Hundreds of families with young children have been left scrambling to find alternatives after learning there aren’t enough extended day child-care spaces at
Ottawa’s largest school board
.
In an email to parents on the waitlist, the early learning department of the
Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
said a Canada-wide shortage of early childhood educators was at fault and advised families to make alternative arrangements — at least for September.
“We anticipate that many families will want an approximate timeline of when a space will become available. As this is based on staffing recruitment, each location will vary. We will connect with you directly when a space becomes available,” the email said.
Diane Pernari, a spokesperson for the board, said there were currently 1,005 children on waitlists for 68 licensed programs in OCDSB schools. Another 5,280 children had been offered spaces.
“We understand the frustration and disappointment that families on the waitlist for our Extended Day Program (EDP) are experiencing,” Pernari said. “This situation creates a significant challenge for parents, and the EDP team is working to address this.”
The OCDSB has advised families to check out other resources, including
City of Ottawa’s child-care programs
and the Child Care Providers Resources Network.
Kate Pollon-MacLeod, a mother of three, learned late last week that her six-year-old son, a student at Stephen Leacock Public school in Kanata, was 27th on a waitlist of 60 children.
“School ends at 2:30 p.m., so obviously there’s huge demand. It just seems like a lot of parents we’ve spoken to are in the same boat,” she said.
Pollon-MacLeod has been researching after-school programs in her neighbourhood, but there are roadblocks, including finding transportation.
“I’m Googling everything. A lot of programs have closed,” she said.
Heather Buchanan’s daughter didn’t get into EDP at Woodroffe Avenue Public School. At first there were more than 100 children on the waitlist. Buchanan watched that number drop to 30, then to 10.
“We thought for sure we would get in,” said Buchanan, who was still hopeful a spot would open up this fall.
Buchanan is headed back to her public-service job in September, working from her office three days a week. Right now, the child-care alternatives for September include starting work at 6 a.m. so she can get to the school in time for afternoon pick-up.
“We haven’t got it figured out. There aren’t that many options,” she said.
Kari Peacock, a former school board teacher who now runs a home-based licensed kindergarten, registered her daughter for EDP at Agincourt Road Public School last spring. She’s now 27th on the waitlist.
Peacock does not expect her daughter will get into the program, even by the end of the school year.
“Every year there are parents left stranded,” she said. “It’s a big topic of discussion.”
The EDP has been touted as a boon for frazzled working parents and the economy, filling in child-care gaps at the beginning and end of school days and offering stability benefits for young children with a “seamless day” that allows them to remain with classmates and caregivers.
But relatively low wages and limited benefits for early childhood educators and assistants (ECEAs) mean it has been difficult to recruit and retain workers. A Statistics Canada report released last December said wages for ECEAs were lower than those for comparably-educated workers outside the sector. Job vacancies among ECEAs doubled from an average of 2,935 in 2017 to 7,356 in 2021, according to the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey, the report said.
The challenge extends across Ontario and across Canada, Pernari said.
“As a licensed child-care provider, we are legally required to maintain specific staff-to-student ratios to ensure the safety and well-being of every child. We cannot compromise these legislative standards,” she said.
Low turnover in OCDSB programs also contributes to the limited number of openings, Pernari said. Children are eligible to remain in the program from junior kindergarten through Grade 6, which means existing spaces rarely become available, she added.
Some parents say the lack of child care will make it difficult for them to get back into the workforce.
This is the third year Meredith Charbonneau has been on the waitlist at Kanata’s W.O. Mitchell Elementary School. Her oldest child was accepted into the program in 2022, but she pulled him out after she went on maternity leave with her third child.
“I have never gotten back in,” said Charbonneau, who has little hope that spaces will open up.
“Before the last few years, as long as you applied early enough, you would always find a spot,” she said.
Charbonneau is in a bind. She had planned to look for a job in September after maternity leave for her fourth child. However, she can’t search for a job without child care and she can’t afford child care without a job. If only one parent works, her six-person family must survive on a single annual income of $65,000, she said.
Children have to be in a licensed daycare in order to qualify for subsidies, Charbonneau said.
“I can’t get a job without a subsidy, and I can’t get a subsidy without a job. It’s a vicious cycle. It’s difficult to apply for jobs if you don’t have confirmed child care,” she said.
“People are scrambling. I was expecting it. It must have been a bigger shock for people who weren’t expecting it.”
The OCDSB is taking steps to recruit and retain ECEs, including increasing wages for part-time positions over the past five years to make these roles more attractive, and conducting recruitment efforts throughout the year, Pernari said.
The Ottawa Catholic School Board said that it was not experiencing the same challenges and that only two of its schools had EDP waitlists.
“Once there is sufficient registration at these locations, we will be able to open additional EDP classes and hire the required Early Childhood Educators,” said Caroline Bachynski, a spokesperson for the OCSB.
“While recruiting qualified ECEs continues to be a sector-wide challenge, the OCSB has thus far been successful in hiring staff when numbers make a program viable. No communication has been sent to families at this time as we are confident we can respond to the current level of demand.”
Parents say they have a lot of sympathy for early childhood educators and assistants.
“It’s a well-known fact they’re severely underpaid and the hours are terrible. It’s hard on their families, too,” Pollon-MacLeod said.
Still, she fears the situation will get worse because of public service
return-to-office mandates
.
“It will put more pressure on the system,” Pollon-MacLeod said. “The problem isn’t going to magically sort itself out.”
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