Daycare shortage everyone's problem
MetroValley Newspaper Group / Richmond Review
15 Jun 2006
Opinion -- EDITORIAL

It would be easy to blame the Richmond school board for the plight of the parents of 18 kids who found out this week that their daycare options just narrowed.

The YMCA has just announced that before- and after-school care services at Mitchell and Cook elementary schools won't be available for the September school year.

With daycare spaces already hard to come by, two fewer options certainly won't help the matter.

But is it fair to blame our trustees for their decision to raise rents in schools to a modest $6 per hour, still well below what other communities charge?

On the one hand, the decision by trustees seems cold. It's true that trustees are charged with the mandate of ensuring our children from Kindergarten to Grade 12 receive a solid, well-rounded, relevant education. But what lesson does this teach our youngsters when the people in a position to make a difference in the lives of 18 children opt to consider the greater good instead?

Sure, there'll be more money available to schools with daycares thanks to the rent hikes, but what about the resulting troubles faced by families who need two incomes to make ends meet, but can't find affordable daycare that will make the decision to work a financially sound and beneficial move.

Then again, whose job is it to provide daycare?

Trustee Sandra Bourque understands all too well the position new mothers and new parents find themselves in. Bourque said she had to choose between raising a family and pursuing her career ambitions after getting a master's degree in zoology.

These days, new mothers return to work quite soon, but that doesn't necessarily apply to those moms who work for around minimum wage.

What's the point in making $10 an hour if those wages barely cover the cost of daycare?

Bourque believes that the senior most levels of government should step in and make child care a national priority.

Though local trustees need to focus on the learner, it's hard not to be distracted by parents who feel they've now got nowhere else to turn.