Parents with children enrolled at Morris Enrichment Center in Kanawha City are rushing to secure alternative child care after learning the center will shut down earlier than expected.
The center announced Friday through its communication app that it will permanently close on Feb. 13, reversing earlier messages that indicated it would remain open through the end of May.
Several parents said the announcement caught them off guard.
“You know, we’re getting all these messages – from tuition increases an hour ago to ‘hey, we’re closing our doors,’” said one parent, who asked to remain anonymous. “Last week it was ‘we’re going to close our doors in May,’ and now it’s ‘we’re closing our doors in two weeks.’ So it’s a pretty big deal.”
Another parent said families were not given enough time to adjust.
“This is a bomb that was dropped on us this morning,” the parent said. “We were told we were going to go until May 31.”
Eyewitness News contacted Morris Enrichment Center, which confirmed the closure will take effect Feb. 13. Staff members said only the senior pastor could share further details. As of publication, no response had been received.
In a written statement, another parent criticized the shortened timeline.
“Being told this week that the center will now close in just two weeks, rather than giving families the months to plan that were originally promised, has left a lot of parents with very few options,” the statement said. “These abrupt changes show a real lack of consideration from the church board for how this affects children’s routines, parents’ work schedules and the wonderful teachers who now have very little time to find new jobs.”
Records reviewed show Morris Enrichment Center was placed under a corrective action plan by the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services from Nov. 20, 2023, through Feb. 20, 2024. Department documents do not clearly state whether the plan was completed.
One parent said the information was easy to find and questioned why it was not addressed sooner.
“That’s something I went into and I looked at a couple months ago when it first came to light,” the parent said. “I found it in two seconds on Google. How did no one else find it? How did this slip through the cracks?”