By JENNIFER LANG THE THORNHILL Community Centre looks a little different these days — thanks to a newly-re- novated front entrance and a small expansion. The Kitimat Stikine Regional District owned and operated facil- ity, close to three schools, is the new home of Thornhill’s first-ever licensed group day care program. The as-yet unnamed day care centre, which has spaces for 20 children from Kindergarten to age 12, will be operated by the Ter- race Daycare Society. The Terrace Daycare Society paid the lion's share of the $160,000 project ~ about $130,000 for: the L-shaped, 1,100-square foot expansion. The regional dis- trict paid the rest, The society's money came in the form of a provincial govern- ment capital’ -grant it received under: the NDP, when the party began laying the foundation for universal day care. The program, approved more than one year ago, was originally supposed to be ljacated in a port- able on school grounds, but the plan ran into trouble. The day care needed to be hooked up to the school’s septic system, a requirement that soon became problematic. , The regional district suggested moving the program to the Thorn- hill Community Centre, where, 10 years before, the Terrace Peaks gymnastics club built an addition for its own use. Drive on to save day care College staff optimistic talks will lead to a deal By JOANNA WONG TRANSFORMED: day care The Thornhill Community Centre is now home to a licensed group daycare centra, Advocates Ann Peltier and Darlene Westerman inspect the just-completed work. The club paid for the building and the regional district leases the property, said Les Watmough, the politician representing Thornhill on the regional district board. “We'd like to encourage this type of thing,” he said during a tour of the building last week. The society has entered into a license of use agreement. with the regional district guaranteeing ex- clusive use of the day care space. Watmough is also pleased the community hall will be used dur- ing the day, something he hopes will reduce vandalism. With the provincial Liberals marking their first year in power, day care providers and parents are still waiting to learn what this government’s child care plan will be, said Darlene Westerman of the Terrace and Area Childcare Planning Committee. The proviticial government is closing ils funding assistance pro- gram at the end of June. The sac- iely expects to receive a trans- itional grant that would see them through to the end of March. I's half-of the previous pro- gram, Westerman said. That money brings the cost per child down to $20 a day. Some parents may be cligible for addi- tional child care subsidies. The society hopes to launch the program early next month and be iv full swing come September. The program is stretching its budget to furnish the new day care centre, Terrace Daycare Society co-chair Ann Peltier said, “People in the community have been garage-saling for us,” Peltier said, adding toys, puzzles, games, and even furniture and dishes are welcome donations. Operating hours are tentatively 8 a.m. to 6 p.m, but Peltier said it will depend on what parents want. She said the children attending the daycare will help come up with a name. IF EVERYTHING goes according to plan, this fall will see nap time and arts and crafts return in full force at Northwest Community Callege. oeThe college's day care’ centre, built seven years..ago-to help out, student: parents, closed May 30 due to provincial budget cuts. Tt had provided care for 28 children and em- ployed four full-time and two part-time people. Details of re-opening the day care are being worked out this week in negotiations between college officials, day care staff and parents. ’“We don't anticipate any problems — we're all working towards the same goal,” said Wes Law, a staff representative at the B.C, Govern- ment and Service Employees’ Union {BCGEU) who's been working with the day care staff, “A lot of it is just a question of fine tuning benefits and local issues, said Law. The biggest considerations is who will actu- - ally be responsible for the day care. Veteran staff member Terry Walker says the new day care will probably be run as some sort of non-profit society. One option is having the daycare operate under the umbrella of the existing Terrace Daycare Society, she says. “I’m really glad.” said Walker of plans to re-open. “It would be such a shame to see such a great day care go down the tubes - it’s a really important service.” - One difficult, says Law, is the ability of any non-profit society to meet the pay and benefit levels called for in the labour contract which applied to day care employees. “There will certainly be a pay cut,” said Law. “The day care had a pretty nice contract, one of the Cadillac ones.” ANNA LINTON works on crafts al play time at Norihwest Community College's day care centre. Staff are in negotiations to revive the day care next year. JOANNA WONG PHOTO Other possible changes may include the end of the toddler program (children under 3) and a slight rise in monthly fees. “There will be a little change [in fees} but not much,” said staff member Saroj Sharma, who adds that the college day care fees were already among the lowest in Terrace. Since the day care opened in 1995, it has operated at a loss and depended on support from the college to keep operating. Previously, the college paid for telephone bills, heating, maintenance, supplies, furnish- ing, incidentals. Walker reports that the college has agreed to help a non-profit group take over. “The col- lege allowing us to do this is a great benefit and we're really grateful,” said Walker. Walker predicts the day care will run with the same basic capabilities and services, with three staff already planning to return full time. “Everyone is being really positive about it,” said Law. “We want no disruption for the kids and we have every intention of operating in the fall.” Child care options shrink as govt subsidy cuts begin to hit home By JOANNA WONG PROVINCIAL CUTS to child care subsidies have increased pressure on struggling low-income familes, making child care options fewer than ever. “There has been quite a dra- matic. shift,” reports Darlene ‘Westerman, a program coordina- tor at The Family Place, “The system has always been fragile here and it’s more fragile than it’s ever been.” Since April, new more strict regulations have blocked access to subsidies for many families that had previously qualified. The province has done this by adjusting income level require- menits so that: fewer people now teceive subsidies. “We had families that were making it because they got a sub- sidy,” she said. For families on income assis- tance, preschool subsidies have been eliminated completely. The logic is that if one parent in a two-income family is unem- ployed, he or she can stay home to look after the children. But the loss of the subsidy has resulted in many low-income par- ents pulling their children out of preschool. As a direct result of the cuts, Rainbow Castle preschool has lost 12 children out of 59 once regis- tered there. “Lower income kids need