Children of essential service workers in New West have a place to go for care and learning during the pandemic – and it’s not costing them a penny.
The New Westminster School District has joined forces with Westminster Children’s After School Society (WCASS) to offer free child care through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Karim Hachlaf, the school district’s superintendent, gave a report to trustees at the school board’s operations policy and planning committee meeting on April 21.
He noted the district surveyed parents about their needs at the end of March, and more than 4,000 surveys were returned. From the information gathered there, the district was able to follow up with families where parents are essential service workers in need of child care.
So far, Hachlaf noted, the district has six sites up and running, five in partnership with WCASS, where children of Tier 1 essential workers (such as health-care workers and emergency services personnel) can go during the day.
“We’re doing everything we can to provide them with the support they need so that they can do the important work they’re doing for us,” Hachlaf said.
As of this week, about 55 students are in those centres, and the district is prepared to expand its offerings if essential service workers’ needs change in the coming weeks.
Maryam Naser, associate superintendent, said the structure of the students’ week depends on each family’s individual situation. Some students are in care full-time, while other families whose lives revolve around shift work may have more intermittent needs.
Child-care workers and education assistants provide care in the regular before- and after-school hours, and a teacher is on site to support students’ remote learning during the regular school day (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.).
“The teacher’s purpose is to support the remote learning that is happening in the classrooms as well as to engage the students in other learning opportunities, and that’s so that families are not picking up children at 6 p.m. and having an evening of work for the students to be doing based on what is assigned by the teacher,” Naser said.
She noted the fields are available for use by the students, and the good weather has allowed them to be outside playing.
“By and large, the students have learned how to physically distance but are enjoying some leisure time as well as educational time with teachers,” she said.
Naser added the district is also proud of the fact that it’s able to offer the programs at no cost to families.
“Unlike many other districts, we are providing the entire day of child care – the before-, during- and after-school hours care - free of charge to families, so some of our families who previously were paying for before- and after-school care are actually not paying for that service now. It is free,” she said.
The district is now working on plans to extend that care to Tier 2 essential service workers (anyone working in a job that’s classified by the B.C. government as “essential” but that isn’t a front-line Tier 1 worker), as well as plans to support vulnerable students – such as those with special needs who require high levels of care and whose families may need respite care during the week.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU NEED CHILD CARE
Still in need of care? Essential service workers who need child care for school-aged children are asked to contact their school principal directly.
Those essential workers with children aged newborn to five, and those other than essential service workers, are asked to visit the Government of B.C.’s information page for more details and to request temporary emergency care at www.tinyurl.com/COVIDChildCareBC.
See more about the New Westminster School District’s COVID-19 response at https://newwestschools.ca/covid-19-info-centre/
