The Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District needs classroom space at Webster’s Corners Elementary, so it is evicting a private daycare that has been renting school space.
Webster’s Learning Centre provides preschool, daycare and after-school care, but will be forced to close at the end of June.
Client Rachel Stevens said she and other parents of the 30 children who use the facility are going to be stuck for child care.
“There is just no other option for us,” said Stevens. “It’s imperative to offer some kind of childcare facility… because there is nothing.”
She has written letters to school board trustees, Mayor Nicole Read and even the provincial MLAs.
She has twin four-year-olds, and both she and her husband commute into Vancouver for work from their home near 248th and 108th. Their best option, without the childcare facility, will likely be to enrol their children in kindergarten at another school in the city that offers what Webster’s no longer will.
“It’s unfortunate that they are closing it down without any other option.”
The daycare operators say they have asked for a portable to be placed at the school site, and also in a nearby city park, but neither was a allowed. They cannot find suitable space nearby, and will close the business. It has been in operation since 2008.
For Stevens, the problem will hit home before September, because she will need a new daycare during the summer. The Webster’s parents are already finding most local daycares are full.
“Webster’s is awesome for working parents who need child care year-round,” she said. “And they’re very passionate about what they do, and amazing women.”
The facility operators did not want to comment.
The school district facilities review shows there is room for portables on the site. The school has 199 students, with is 80 per cent of the 251 capacity.
“We offer space in our schools to outside service providers (including daycares) only when that space isn’t needed for educational programs,” said SD42 spokesperson Irena Pochop. “It is for this reason that we provide only annual contracts and caution outside service providers in advance that the contract can only be renewed if the space is not needed for K-12 educational programs.”
She said the annual contract at Webster’s Corners will not be renewed because increasing enrolment and the recent Supreme Court ruling on class size and composition, is placing a high demand for classroom space. The space currently occupied by Webster’s Learning Centre Childcare will be needed for a classroom next year.
The cost of a portable classroom is more than $200,000, and the district would not get provincial funding for it.
“If space becomes available at another school in the district, we will of course consider offering it to Learning Centre Childcare,” said Pochop. “Our staff has also been in touch with the City of Maple Ridge to determine if there are any city-owned facilities that may have space available. However, our mandate and primary responsibility is to provide K-12 education.”
Stevens predicts that with the amount of development underway in the area, Webster’s Corners will soon need portables or other expansion.
