Duane Hicks
In light of the early learning report issued to Premier Dalton McGuinty several months ago, the Town of Fort Frances is hoping to work with partners and do a feasibility study on the future delivery of child care here.
Community Services manager George Bell said yesterday afternoon that there is some concerns about how Dr. Charles Pascal’s report, “With Our Best Future in Mind,” may affect local child care services.
Dr. Pascal’s report outlines changes such as full-day learning for four- and five-year-olds, before/after school and summer programs for school-age children, programs for children under four years of age, and enhanced parental leave.
Bell said the primary concern is the uncertainty of the community’s role in the delivery of early learning, adding the possible impact of full implementation of this report will change the municipality’s role in child care fundamentally.
“Well, if you’ve got full-day junior and senior kindergarten, a good half of our clientèle in day care now would then be at school,” he noted.
That, he explained, would raise the question of how best the town would try to deliver before- and after-school programs as well as whether the town should get into infant care (the latter referring to the fact the report proposes municipalities lead the service delivery for children under four).
“The whole delivery of child care is going to change,” Bell warned. “Partnerships with the school boards, [Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board], and the town is what we’re looking at.”
But Bell also conceded that “given the current fiscal state of the senior government and the anticipated cost of implementation of the proposed early learning program, it is unlikely to proceed over the next couple of years.”
Bell said the town is in the process of setting up a meeting with the local DSSAB to see how to proceed.
At Monday night’s meeting, council directed Bell to try and secure funding for a feasibility study with terms of reference outlined in the report.
The study’s steering committee would include representatives of all the stakeholders, including school boards, the DSSAB, and possibly the Northwestern Health Unit.
