School board looks into a daycare for Aspen Elementary
By Elaine Mitropoulos
Comox Valley Echo
June 2, 2009

Acting upon the request of the Comox Valley Boys and Girls Club, the school board is issuing a request for proposals to secure a day-care for Aspen Elementary.

Through its Comox Valley Child Care and Community Needs surveys, the club identified the Aspen Park area as being in great need of more child-care spaces.

With full support from the school's principal and parent advisory council, the club has asked the school board to accommodate a multi-age, group child-care centre for about 15 children next fall.

As well as spots for before and after-school care, the club is calling on the school board for an additional 10 spaces for kindergarten-aged children who do not attend school full time.

If the club is successful in securing more space, it hoped to introduce about 15 more day-care spots in January 2010 for children 18-months to five-years-old, said program manger Joanne Petersen….

Meanwhile, a space shortage expected at Arden Elementary next fall is likely to push out that school's day-care centre…

But with enrolment numbers expected to jump at the school, the daycare is likely to be displaced by students needing more space to learn.

Parent Andrea Dungey has pleaded with the school board to ensure the daycare continues into the 2009/10 school year.

"I am a single parent who commutes to a job in Nanaimo three days a week," Dungey wrote in a letter to trustees.

"It is a great relief for me to drop my daughter off at the school where I know she can attend before-school care and then walk down the hall to her classroom."

The daycare was also open until 6 p.m. when she returned from work, Dungey added.

"Please don't take away the daycare at Arden Elementary. It is valuable for working parents who find it difficult to find affordable daycare at a convenient location," she said.