Mounting concern
Vancouver Courier
April 29, 2009
By: Sandra Thomas

Parents with children attending daycare at the Mount Pleasant Community Centre are $33,000 short of keeping the facility open for six months while a modular building is constructed at the neighbouring elementary school.

In March, excited parents of children attending Simon Fraser elementary school who use the daycare gave the park board kudos because it voted to keep the aging facility, slated for demolition, open an extra six months at no cost to the board. With the board's guarantee in place, the parents planned to solicit funds from other levels of government to keep the daycare open….

Ironically, the project, which is running almost two years behind schedule, will open six months earlier than recent estimates. That leaves an unexpected gap in daycare services at Mount Pleasant forcing parents to make last-minute arrangements or consider busing their children to the new centre.

Parent Phalgun Yoshi pointed out there are no preschool spaces at the new centre for the 80 children attending Mount Pleasant. He added many parents are already overwhelmed with tight work schedules, and travelling the extra distance will be a hardship.

The estimated cost to run the daycare for six months is $66,000. The Mount Pleasant Community Association has agreed to pay up to $33,000. The problem is, Yoshi said, no other level of government, including the city, will help with the remaining $33,000.

"This amount translates to $39 a child per month," he said in an email. "In the current time of economic hardship for families... it's sad to see that the city and province are unable to contribute less than $40 a month per child for six months."

I asked Yoshi if the parents were willing to pay the extra $40, but he said they're already paying $200 a month per child, and he argued the parents should not have to pay for a change in schedule that was not their doing. He noted the province and city have already confirmed they won't contribute. The Mount Pleasant daycare was a huge campaign issue during the municipal election last fall, with many politicians promising they'd help keep it open. Where are they now?