SRSD wants to be school daycare example

Seine River School Division (SRSD) wants kindergarten students to be able to stay at school all day, and is working to propose a potential pilot program that will see the province provide daycare to all of its youngest students.

Only the three prairie provinces, Yukon and Nunavut do not provide full-day kindergarten in Canada. While the SRSD board was considering drafting a Manitoba School Boards Association resolution calling for province-wide full-day kindergarten, it instead at its Sept. 24 meeting decided to work on a proposal that would look similar to its former Kids at Play Program (KAP).

“When the deputy (minister of Education and Early Childhood Learning Brian O’Leary) was out on [Sept. 11], he suggested he would put us in touch with some of the people from his early learning childcare branch,” said board Chair Wendy Bloomfield.

“We’re kind of encouraged they’re interested, but there’s nothing on the horizon so to speak,” she cautioned.

A full-day kindergarten with accredited teachers is not in the cards, according to Bloomfield and interim superintendent Reg Klassen.

“He did say they definitely don’t have the money for a full-day, curriculum-based program… but they were actually quite interested in the model that we had used, not only because it’s a little bit more cost-effective but it also addresses more of the social/emotional needs of children,” said Bloomfield.

Klassen said O’Leary told him that Manitoba needs 30,000 more daycare spots.

“He (O’Leary) said childcare salaries are an issue, and he says ‘We are trying really hard to be on track to gain 10,000 spaces,’” Klassen told the school board.

He suggested the board draw up a plan that could convince the province to fund three schools with tougher socio-economic situations.

Busing could also see some savings if kindergarten kids did not need to be bused at lunch time.

Students who live within 1.6 km of their school need to now pay $500 per household to get on as part of the deficit cost-saving measures. Bus seat priority is given to younger students and those with special needs.

Klassen gave an example from Richer that shows the other effects that this has had.

“Today I was talking to a mom who was in tears because her son is on the bus because he needs to be on the bus. But because they’re within the 1.6 (km), his sister doesn’t get busing because she doesn’t need it, because her circumstance is different than her brother’s. But mom can’t get her to school because mom leaves early for work,” explained Klassen.

That sister is getting to school late walking on her own. And the oldest sister is supposed to be on an earlier bus for high school in Ste Anne, but needs to stay home to make sure the brother gets on the bus and the younger sister is ready to walk to school as mom is gone to work. She is now home-schooling herself.

Klassen suggested in the short-term working with the principal to allow the teen to come in and ask some questions for her home-schooling.

With an unexpected deficit from accounting errors discovered last summer putting SRSD in a budget crunch for potentially years, the KAP program was cut. Local daycares stepped up to fill the void at six elementary schools: Arborgate School in La Broquerie, Ste Anne Immersion, Dawson Trail School in Lorette, Ecole Ile des Chenes, La Salle School, and Ecole St Norbert Immersion.