EXCERPTS:
EDMONTON - Dozens of upset parents are lobbying Catholic school trustees and some intend to pull their kids out of St. Gabriel Elementary School after the school board decided to replace the family-run child care centre with a YMCA program.
"If they choose to follow through with this, my kids will be permanently removed from the Catholic school system," said Allen Tilsley, whose three children attend the Galaxy Child Care Centre at St. Gabriel school.
"I really don't think they were expecting so many people to be upset over this decision."
Tilsley is one of 34 parents who submitted letters to the Catholic school board expressing frustration the school district decided not to renew the Galaxy child care centre's annual lease at the end of August.
There are 90 children in child care.
Parents were informed June 15 that YMCA child care will open Sept. 4 in the Capilano-area elementary school at 5540 106 Avenue.
"For the school district to pull the rug out from us without any warning, it's not fair, to say the least," said Tilley, whose nine-year-old daughter has been diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder and does not adjust well to change.
Numerous parents said they did extensive research before registering their children at Galaxy and don't want to shift their kids into the YMCA program.
"When you pick a daycare for your child, you pick it for the people that work there, not the name of the daycare," said parent Cindy Croitor, whose son has attended Galaxy for 10 years. "The only reason my son even goes to St. Gabe's is because the daycare is in the school."
Charmaine Slaferek said her three children, 10-year-old Nathan and six-year-old twins Jessica and Marisa, won't return in September. It would cost Slaferek's family an extra $500 a month to put all three kids in the YMCA program.
"Where am I going to come up with that? I didn't get a $500 raise," she said.
"My kids have been so upset. My son is devastated by it. This is the only daycare he's ever been to. All of his friends are there."
Jo-Anna Nussey has no choice but to move her eight-year-old daughter out of both the school and the daycare. Nussey needs child care starting at 6:30 a.m. and the YMCA program won't take children until 7 a.m., she said. Nussey's daughter has been diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder and has a teacher's aide at St. Gabriel school. Nussey expects to have to reapply to get an aide at a different school.
"It's just really put me right out," she said. "I'm pretty much appalled that they have decided to put in the YMCA daycare and switch all of our children to it and just expect that that's OK with us."
The decision to replace Galaxy with a YMCA child care was a difficult one for Edmonton Catholic Schools, district spokeswoman Lori Nagy said.
"The district has received many concerns from parents in the past several months and they have included things such as lack of supervision, appropriateness of activities, and by that I mean we have heard from parents saying children are allowed to watch movies that are not suitable for their age," she said.
The district has also received reports the daycare door has not been locked as required, Nagy said, adding attempts to resolve the concerns have failed.
"At this point, we believe it's in the best interests of families, the children and the daycare to have the lease run out," Nagy said. "This decision was not made lightly."
The school district is working to make sure families have child care through the summer until the YMCA program starts in September, she said.
A search of the Alberta government's child care lookup database shows inspectors have attended the Galaxy child care several times in the past two years, once for a complaint investigation related to child discipline in January 2011 that resulted in an order to remedy the situation. Six followup inspections, including a complaint investigation in March, found no further problems, according to the provincial database.
Several complaints have come from one parent and have not been confirmed, said Nav Thind, whose family owns Galaxy. The daycare has operated for 23 years, she said.
"This is very upsetting," said Thind. "All of the other parents you've talked to and all of the letters they've received tell a different story."
Parent Tina Young said she has been totally satisfied with the care her three-year-old daughter has received at Galaxy for the past two years. The owners even reduced her child care fees when they found out she was a single, unsupported mother.
"It's more like a family than a daycare," Young said. "They are so supportive. They've been wonderful. I have no problem leaving my daughter with them and it's hard to find a spot like that."
-reprinted from the Edmonton Journal