EXCERPTS:
Peel Region's Council Task Force on child care kicked off its inaugural meeting yesterday with a lesson on the benefits of early childhood education.
Experts in the field, among them Jim Grieve, former education director with the Peel District School Board, touted the importance of starting youngsters on the path of learning early, and how Ontario's full-day kindergarten initiative will give more children a better start in life.
Grieve and others were invited to address the newly formed task force as it embarks on a series of consultations to help Peel decide whether to stay in the daycare business.
"The more we invest in children early on, and support families early on, the better the life attainment, the better the whole concept of children being really well prepared not just for school, but for life," said Grieve, now the Ontario education ministry's assistant deputy minister, early learning division.
Held at Peel's new administrative building at 7120 Hurontario St., Mississauga, the meeting began with the election of Brampton councillors Gael Miles and Elaine Moore as chair and vice-chair of the group, respectively.
Lisa Duarte, director of the strategic planning, policy and partnerships division, outlined the logistics on how the group will proceed, including setting meeting dates and subjects to be discussed.
The task force will meet twice monthly, at a minimum, over the next few months before reporting back to Council with a recommendation in September.
The next meeting takes place on April 26 (8:30 a.m. at Regional headquarters in Brampton) and will tackle, among other things, the Region's role in delivering child care.
Thursday's agenda focused on the Province's introduction of full-day kindergarten. Ontario has been phasing in the program over the last few years and plans to implement the program in all schools by 2014.
In addition to Grieve, the 10-member task force, comprised of nine councillors and the Regional chair, heard from local school board officials and academics, who helped make the connection between the value of early child care learning and the government's push for full-day kindergarten.
Grieve pointed to research that suggests investing in a "robust" child care system has lasting benefits, whether in terms of health or socio-economic status.
"The research is crystal clear," Grieve said. "It just makes sense that we would make this kind of an investment."
In January, politicians decided to form the Council Task Force to engage in further consultations after a staff recommendation to close Peel's 12 child care centres upset residents.
Peel launched the daycare study after the Province announced it would introduce all-day kindergarten by 2014, which the Region expects to lower demand for child care.
The report proposed the $12 million Peel spends on centres annually be redirected to licensed, non-profit and commercial daycares if the 12 centres were closed.
That would allow about 580 more children to receive a daycare subsidy, as 4,000 are currently on the waiting list.
Residents reacted angrily to the report, arguing Peel could have done a better job reaching out to the public.
Over a minimum of seven meetings, the task force will look at a range of things, like refocusing the Region's centres on providing services for children with special needs and low-income families.
It will also study cost-saving measures such as fee increases, salary adjustments and the possible phased-in closure of centres.
Councillors will meet with Regional daycare staff, private child care providers and parents as part of the consultation process.
-reprinted from Mississauga.com