Families scramble to find child care: Move to close Spring Creek facility ‘stressful’ for many in Whistler, mom says
Whistler Question
Jennifer Miller
February 26, 2009

WHISTLER – The latest round of daycare program closures in Whistler is sending at least 15 local families scrambling to find alternate child care, with the Whistler Children’s Centre’s Spring Creek location set to close its doors this week.

While some of the families affected by the closure have been able to secure at least some days of care at the centre’s Nesters location, local mom Deann Palmer represents one of four families that couldn’t get any days at the remaining facility.

“I’m trying to have a positive attitude about this… but it’s hard,” she said. “It’s a really ugly situation right now.”

Friday (Feb. 27) is the last day for Palmer’s three-year-old daughter Reese to attend the Whistler Children’s Centre, at least for a while. Reese has been attending the Spring Creek campus, which is shutting its doors at the end of business hours on Friday.

Palmer said she’s been able to arrange for care with other families and some days at the …. Whistler Day Care through March and April so she can continue working part time as a teacher. But she feels for single parents or full-time employees who can’t find childcare and are faced with asking their bosses for days off in shaky economic times and reduced job security.

The … centre has “openly welcomed” families affected by the latest Children’s Centre closure, but the … licence restrictions only allow them to take children for a maximum of two days a week, Palmer said.

“It’s very, very stressful on the community as a whole,” she said.

The closure of the Bear Cubs program at Spring Creek represents the third Children’s Centre program to close in the past three months. Stacey Royal, executive board member, said with this week’s closure, 46 daycare spaces have been lost in Whistler since last fall.

As of Wednesday (Feb. 25) the Children’s Centre had a waitlist of 115 children who need care, with that number expected to jump by about 25 when Ski School ends in April and those kids will be looking to return to Children’s Centre care, Royal said.

She acknowledged the closures are having a “huge impact” on local families, but the centre was left with little choice but to close the Spring Creek facility.

After two programs were shut down in late November because of a lack of qualified staff, the entire building was being run to accommodate just the Bear Cubs program for kids aged 3 to 5. According to one parent, some days only four or five kids attended.

While Royal said the Spring Creek location always lost a “little bit of money,” after the infant and toddler programs closed, it has incurred losses of more than $10,000 to remain open.

“For the sake of the community… we carried it as long as we could,” Royal said. “It’s not a viable option in the long term.”

Even with fee increases of about 17 per cent effective March 1 for all programs — which are being implemented to increase wages for the centre’s teachers — there’s just not enough money coming in to justify keeping the Spring Creek campus open, she said….

The ultimate goal would be to renovate the building to make larger, more financially viable classrooms and eventually re-open the location at capacity. Royal said if municipal officials are amenable to some flexibility in the lease, the next steps would be to attract a sub-lessee, do a full analysis of the facility and start a building committee to work on renovation plans.