POTSDAM – The Building Blocks Daycare & Afterschool Program has closed its doors permanently as of Tuesday, Feb. 10.

After providing daycare services for hundreds of children in Potsdam for more than 20 years the daycare’s board of directors announced that Building Blocks would close its doors permanently.

Board members voted unanimously late Monday afternoon to terminate the nonprofit daycare and afterschool program, and issued a statement to that effect.

The day care center, located for the last year and a half at the back of Snell’s Office Complex on Outer Market Street, closed last month in what they had hoped would be a temporary situation while they sorted out their finances, which had become severe enough that they found themselves unable to pay staff and outstanding bills.

The closure left about 60 children in need of day care and about a dozen employees without a job.

“It is heartbreaking for us to know we are no longer be able to educate and nurture all the smiling and happy faces of children in Potsdam,” said board of directors vice president John Youngblood. “It also pains us deeply to say goodbye to our teachers and teaching aides who devoted their careers to caring for our community’s cherished future – our children.”

The board had hoped that by bringing Marianne Jadlos on as director last month the center might have been able to reopen, but during that short period of time, Youngblood said, the board realized how well suited Ms. Jadlos was for the position and, at the same time, how dire the financial situation actually was.

After an intense review of the daycare’s finances with the nonprofit’s accountants and attorney, board members concluded operating the daycare was no longer feasible and decided to dissolve the nonprofit.

Collectively, they are working to ensure the daycare’s expenses, including remaining payroll checks and taxes, are paid. Board members have taken personal responsibility to cover expenses over the last few weeks.

The statement said that board members are grateful for the dedicated work of staff to educate children over the years.

“There is no more important service offered in a community than providing an educational and nurturing environment for our most precious and prized resources - our children. We are humbled and honored to have served the Potsdam community, especially those living below the poverty line,” the board statement said.

They also said they hope the gap left by the closure of Building Blocks Day Care can soon be filled.

Any parent or former staff member who needs to pick up any their personal items in the center may send an email to buildingblocks13676@gmail.com.

Until 2013, Building Blocks Day Care was housed in a building on Potsdam Central School District property off of Lawrence Avenue, but was forced to move after years of controversy over the center’s lease, and a lack of rental payments, ended in the school district taking back the building.