Oscare Daycare proposing pre and post school care

Lucie Janosek is with the board of directors with Oscare. She says there are concerns among the board and parents about the safety of the current location of the daycare because of a number of incidents over the summer. 

“Ultimately we’re all parents. In the summer there were a couple of very public, very violent incidents. We’ve been assured by the RCMP that the element that was the reason for those incidents has been chased out of town, which is very reassuring,” she explains. “However, there are still frequently episodes where the RCMP or the fire department is present. It’s not the safest or comfortable environment for the children.” 

She adds that if the move were approved for pre and post school care, it would help in reducing what the not-for-profit group pays in rent, and in turn would help with finding a new place for the daycare. 

“We are actively trying to find a permanent home within the vicinity because the whole benefit of Oscare is that parents don’t have to come pick up their children at 2:50 or 3:00 and get them to care for another hour and a half or two,” she states. “In the meantime we’re looking to reduce our rental costs so that we can work towards a permanent location, so we’re looking at moving a portion of the program to the basement.” 

Secretary Treasure Doug Boyd explains that the proposal from Oscare differs from a previous proposal by the group where the desire was expressed for expand the daycare. 

“The request prior to this was to utilize the facilities and maybe even build on our properties,” he says. “This is an amended type of proposal looking at pre and post school. If the board does look at that favourably, then all the details would still have to be worked out with the school.” 

There are currently 80 children involved with Oscare, and a maximum of 55 would be involved with the potential change if approved. The basement of École Central Elementary has had an inspection from both the fire department and licensing office that found the area suitable for the facility’s intent. The proposal will be discussed at the next Committee of the Whole meeting for School District 60 on January 13.