licensor of the four years at Lakeview has watched me wash my hands in these portable sinks, and no concerns expressed. Much of the concern is “what if?” The assumption that children will lock other children in closets and lock the bathroom door and if a child was in a closet hiding during a fire, a fireman would not think to look in a closet. We are with kids in the bathroom in the music room, during naps, while playing and moving in and out of the house. Kids need to be safe as well as programs. We believe providers need to be watching kids which is why we have adults supervising and caring for kids.
The new licensors told me that the original fire Marshall and licensor have retired and they made a mistake. We were originally told the only way to run the childcare with 14 kids and two adults was to use the garage space as it was the correct square footage. We were told we needed to use the house and could not just use the garage or it would need a separate address. We have complied. We are now being told this was wrong. DHS did not know we had detached garage. We should not have had to make changes to our house and the garage as our house and rooms were correct square footage. You were told wrong and they are retired and did not leave a paper trail so that is that. You need to prove you mainly use the house and not the garage, you could build a walkway from garage to house and connect them so it is considered one house, you cannot have renter upstairs and childcare downstairs unless you create separate heating system, and if you have renter upstairs her children are part of caseload of childcare ratios even if she is not working. If you teach piano or Kindermusik even if not in the same space ( childcare in garage or outside and Kindermusik inside) you have to count them as part of your childcare ratio. The list goes on and we are not going to build a walkway between the house and garage. I am also not going to stop teaching piano or music lessons or Kindermusik.
We have decided to close Lakeview Childcare and music on August 22, 2025. We will provide our best care and efforts to our children enrolled this summer. All of our families have found other care and we will move on to our next journey. We are grateful for all of the families that have been in our care and worked together with us for all of these years. We thank Jen Hren, Haley Kubiski, Morgan Morse, Anna Escobedo, Jon Carlson, and Alece Carlson who dedicated to the program. Thank you to Connor Carlson and Ed Wrazidlo who helped build and create our program at Lakeview. Thank you to Andy Olson for keeping us safe and teaching us how to keep our program safe with our fire extinguishers, and other rules we need to follow. Our mission was to to provide care to children. Thank you to all who have helped us do that. I moved to Minnesota in July of 1985 and started my early childhood career. It is hard to believe that it has been 40 years. It is not the end but another chapter and new beginning.
With all my best to everyone and know that we want what is best for all!
Cheers and love,
Mrs. Cindy
