Some health care workers who live in the Timberlee, North Carolina, area are upset about the changes being made to their daycares.
Willowbrae Academy informed parents on June 24th that it will be changing its hours from 7am to 5:30pm from September 1st. Current hours are 6:30 AM to 6:00 PM.
Chris Rogers, parent of a two-year-old, said the 7am change created an “untenable situation”.
Rogers works in Halifax as an x-ray technologist and has shifts that start at 7am. “Patients depend on us and we have responsibilities to the hospital.”
Rogers and his wife work in hospitals in Halifax and are not sure what they will do. Other kindergartens in their area are open from 7am to 5.30pm
“We thought we had a good childcare solution at this daycare, but to have that pulled from us has put a lot of stress on us as a healthcare family,” he said.
Several families will be affected by the changes to childcare hours.
Nicole Aplin, also an X-ray technician, who lives in Timberlee, has two children in kindergarten.
“There are so many of us who will be affected by this change,” said Aplin, whose husband is in the military.
“It’s a crisis for so many young families right now. What do we do if we don’t have work from 8 to 4:30?’
The daycare says it has no financial support
The kindergarten administration notified the parents about the change.
“Due to the inability to increase our fees, the acute shortage of early childhood educators across the province, and the lack of additional financial support from the government to offset our significant increase in operating costs, we will be adjusting our hours.” is stated in the email.
CBC reached out to the kindergarten principal for comment, but did not hear back.
Earlier this year, the Nova Scotia government offered annual funding agreements to all licensed operators as well as a one-time subsidy to help offset cost pressures.
Personnel challenge
“Finding qualified staff is a challenge across all sectors and we actively support the growth and professionalisation of this important workforce,” wrote Lynette McLeod, spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
“This fall, the province will launch a compensation package for early childhood educators that will see more money and more benefits in ECE’s pockets.”
Healthcare working parents with children in kindergarten are looking for solutions.
“I often wonder why the hospital doesn’t have day care for health families,” Rogers said. “That would certainly seem like a solution.”
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