On October 19th, Smith College emailed Fort Hill teachers and the rest of Smith within a half hour of each other, announcing that they plan to close Fort Hill, the Smith College Center for Early Childhood Education in June. While still reeling with loss, Fort Hill families, friends, and the broader community responded with an incredible outpouring of support. We are standing together and calling out with one voice, “Save Fort Hill!”

Fort Hill brings together a community of teachers dedicated to providing exemplary early education. We are a school where excellent educators thrive and continue developing their craft, which other educators visit to observe and learn. We have poured ourselves into this school. In 2024, we unionized with a unanimous vote and have been engaged in good faith bargaining for a first contract. We came to the bargaining table pushing for creative solutions with the goal of improving and preserving our program for the next generations of children and families. Smith has consistently rejected our proposals, even ones which simply try to maintain the school’s current practices.

Fort Hill, Northampton’s second largest childcare center, exists within the broader reality of a severe childcare crisis. The proposed closure contributes to a deficit already deeply felt by families in the Valley. Families are regularly on waitlists for significant amounts of time – often months and sometimes years – and as spots become more scarce they become more expensive.

We are looking for Smith College to fully explain the factors behind the decision to close our school. It is unclear at this moment who was involved in making this decision. Smith did not consult its faculty or staff about their childcare needs. There was neither communication to the Massachusetts EEC, which licenses the Center, nor with local government. Most distressingly, Fort Hill’s twenty-nine teachers were given absolutely no indication that this possibility was on the horizon.

Closing Fort Hill is inconsistent with Smith’s mission. For more than 150 years, Smith has worked to advance women’s opportunities. Caregiving remains one of the biggest barriers to women’s careers. Closing the Center adversely affects Smith’s own women: staff, faculty, early-career scholars, student-parents, alums, and the majority-women Fort Hill teaching staff. With this decision, Smith only contributes to the systemic inequity it claims to mitigate.

It is not too late for Smith to change course. They have the ability to engage in a creative discussion about our community's childcare needs. They have the ability to keep some of their most dedicated and innovative employees in jobs that they love. They have the ability to retain their status as leaders in the Northampton community and in society at large. They have the ability to keep Fort Hill open for one hundred more years.

To the President of Smith College and Board of Trustees:

• Reverse the decision to close: Keep Fort Hill open

• Fully explain the reasoning behind the initial closure decision

• Conduct a transparent equity impact assessment of any proposed changes – by gender, race, income, and child age.

As the broader community of the Northampton area, our community depends on adequate childcare options. We the undersigned will not allow this school to close.

Reach out and get involved:

forthillteacherassociation@gmail.com

saveforthill.com