New staff member saves Victoria daycare from losing spaces, but struggles remain
A Victoria daycare has bought itself time through a last-minute hire, after nearly being forced to tell two dozen families their children would no longer have a child-care spot. The non-profit group says its position highlights a greater problem in our work force.
“Boy oh boy, this has been a rollercoaster for us for a couple weeks,” says Oaklands Community Association executive director Mira Laurence.
The association’s daycare, Little Acorn, has received three resignations from its early childhood educators in the last two weeks. The association says two are leaving the industry altogether and another is moving to another company for more money.
“We want to expand our child care, open up new spaces, and then we found ourselves in a situation like, ‘Oh my goodness, we don’t have enough child-care workers to maintain the services that we have now.”
Oaklands Community Association notified parents it would be doing a lottery system to decide which of the 43 children got to stay, and which half of families would need to find another option.
“When you get an email in your inbox saying that they’re being forced to reduce numbers, it’s very anxiety-inducing and very stressful,” says Little Acorn parent Chelsey Rossner.
Thankfully, staff managed to hire someone within an hour of running the lottery draw – buying the center time until the end of June to continue recruiting new ECEs.
“We’re not out of the woods yet at all,” says Laurence. “We need some more help to recruit ECEs, to offer a fair wage to everybody.”
The province’s minister of state for child care says the struggle over hiring early childhood educators is a problem B.C.-wide, and the government has been working to resolve it since 2017.
“When I started this work, (the pay) was about $17-18 an hour now to an average of $25 an hour,” says Katrina Chen. “But we still have a lot more work to do to make sure we’re finding every way possible to support early childhood educators – including more than doubling the post-secondary institution training seats for early childhood educators, providing bursaries so they can pay for most of their tuition fees, looking at provincial-nominee programs to encourage newcomers to become early childhood educators.”
Oaklands Community Association has two portable classrooms on Belmont Avenue that are ready to expand its child-care services. The group has approval to add infants and preschoolers and expand out-of-school care. It says ECE positions have been posted for months, but opening of new services has been delayed until management can find people to fill the positions.
“We have families who’ve been waiting for years already,” says Little Acorn’s child-care coordinator Amy Truswell.
“We just can’t offer them spaces, which is really sad. The community really needs child care, especially infant (and) toddler care.”
The organization hopes to open the preschool space in September and hire more to maintain the 48 spaces Little Acorn already has, so it can avoid the potential of another lottery.
“It’s a very demanding job,” says Truswell. “There’s a high burnout rate amongst ECEs, so finding those qualified people who have a passion for their jobs is really important.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Chants of 'shame on you' greet guests arriving for the annual White House correspondents' dinner
An election-year roast of U.S. President Joe Biden before journalists, celebrities and politicians at the annual White House correspondents' dinner Saturday.
What is a 'halal mortgage'? Does it make housing more accessible?
The 2024 federal budget announced on April 16 included plans to introduce “halal mortgages” as a way to increase access to home ownership.
Here's where Canadians are living abroad: report
A recent report sheds light on Canadians living abroad--estimated at around four million people in 2016—and the public policies that impact them.
Deadly six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 sparked by road rage incident
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Opinion I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'doesn't get' the global phenomenon.
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after return to New York from upstate prison
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said Saturday that the onetime movie mogul has been hospitalized for a battery of tests after his return to New York City following an appeals court ruling nullifying his 2020 rape conviction.
'We are declaring our readiness': No decision made yet as Poland declares it's ready to host nuclear weapons
Polish President Andrzej Duda says while no decision has been made around whether Poland will host nuclear weapons as part of an expansion of the NATO alliance’s nuclear sharing program, his country is willing and prepared to do so.
Central Alberta queer groups react to request from Red Deer-South to reinstate Jennifer Johnson to UCP caucus
A number of LGBQT+2s groups in Central Alberta are pushing back against a request from the Red Deer South UCP constituency to reinstate MLA Jennifer Johnson into the UCP caucus.