Finding care for school-aged children could be even more challenging after School District 43 formally advised operators of seven daycares located at six schools that their leases would not be renewed effective June 30.
As reported Wednesday by The Tri-City News, at least one Coquitlam preschool will likely have to close after more than 35 years if it can't find space while another Coquitlam daycare operator facing eviction told The News they didn't want to be mentioned for fear of scaring parents and jeopardizing ongoing negotiations. In Port Moody, meanwhile, parents have created an online petition and are asking for more information as to why their before and after school program has to vacate.
The programs that received letters ending their leases haven't been named out of respect for parents, the school district says, but the parents and caregivers at Baker's Corner Preschool, a parent-involved program offering morning preschool programs to toddlers five days a week, say they are disappointed they will have to vacate Baker Drive elementary.
Packing up supplies and leaving behind a $30,000 playground for which the preschool parents raised money are among the tasks ahead, said manager Brittney Allen. But there is hope, too, that another location can be found so the program can continue.
"We're just sort of in a panic to try to find a new location if possible on such short notice. It's going to be quite a challenge," Allen said, noting that with an $1,100 budget for rent, the non-profit is looking at churches for space but has so far come up empty.
As many as 25 Baker's Corner children, including two children with special needs, will be among the children displaced. And daycare for dozens more children in the Tri-Cities may be in limbo because of the lease cancellations, given a shortage of spaces in some neighbourhoods.
COURT RULING
The closures are a result of a ruling last November by the Supreme Court of Canada, which reinstated contract clauses removed by the Gordon Campbell's BC Liberal government in 2002. Elementary schools are among those most affected, meaning they need more classroom space in September because of reduced class sizes.
Last week, SD43 superintendent Patricia Gartland told The Tri-City News that schools will be repurposing classrooms but at the time, she said computer labs would be mostly affected.
Some schools, however, are finding creative ways to allow private care providers to operate even though enrolment is tight.
For instance, a program for 20 children at Leigh elementary in Coquitlam has to give up classroom space but will continue to offer before- and after-school care using the gym and the library, said its manager, Lauralee Crawford.
"Between the gym and the library, they are going to try and make it work," Crawford said, noting that the program has a waiting list of about 60 children.
To try to reduce the pressure on Burke Mountain, Crawford has decided to open up a daycare herself with some colleagues but finding space is a challenge.
"The need especially for out-of-school care in this area is extremely high," Crawford said.
She speculated that some families may have to have one parent not work because they can't find space or there will be latchkey kids going to and from school during the day.
SPACE SHORTAGE
But at Mountain Meadows elementary, as many as 36 children are being displaced from their before- and after-school and summer school programs. Parents have created an online petition to ask for more information, saying there has been a lack of consultation.
Indeed, daycare capacity has been a problem in the Tri-Cities for some time. Statistics provided by Tri-Cities Child Care Resource and Referral show there has only been a 2% increase in spaces since January 2016, with most of the jump coming in Port Moody's Inlet Centre area, where 204 spaces were added last year.
Other neighbourhoods are losing daycare spaces, including Coquitlam River (-36), northside Port Coquitlam (-37), downtown PoCo (-55), Maillardville (-7) and Hillcrest (-22) in Coquitlam, the catchment area where Baker's Corner is located.
The owner of the Coquitlam River elmentary out of school care — which isn't affected by the Supreme Court ruling and is facing no changes — said she doesn't believe the statistics are accurate.
But in other areas where daycare is difficult to find, one manager who runs a group daycare in the Hillcrest area said parents are advised to register as soon as they are pregnant.
Meanwhile, parents who live in one community and work in another say they are stressed to find care for their kids, with one mom saying she's paying full-time fees for part-time care just to get a space near her child's school.
A particular issue for parents with children in school is that the daycare needs to be close to the school so kids can walk unless the caregiver can provide transportation.
"That was the only thing we could do so we just did it," said the mom, who works at a daycare in Port Moody and didn't want to be identified.
"It would be nice if schools offered after-school programs, we only need [care] until 4 p.m.," she added.
It could be months before agencies have a handle on the impact of the daycares shutting down in SD43, and the only advice for parents is to ask around.
In the meantime, a daycare survey of parents children up to age eight should shed some light on the problem.
Navreen Gill, whose United Way-funded Avenues of Change group recently conducted the daycare survey, said her heart goes out to families scrambling for daycare. But she said she hopes the stats available in June will bring awareness of parents' needs to the attention of licensing agencies, cities, daycare operators and even the school district.
"Our job is to go back to these stakeholders and share and make this voice loud," Gill said, adding: "We're hoping the stakeholders will take this document and own the document."
