DENVER — Cait Fallon is one of dozens of Denver-area parents now scrambling to find new child care.
Her two-year-old daughter goes to Guidepost Montessori in Parker.
“It's the only daycare that she's ever known,” she told Denver7 on Tuesday.
But on Monday, parents received an email from Guidepost announcing that all of its Colorado locations are shutting down due to “financial and enrollment challenges.”
"This decision was not made lightly, and was made only after careful consideration of all possible alternatives,” the email reads, which says the financial issues “have made the long-term viability of our Colorado schools unachievable.”
The message said the Parker location is set to close on March 7.
“We're getting four weeks to find somewhere that not only has availability, or will have availability, hopefully, but that is good quality, and that it has the same values that we want to see for our daughter,” Fallon said, expressing frustration with the short notice.
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The decision only further highlights the challenge of finding child care in Colorado, which can be highly competitive. Fallon said they were able to find a spot with Guidepost near her daughter’s birth, after a five-month stay on a waitlist.
“We were speaking with some schools that had wait lists over a year in advance,” she recalled. “I mean, these are people who are securing places in line before they even know that they're pregnant.”
Quality care can also be very expensive.
“Childcare costs more than our mortgage does,” Fallon said. “Guidepost Montessori is markedly more expensive than a lot of other facilities, and with that, you expect trust, you expect loyalty, you expect a certain quality of care. And not only are they more expensive, [but] now they're pulling out the rug from under us.”
Guidepost sent Denver7 a lengthy statement saying in part its specialized education is expensive and its Colorado schools have been spending more than they were taking in.
“A lot of the measures we took to survive COVID-19 and the labor market crisis of the past four years caught up to us in a big way in 2024,” the statement reads. “Our organization struggled to raise the capital necessary to support our schools, the majority of which were still recovering, and suffering major losses. At many schools, we were running losses of $50,000+ per month that our creditors were no longer willing to subsidize, and we’ve had to figure out how to manage."
The statement also addresses the pain for families and staff: "This decision was not made lightly, nor was it something we ever imagined facing. We know this is an incredibly disruptive and heartbreaking decision for our staff and families. If it could have been avoided, it absolutely would have. It is absolutely not a reflection of any failure or lack of effort on the part of our school leadership or staff. They have worked tirelessly to support our classrooms and community."
The statement goes on to say, “We know there is a significant need for high quality early childhood education in Colorado, as there is in many places throughout the United States. We hope as an organization to continue our mission to meet that need, recognizing that today, we have to take a step backward in order to take a step forward. We hope someday we may be in a position to return to Colorado.”
- Read Guidepost's full statement to Denver7 below
Five campuses that serve about 300 students are closing. Guidepost said a sixth location in Greenwood Village never opened.
“If an organization was having some financial difficulties, why would you continue to expand instead of focusing on the centers that you currently have and re-investing in those schools?” Fallon said.
She went on to say she feels for the teachers and staff suddenly out of a job.
“You know, these are people that have shown our kids so much love,” she said. “[They] are victims of this just as much as the families are.
“It's a lot of sadness, and it's just, it just feels very unjust.”
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