Parents angry over empty pre-school

A municipal spokesman said the city had acted "as required," saying it had sprayed the building with pesticide before the children arrived.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Parents from one Tel Aviv kindergarten who brought their children to a new building on the instructions of the city were amazed to discover that it was empty of furniture and smelled strongly of pesticide, reports Yediot Tel Aviv. The parents angrily questioned why the municipality seemed to be so unable to sort out its pre-school system, pointing to the well-known shortage of kindergartens around the city. According to the report, several weeks ago the Tut (Strawberry) kindergarten building in Neveh Sharett burned down, and the city quickly arranged a new temporary building for the 35 children of the kindergarten. The parents were initially pleased with the speed of the city's response, but when they brought their children to the new building, they were struck by the strong smell of pesticides, and were dismayed to discover that it was virtually empty, with no tables or chairs and with a few boxes containing toys. Some parents left their children at the kindergarten in the hope that the problem would be solved within a few hours, but others took their children home. "They should be ashamed of themselves at City Hall," one mother said. "We'd like to see them going into an empty house and letting their children eat and drink off the floor. We don't understand how a situation can be created in which the city sends children to a kindergarten that has nothing." A municipal spokesman said the city had acted "as required," saying it had sprayed the building with pesticide before the children arrived, and that all the necessary furniture and equipment was put into the kindergarten within its first two days of opening.