After-school day care centres are making plans to step up the services they provide to deal with the teachers strike.
Starting Monday, teachers will walk off the job for the start of a three-day walkout, forcing working parents seeking alternate arrangements for the care of public school students.
"I'm getting calls from parents wondering to see if we're going to be open or not because we're situated on school grounds beside the old Gladstone school, but in previous strikes they've allowed us to stay open," said Jean Petrovic, manager of Kool Cats Kid Care.
"We are full, but we do take people in on pro-D days as long as we have room, so parents should call to see if there are spaces available. I'm expecting to be pretty full."
Schools will be open during the strike and students won't be turned away if they are unable to find a supervised setting elsewhere. Teachers are not allowed to set up picket lines, so parents and students will have full access to any day care situated in a school.
Harmony Day Care Centre on South Nicholson Street provides morning and afternoon care for 10 children who attend schools, including its kindergarten children. It is preparing to expand its services to cover the entire school day while the teachers are off the job.
"For the parents that have their kids here on a regular basis they will have care while they're on strike, but if anyone else needs care, we don't have space," said Harmony Day Care employee Ashley Seniuk.
Providing care for a full day adds about $20 to the after-school fee parents pay on regular school days, Seniuk said.
The Prince George Family Y, the city's largest daycare provider, has about 170 after-school children housed at several schools, including Highland, Harwin, Immaculate Conception, Westwood, and cole Lac des Bois, and St. Giles Presbyterian church. The Y has has also lined up Westwood Mennonite church as a back-up facility in case there is an influx of after-school students. As a licensed provider, they are limited to a specified number of after-school care children in each of the schools.
"We've been working over the last few weeks to have a plan in place should a disruption of services happen in the schools and I'm confident we'll be able to meet the needs of the children and families in our care," said Lynette Mikalishen, director of child care services at the Family Y.
"We're definitely trying to meet the needs of our families [already] in our care first. Beyond that we'll see what we can do."
Mikalishen said the Y will be taking names for a wait list.
