EXCERPTS:
A special amendment to the School Act made the Kamloops-Thompson school board chairwoman a little nervous this week. The That’s not so worrisome Board chair That is unless the province expects the space The school district currently leases out two former “We don’t have excess funds for maintaining of a building,” School boards were not informed directly of the new policy and Harper was unable to get answers on Thursday. In Late in the day on Thursday, a He said the policy does not apply to agreements already in place but does apply to new or renewed leases. Other “It’s making kids familiar and more -reprinted from The Daily News, Kamloops
provincial amendment stipulates that school boards must now make
district property available to licensed daycares when not in use for
academic or extra curricular purposes.
since the board does that already. What was concerning was part of a
phrase in the amendment summary stating the policy would “maximize
the availability of affordable child care in schools.”
Denise Harper wondered why school-based daycares would be more
affordable than other similar businesses since it isn’t undercutting
typical lease rates.
to now be offered for free. And that notion triggered a certain amount
of fretting.
elementary schools to daycare centres, George Hilliard and Ralph Bell,
which would otherwise be closed. The buildings’ use incurs maintenance
costs.
said Harper. “Should (free usage) be the expectation, our question
would be who will absorb the cost?”
a media scrum outside the legislature on Wednesday, Education Minister
Don McRae simply said the amendment aims to “get some more schools to
uptake this.” Out of 1,600 B.C. schools, as many as 800 already provide
space to daycares, he said.
ministry spokesperson told The Daily News that boards may charge for
cost recovery only but may not attempt to make it a profitable venture.
than the question of cost, providing daycare space in unused district
property has tremendous benefits for a child’s adaptability to new
surroundings, said Harper.
comfortable with schools,” she said. “That’s always been our objective,
to get the little guys ready to go and feeling like they belong there.”