Limited access frustrates parents; Younger kids get one class a day
Times Colonist (Victoria) / Canwest News Service
July 14, 2008
By: Mary Frances Hill

Large numbers of B.C. parents are offering to pay for summer school courses for their children in the wake of a policy restricting elementary school students to one free class a day….

The province will pick up the tab for the courses, but it has restricted elementary school-age students to just one two-hour class a day -- at a funding level of up to $200 per student. There are no such restrictions for older students.

The limits for elementary-age children have left parents desperate and scrambling for child care options.

"It's a short-sighted solution to something, and the short-sightedness is in not recognizing the needs of working parents," said Christine Hibbert, executive director of Vancouver's Jericho Kids' Club, an out-of-school care program.

"It's a typical example of one system not recognizing another system. Sometimes the government brings in great initiatives that aren't problematic in their own context, but they don't meet the needs of working parents."

… "We've had a lot of requests -- I'd say dozens, if not hundreds -- of requests from people who want to pay for more courses. But we're not in a position to charge for them," said Laurie Anderson, an associate superintendent of the Vancouver school district.

"We had to tell parents at the elementary level that we could only offer one course, because that's all the funding that was available.

"I'd say the most common expressions were of surprise and disappointment."

He said the change in policy means working parents are forced to make a choice between placing their children in summer school or forfeiting that extra education in favour of all-day summer camps or care programs.