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Parents are stunned and angered at the news that belt-tightening at Loyalist College will shutter the college's child care centre and several jobs along with it.
Dozens of students will have to seek child care services off-campus - as will early child care course students for hands-on training - when the college-operated Centre for Early Childhood Education shutters June 30. Roughly 38 students, two college staff and 23 public clients currently depend on the centre.
With a projected $150,000 operating deficit already on the books this year, college management chose, quietly, to discontinue on-campus day care services in a bid to stem further financial losses.
In what was described as a multi-year struggle, the the last-ditch option was to discontinue on-campus child care, said college president, Maureen Piercy.
"There's a very significant gap between the expenditure and revenue," Piercy said. "With great regret we've had to make this decision."
The college issued no statement to the media on the closure.
Jennifer Friesen, a city parent who uses the centre, bemoans the loss of the facility. She, along with dozens of other parents, were notified last week about the impending closure in an e-mail.
"As a parent you know you're getting the top notch care in Ontario," Friesen said. "It's such a shame. This centre has an impact on the entire community."
In addition, the cutback translates into an uncertain job future for five full-time employees and several part-time staff working at the centre, licensed to accommodate 65 children, ages one to five years old.
Staffing cost was a key factor behind the mounting financial burden, said Piercy. Senior management will engage in talks with union representatives to iron out job issues.
Some parents say they will be hard-pressed to find specialized day care for children with special needs - services that were available at Loyalist.
A mother of one special needs child said she is shocked at the closure and is worried that other children with accessibility issues will now lose the high standard of care offered at Loyalist.
Stacey McKeown credits the centre for her daughter's gradual ability to assimilate, despite her struggle with cerebral palsy.
"There aren't enough day care spaces for children with accessibility issues in Belleville," she said.
Piercy said she too was saddened at the decision.
"We've made every attempt not to come to this point, but it's just not sustainable," Piercy said. "The jobs those individuals are currently doing will be discontinued. We anticipate there will be some people displaced."
While helping to balance the books, the closure will serve a blow to pupils in the early childhood education program who will lose access to the practical training facility on campus.
Discussions are already underway to ensure that the closure won't threaten the standard of learning offered to students in the ECE program, Piercy says.
College officials plan to work in tandem with students to establish other child care arrangements for the upcoming school year.
Loyalist will now have to depend heavily local childcare facilities to shoulder the learning gap anticipated from the closure. ECE students use the centre for a variety of training purposes such as daily observations and work placements.
"We will have to adjust, to accommodate the fact that we will not have a childcare (facility) on campus," Piercy said. "This will be a challenge too, for the academic part of the college."
Piercy expressed regret about the untimely eradication of a local child entity some parents tout as one of the best in the city. She said such closures are not unique to Loyalist, as similar cutbacks have been made at other colleges.
"We all feel very badly about this," Piercy said. "It's an added value to the program. Unfortunately, we're not able to continue offering it on campus."
Without designated ministry funding for the centre's operation, college officials have to stretch dwindling operating dollars - along with fees collected from parents - to to keep the centre afloat, Piercy said.
-reprinted from The Intelligencer