Daycares facing closure in Coquitlam School District offered hope

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – “Re-elect me and I will try to keep your child’s daycare from closing,” is what Liberal Leader Christy Clark is saying after learning seven daycares in the Coquitlam district are facing closure at the end of the school year.

“We’re going to make sure that we work with them to try and minimize any disruption. Ultimately, the decisions about how space is used comes down to the elected local school district officials.”

Clark’s talking about changes being made to accommodate the hiring of more teachers — as ordered by Canada’s highest court back in November.

“I think we have time to make sure, with school districts, that we have a chance to make sure it’s done right.”

“That’s a promise today that if you’re re-elected, none of these pre-schools don’t have to worry about losing space.”

“We are going to work with school districts to make sure that we find a way to get through it.”

The Supreme Court of Canada ruling reverses class size and composition cuts made by Clark when she was BC’s education minister in 2002.

“For the next 28 days, we’re going to be relying on school districts to make sure we get this transition right. Should I be re-elected, we’ll do what we need to do to assist them in that because nobody wants to see that happen…. Three thousand new teachers coming in to schools, more schools being built all across the province. In the longer term, where we’ve landed on this, I think is going to be great for kids –great for education.”

In School District 43, nearly 100 teachers will be hired over the summer and they need classroom space.

The operators of the daycares facing closure have already been told their leases will not be renewed at the end of June.