JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The owner of a Northwest Jacksonville day care center is at an impasse with her landlord after the Department of Children and Families (DCF) abruptly closed the center due to air conditioning issues.
A total of 73 children at the Children of the King Learning Center on Edgewood Avenue are without child care because of the abrupt closure.
Angela Sheppard, owner of the day care, said she’s been trying for months to get the landlord to fix or replace the AC unit.
“He said he will fix the AC,” Sheppard said. “He will keep my rent the same if I give him one of my units. To me, that’s an ultimatum.”
DCF came to the center on Tuesday for a yearly inspection and noticed the AC was out of commission.
Officials then ordered the owner to close the center because of unsafe temperatures.
The thermostat displayed a temperature of 96 degrees on Wednesday when News4JAX visited the center.
The sudden closure has left parents struggling to find alternative childcare arrangements.
A parent received a call about the closure and was told to pick up her child.
“It was more like I was going to miss work the next couple of days, and how am I going to work?” the parent said.
Sheppard said the property owner was responsible for the repairs. She said a maintenance worker inspected the faulty air conditioning system and told her they needed to be replaced.
“He said all three units need to be replaced because they’re 20 years old,” she said. You can not get parts for it anymore because the units are so old. So, they can’t try and repair them and patch them up. We need whole units.“
Since being at this location in 2015, this is the first time anything like this has ever happened.
Text messages between Sheppard and the property owner reveal a complex negotiation over the repairs. The message read, “This is the agreement. I will repair the three units. You were signing a new lease for five years. We will keep your rent the same. You will be giving back unit 15 because you’re not paying for it.”
The property owner has not responded to multiple requests for comment.