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Reconsider daycare closure

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Letter to the Editor
Author: 
Martel, Jennifer
Format: 
Article
Publication Date: 
16 Mar 2010
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EXCERPTS

I write this letter with deep regret upon hearing the news of Caboose Daycare's closure.

I believe this is a huge mistake, one that Northern College
should seriously reconsider. This daycare has been open for far too
long for it to be discarded so quickly.

Maybe those in charge need to be reminded of the immense value
that the on-site daycare brings to the Early Childhood Education
program, or the extreme convenience its proximity has for ECE students,
especially when trying to gather placement hours.

It's also an extremely valuable resource to parents -- both staff and students.

Those in charge may need to be reminded that Caboose Daycare
also makes a huge contribution to our community. By being the first of
only two daycare centers in Timmins that accepts infants, Caboose
Daycare offers an invaluable service to parents of newborns needing to
return to work or wanting to continue their education.

In addition, the access to young babies increases the learning
opportunities available for ECE students, opportunities they will not
have access to elsewhere in the Timmins are. This specialized
experience is something that would no doubt be an asset on a resume.
Not to mention being exposed to the expertise of a staff that have been
loving our children for as long as the college has been open.

My overall experience with Caboose Daycare has been a special
one. I started at Northern College when my son was only six weeks old.

Scared to leave him, the staff at Caboose Daycare made me feel
so comfortable that I spent all of the free time I had between classes
with him, which sometimes amounted to an hour or two -- I'm sure there
were days when it amounted to almost three.

They showed me where they kept the diapers, the food, and the
bibs; so that I could feel as comfortable there as I did at home, which
allowed me to spend all the precious minutes I could with my new baby.

To be honest, over the last few months, they have become such a
huge part of my son's life. As he grows, so does his love for them, and
as a result, my love for them grows too.

I can't tell you countless times where I have been touched by
the things that I witness them doing for our kids. Like the time I came
in to hear my son laughing his little heart out because the two daycare
staff had him surrounded with socks.

Or the time that I decided to leave school early and walked in
to see the daycare manager rocking him because didn't want to sleep and
he had a little chest infection.

She rocked him, and rocked him; and he let her, the way he had
already stopped letting me rock him. I couldn't bear to interrupt
because it was so sweet.

Moments like that, I will never forget, and when my son gets
older I will tell him the stories and show him the pictures of his time
at Caboose and of all the lovely women that work there now, and should
be allowed to continue to work at this daycare.

The Caboose Daycare has a pretty special staff, they are all
different and unique but added together they are exceptional. To say
that they are invaluable but ultimately expendable due to cost
constraints seems a huge contradiction.

The closing of this daycare should not even be an option.

...

By closing this daycare without exhausting all options is a huge
injustice. It seems crazy to me that the college is going to shut down
a program that has been in place for 25 years, especially considering
its newest slogan -- "Building Our Future."

...

I urge you to reconsider. What a lesson we could all learn! What an inspiration we could be!

-reprinted from the Timmins Daily Press

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