Excerpts
Drayton parents can breathe a little easier knowing they’ll continue to have a local childcare option next year.
Anxiety was running high for some after news spread about a recommendation to council that would “direct staff to cease operating a before- and after-school program at Drayton Heights Public School at the end of the 2025-26 school year.”
The recommendation was part of a notice of motion from Mayor Gregg Davidson, who said his intention was not to cancel the program, but for a private provider to take it off the township’s hands.
Concerned parents contacted township staff and councillors to ask about the program’s future, but officials could only say the motion would come before council on Oct. 14.
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Reid noted she received about 20 calls and emails from families concerned about the motion, and she thanked them for their advocacy.
“There is nothing more fierce than a parent whose childcare is on the line … and it was very healthy to see this,” she said.
Martin said he thinks there needs to be a realistic conversation about the childcare program and who pays for it.
It was first introduced as a cost-neutral program, he added, but “it’s not – it’s subsidized by the taxpayer.”
Reid later told the Advertiser she thought the sensitive topic might be best addressed in closed session, but in hindsight she’s happy that didn’t happen, as transparency is “absolutely what we needed.”
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