Save Maple Leaf Preschool in Basel Stadt

Petition to stop the abrupt and unfair closure of Maple Leaf Preschool
www.savemapleleaf.org
We, the undersigned, parents, staff and supporters of Maple Leaf Preschool, believe that the decision to revoke the daycare licensing permit for Maple Leaf Preschool by the Abteilung Tagesbetreuung under Cornelia Conzelmann is based on vague unsubstantiated rumors and allegations that have not been properly investigated.

We adamantly deny that a "culture of pressure" exists at Maple Leaf.
The only reason for closure of the school cited in the Basler Zeitung article about the closing by Claudia Kocher was a "culture of pressure" on children that was never observed by us. The children have experienced excellent care at Maple Leaf and we have never witnessed a single instance of abuse or neglect.

We Demand:
1. That Maple Leaf Preschool remain open during the appeals process
The children are happy and well cared for at Maple Leaf, and to so abruptly remove them from their daily caregivers would be cruel.

It is also unprecedented in our experience. In a 2005 private daycare closure announcement by the Erziehungsdepartement, Schnдggehuus daycare was allowed to remain open after Cornelia Conzelmann's boss, Christoph Eymann, announced it would close with just over a month's notice to parents. He also gave no reason for closing the facility to parents at the time, according to reports. After seven months, an appellate court found that the closure was not jusitified. Schnдggehuus daycare was open in Basel without incident for twelve years before it was targeted by the Erziehungsdepartement.

There are no emergencies, physical or emotional, that prompted this closure announcement and would warrant removing children from the care of Maple Leaf

2. That a through, well sourced investigation into these unfounded allegations be conducted immediatelyIn the Basler Zeitung article, Behцrden machen Tagesheim dicht, it was stated that all of the complaints were "identical" and that was the primary reason for the closure. These assertions were also made to parents who called the Abteilung Tagesbetreuung.

Maple Leaf was not informed of the impending investigation and given the opportunity to address and remedy the supposed sition.

The quick nature of this closure and the fact that little or no supporting documentation has been provided suggest that the Abteilung Tagesbetreuung has not done the necessary work to justify this abrupt closure.

To close Maple Leaf based on a handful of complaints after 11 years would be a gross abuse of the power of the Erziehungsdepartement in Basel Stadt.