Shortened Vancouver school calendar concerns community centre: Vision school trustee blames provincial funding
Vancouver Courier
By Sandra Thomas
August 30, 2010

Vancouver community centres struggling with budget cuts will have the extra burden of keeping young students safe and occupied when the Vancouver School Board closes schools for an 10 extra days over the 2010-2011 school year, says a recreation coordinator.

Ron Suzuki, who works at the Strathcona Community Centre in the Downtown Eastside, calls the situation “sad.”

“Especially in inner city schools, it’s the teachers that can pinpoint if a kid’s not having a good day, if there’s trouble at home or if they haven’t eaten,” Suzuki said. “What teachers do is so far beyond instruction.”

In April the school board voted to close classrooms for 10 extra days next school year, including a second week of spring break and several extended holiday weekends, to help make up the district’s budget shortfall for 2010-2011 of more than $16 million. To compensate for the lost days, the board is extending the school day at elementary schools by an extra 16 minutes and secondary schools by 18 minutes.

Suzuki is worried young children without older siblings or extended family to care for them will be left home alone. He believes community centres can offer assistance.

“We have a lot of working poor parents who are already scrambling to pay for daycare so this is really sad,” he said. “According to the latest census, 59 per cent of kids in this neighbourhood have single parents. They’re losing their leadership and teachers are stepping in as role models.”

He notes even if parents can afford to pay for the extra days of child care, the shortage of spaces in the city means they’re unlikely to find a licensed space. Suzuki said the extra 10 days could be more detrimental to young children and youth living on the West Side with two working parents, because they have enough money to possibly make poor choices and get into trouble.

Suzuki estimates it will cost each community centre about $26,000 in staff and program costs to offer activities during the extra 10 days.

“Our programs are already planned and budgeted for the next year,” said Suzuki. “I have no idea where this money is going to come from.”

Vision Vancouver school board trustee Sharon Gregson said in some cases where the child attends a licensed day care at a school that program will be offered on those days with little or not extra cost to parents.

Gregson added while it may appear community centres are being forced to step in as a result of the school board’s decision to eliminate those 10 days, the blame should be placed on cuts by the provincial government….