Daycare spaces are being lost in the Burnaby school district, but it’s not because of a recent Supreme Court of Canada decision restoring smaller class sizes in B.C. public schools.
The Grove Childcare has used a classroom at Forest Grove Elementary School as a daycare space for preschool-aged children for eight years.
Last week, parents found out the school is taking the space back.
“Realistically, in our area, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said Steven Miller, a parent with one child who will be affected by the move.
Earlier news stories reported the space was being lost because of a November Supreme Court of Canada decision that is forcing the province to restore maximum class sizes to 2002 levels by next year, which will create a need for more classroom space.
But that’s not why the Forest Grove classroom is being lost, according to school district secretary-treasurer Russell Horswill.
The school needs the space for its expanding Mandarin program.
“Every year you add another grade until eventually it’s K to seven,” he told the NOW. “This is the year that it becomes a K-7 program, so it actually has nothing to do with the class-size and composition requirements. It’s completely predictable and we knew it was going to happen.”
The arrangement around the overflow classroom was an informal one between Forest Grove and the childcare provider and will end next year, Horswill said.
For Miller, that will mean a loss of peace of mind.
“It has to do with location, to do with environment and the security I have,” he said. “When I drop them off and head to work, my mind’s on work because I know my kids are in a safe location.”
The school board and city council announced a plan during the 2014 municipal election to triple daycare spaces by building facilities on school district land, but that promise has yet to be fulfilled.
As for the new class-size and class-composition requirements, the district has enough instructional space to accommodate the required extra classes, according to Horswill.
It just needs to move some portables around.
Nine district-owned portables will be moved by September – two each to Sperling and Cascade Heights and one each to Gilpin, Cameron, Brentwood, Buckingham and South Slope.
The work will cost an estimated $900,000, according to Horwill, and it could be as late as June before the district finds out whether the province will pay for it.
