ottawa fashion week see pullout feature in today’s paper
METRO EXCLUSIVE A LOOK AT THE CHORNOBYL DISASTER 25 YEARS LATER {page 8}
TALKER PARKER’S UNUSUAL WAY OF COPING WITH STRESS
{page 24}
OTTAWA
Thursday, September 22, 2011 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
Child-care worries Third-party care provider raises alarm over uncertainty about school board’s plans Provider says it may not survive with only before-and-after-school care fees
SEAN MCKIBBON/METRO
SEAN MCKIBBON
OCDSB Extended Day Programs operate on all regular school days from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The cost for before-and-after-school care is $20 per day. Vista KSAP says it charges $15 a day for before-and-after-school care.
There are 29 schools with full-day kindergarten but only eight with before-and-afterschool care run by the OCDSB, according to Mike Carson, the OCDSB’s superintendent of facilities. Carson said the OCDSB’s daycare fees are comparable to those of third-party providers like Vista KSAP. “There’s a number of schools where we weren’t able to get sufficient children to register,” said Carson. He said the school board has been working with care providers, the city and the education ministry, and is consulting with parents about how to further implement the program.
Packed like sardines Councillors bring up complaints over congested buses OC Transpo says it’s easing the squeeze {page 3}
School programs
@METRONEWS.CA
Full-day kindergarten could mean higher prices for beforeand-after-school care, as well as fewer child-care options say members of a daycare co-op. However, officials at Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) dispute that. Full-day kindergarten schools need two classrooms, where one used to suffice. The OCDSB initially rolled out the full-day program in schools with no existing daycare spaces, but all Ontario elementary schools are mandated by the province to have full-day kindergarten by 2015. Daycares using classroom space may have to find new places. “The vision was to have a seamless day where you could drop your child off at 7 a.m. and pick them up at 6 p.m.,” said Megan Price, vicepresident of the Vista KSAP, a co-operative that runs two day centres that feel threatened. Price said the reality is different.
Transit
London Fashion Week A look at the latest styles from the runways {page 25}
Megan Price of Vista KSAP stands with her daughter, Naomi, outside Alta Vista Public school. Vista KSAP, which runs a daycare program, is holding a meeting about the issue of full-day kindergarten for parents and other daycare providers this evening at Charles H. Hulse Public School at 5:30 p.m.
Irshad Manji in Ottawa Author gives her take on what prevents people from speaking out {page 6}