The seamless day
Posted Nov 30, 2011 03:06:52 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
About 125 people, many of them concerned parents, attended a meeting at Lincoln Road Chapel organized by the Waterloo Region Early Learning Coalition (WRELC) last night.
They are upset about plans that would see both the local school boards launch a “seamless day”, in which children between 4 and 7 year old would have day care provided by the school board before and after class.
One trustee from each of the regions school boards was on hand, including Cathy Watson from the public board.
Watson told 570 News if you missed last nights meeting there is another one tonight, “parents are going to be coming forward and the whole day care coalition (WRELC) are presenting information on the (seamless day).”
Watson is the trustee who brought forward a motion to open up the discussion to a public consultation, but that motion has failed to get two other trustees to sign off on it.
Some of the concerns raised by parents include that the “seamless day” is not a “seamless year”, because day care services aren’t provided during the summer months and it doesn’t give parents a choice between third party and the board programs.
Concerned parent Natalie Waddell told 570 News that’s what bothers her most about the seamless day model, “there is no summer care for our children, so there seamless day is for 10 months of the year but for the other 2 months of the year we have to hustle around, so I mean that’s not very seamless.”
Waddell is also concerned that “we’re going to have to pay more for less service and poorer quality of care.”
Tonight’s information session starts at 6:30 at the Salvation Army Church at 75 Tillsely Drive in Kitchener.
The third session is a week from today, on Wednesday, December 7th at the Wesley United Church, 6 Cambridge St., Cambridge.
The Waterloo Region Early Learning Coalition is a group of third-party child care providers banding together to raise awareness to their cause. For more information, check out this document on one of their affiliated websites. It’s a list of some of the frequently asked questions with several bullet point answers.
Natalie Waddell is the founder of an awareness website which has become a rallying point for parents. It features a petition as well as more information.
