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

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. In August a Federal Court judge ruled against First Path’s eviction protection.

Watertown City Manager George Proakis said that after parents from First Path spoke at the City Council meeting on Aug. 13, he met with leadership of First Path to discuss the construction at the new facility as well as the day care center’s suit against the City over permitting. An agreement was reached to extend First Path’s time at the Boys & Girls Club, he said.

“It gives a couple months of breathing room to give the possibility for the children involved here to have a place to be everyday while their parents are at work, and have daycare available to them,” Proakis said.

Max Bolyansyy, General Manager of the First Path Day Care Center, confirmed that an “understanding was reached for First Path to stay at the premises,” through Nov. 3, 2024.

“We are waiting to execute a forbearance agreement with the Boys and Girls Club in the following days that will make our understanding official,” he said. “The forbearance agreement will also permit First Path to emerge from bankruptcy much sooner than expected.”

Alan Medville, President of the Watertown Boys & Girls Club Board, said that representatives of the Boys & Girls Club and First Path recently met with City Council President Mark Sideris. He said an agreement had been reached which attorneys must be finalized before it is officially signed. The agreement includes milestones that First Path must meet.

The arrangement would mean that the Boys & Girls Club would delay the start of construction for its licensed after-school childcare program for children in grades K-3 called New Foundations.

“The WBGC Board of Directors and staff are encouraged by this — provided First Path meets all of the conditions — and hopeful we will be able to get this resolved so we can move forward with our New Foundations project to renovate the ground floor and establish a much needed licensed after-school childcare program for up to 85 children slated to open in September 2025, and First Path Daycare can move to their new building with as little interruption for the families and children they serve as possible,” Medville said. “This will be in the best interests of the children, families, and City of Watertown.”

Bolyansyy said First Path has been frustrated with the length of time it has taken to get approval from City inspectors to complete the construction. The plan is for First Path to start operating in the new location on Boyd Street in Watertown, he said.

“While First Path agreed to vacate on or before 11/3, First Path also requested Watertown Boys and Girls Club to give additional two weeks as margin of safety,” he said. “We hope that the forbearance agreement will have a provision for additional time in case of unforeseen circumstances. First Path’ families cannot have their care interrupted. If everything goes smoothly, First Path’s last day of operations at the current premises will be 11/1/24, and on 11/4/24 First Path will reopen at its new home.”