Genius Childcare centre at Blair Athol to close permanently despite addressing cleanliness concerns

Daftar Isi

A childcare centre in Adelaide that's been embroiled in controversy over cleanliness issues is being closed down by its owners, despite being given permission to reopen by education authorities.

Last month, the Education Standards Board discovered the school hadn't met the requirements for cleanliness, fencing, flooring, and a smell that needed to be looked into.

—the conditions outlined in the urgent warning have been implemented.

But in a letter sent to families, which has been seen by the ABC and was signed by Genius Management, the operator said it was announcing the "closure of our Blair Athol service", and cited "staffing issues" as a factor in the decision.

It's been announced it'll officially shut down the Blair Athol centre this Friday, the 28th of February.

"Because of restrictions that involve limiting the number of people who can join, and ongoing problems with staffing, we can't keep our operations going," the letter said.

Despite our dedication to delivering top-notch early childhood education and care, these constraints have made it impractical for us to continue.

School closure not a 'surprise' to Aussie parents

Parent Karl Kleinig, who's been sending his kids to the centre for over five years, said there's seemed to be a lot of staff changes at the Blair Athol childcare centre in recent times, with "noticeable" maintenance problems.

We'd noticed there'd be bags of rubbish outside the centre that weren't getting picked up or chucked in the bins. It looked a bit of a mess, to be honest.

The smoke detectors in the main entry area have been constantly beeping like they're running low on power, but this has been going on for weeks and weeks without anyone doing anything about it, which seems pretty unusual.

Mr Kleinig reckons the centre's forced closure could've been "preventable" if more of an effort had been put into looking after it.

A fair dinkum, heaps of the parents had already shifted on to other centres when the emergency notice was given. We weren't too surprised, to be honest. It was like the last straw, fair enough.

It's been a real wild ride, mate, with heaps of mixed messages from the government.

Mr Kleinig said he felt for the staff who'd lost their jobs with the news of Genius Blair Athol's impending closure.

"It's been a bit of a letdown. You expect them to look after your kids properly and I'm not convinced they did in the end," he said.

Mixed messages

The Blair Athol centre was supposed to reopen on Monday with conditions such as limiting student numbers to 39, but it looked like it was still empty on Tuesday morning, with SA Education Minister Blair Boyer saying he had "sought advice" from Genius.

"I reckon the childcare centre itself made a public announcement that it was going to reopen, and I'm sure the parents I know who were affected by the 14-day closure would've been stoked to have it back up and running again," he said.

We've sought advice around what's going on with Genius Childcare in Blair Athol.

In its letter, Genius told families using the facility about alternative options for care including other nearby childcare centres with vacancies, and said those affected should "not hesitate to contact us directly".

We acknowledge that this change might be difficult, and we're here to offer all the assistance we can.

In a second letter sent to parents on Tuesday arvo, Genius Management advised the Blair Athol centre would now reopen on Wednesday. It wasn't clear if the reopening would be just for the day or if it would stay open until the end of the month.

The ABC has reached out to Genius Childcare for a statement.

From February 20, following a spate of reports regarding child health and safety breaches.

Unpaid super allegations

Genius Childcare is being taken on by the United Workers Union on behalf of workers in five different states over unpaid superannuation.

The case was originally set to be heard in the Federal Circuit Court on Friday, but it's now been postponed until May.

In a statement to the ABC, the United Workers Union said "large numbers of educators" were still waiting on their super payments.

The union is seeking fines of up to $18 million from Genius Education Group and its two subsidiaries for six alleged breaches of the law, plus almost $1.2 million against its sole director, Darren Misquitta.