that early childhood education,” said Lisa Pretulac, who has run the preschool for the past five years. She says her preschool staff was often responsible for identify- ing special needs children who needed extra help. “When these kids are thrown into kindergarten two years down the road, the school system is in for a big shock,” said Pretulac. She believes early intervention is key to preventing long-term special needs issucs. , Also on the cut list were emer- gency child care subsidies for fa- milies suffering from short-term personal or medical crises, such as operations. “What it means is people aren’t going to be able to do the job right,” said Westerman, who is concerned parents seeking “In order for kids to be successful as adults you need quality early experiences and it feels like we're losing that.” counselling or help for personal issues such as alcoholism will be left floundering. Partial subsidies that add up to less than $50 have also been ter- minated. *For families that are really struggling, $50 makes a world of difference,” said Westerman. For parents still seceiveing par- lial subsidies over $50, the parent portion of the child care bill has increased. Westerman cites the example of a single mom making minimum wage and taking home less than $1,000 a month. Previously, she had received a $368 subsidy for her $500 day care bill, leaving her to come up with $160 a month on her own. Since the cuts, this bill has doubled. “There isn’t $320 a month when you look at what expenses are,” said Westerman of the sin- gle mom example. “It’s nearly impossible.” Westerman says that consequ- ently, people are choosing chea- per care alternatives that may be less than ideal, “In order. for kids to be suc- cessful as adults you need quality early experlences and it feels like we're losing that,” she said, The Terrace Slandard, Wednesday, June 12, 2002 - AS CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE TERRACE STANDARD The Mail Bag RCMP comment was outrageous Dear Sir: After attending the Coast Mountains School Board meeting June 4 1 came home absolutely appalled. During the discussion on Project DARE, anti-drug program proposed for the school district, ‘the RCMP Corporal who trains all of the RCMP officers who deliver the program was asked why. some students opt out of the classes. The only reason she could offer was that. it was likely duc tothe fact that their parents are drug users themselves. ] believe there could be a number of other reasons that parents or students would choose to opt out of this program, How about the parents who want. to do their own moral and ethical teaching from home? How about the parents who don't want their children introduced to drugs? How about the parents who want more of their child's school time spent on learning to read and write? How about the students who feel-they would be uncomfortable in such a class? The list goes on and on. Some years ago my own daughler opted out of a Grade Ten sex education class. Her reason? She felt she would rather use the time to get her homework for that day done, My reason? I felt that the issue was being dealt with at home and that it was important that it be discussed in a particular manner. If I insert the thinking of the R.C.M.P. Corporal at the June 4 meeting into my personal situation would she have thought I was a sexual abuser? I often hear comments about how parents have to take more responsibility for their children’s upbringing and [ wonder how many parents will feel comfortable having their children opt out of DARE or other similar programs when they know there will be a cloud of suspicion hanging over them. One of the aims of DARE is to enhance the image of the RCMP. Perhaps they could assist that enhancement by not making such outrageous statements. Gail Murray, Terrace B.C. Drug awareness a job for parents Dear Sir: Re: DARE (drug awareness) program. At the June 4 public school board meeting a motion was passed to implement the DARE program in Coast Mountain School Disirict 82. The District Parents’ Advisory Council had a guest presenter at this meeting, an RCMP officer who trains DARE program irainers. A trustee asked this RCMP officer why some parents didn’t want their children to partake in this program. The response was that she didn’t know bul such parents could be drug users and/or dealers and feared that their children would let this information out... re res This comment was from an RCMP officer responsible for training other RCMP members who will be teaching our children. ] am outraged. ] am not a drug pusher/user and my children will not be taking part in any DARE program. I do not want the DARE program in my child’s classroom. I am tired of teachers raising my children. We, as parents in this community, must slop abdicating our responsibilities. It is up to us as parents to teach morals and good judgment to our children and to do our best to keep them out of harm’s way. This is not a job for teachers or RCMP trainers. Our society is a scary place in which to be a child with drug abuse and violence being an everyday occurrence for so many children. It is our responsibility as a communily to insure that programs are in place to help take care of these social problems facing so many children. But it is not the responsibility of the teachers or the schools, We need our schools to educate our children so that they can grow to be productive, contributing members of aur communities and to move on to jobs and/or higher education so they can compete in this world we live in, Schools and teachers cannot be held respousible for all of the social ills facing us today. Anne-Marie Stiff, Terrace, B.C, Kyoto kerfuffle Dear Sir: The decision by the Kitimat-Stikine regional district to oppose Canada’s ratification of the Kyoto accord on global warming without community consultation and debate is a fine example of local politicians playing “King for A Day”. The regional district should have invited the. public to attend a public forum with pro-Kyoto and. anti- Kyoto speakers. They should have listened to the arguments presented and the issues raised by the public and forwarded these concerns ta the federal Minister of the Environment, David Anderson. Knee-jerk reactions are a common response to the challenges raised by environmental concerns, as politicians fear that jobs will be lost in the trade-off with preserving the environment. In fact, Kyoto presenis many opportunities for economic development - development however in a somewhat different direction than we have been heading up till now. The regional district had an opportunity (o begin a dialogue on economic development within a framework of environmental sustainability. How much more useful that would have been. Maureen Bostock, Terrace, B.C. About the Mail Bag The Terrace Standard welcomes letters. Our address is 3210 Clinton St., Terrace, B.C. VBG 5R2. You can fax us at 250-638-8432 or e-mail us at standard@kermode.net, No attachments, please. We need your name, address and phone number for verification. Our deadline Is noon Friday or noon Thursday if Hs a. long weekend.