UVic demanded secrecy from its Parent Advisory Board in attempting to close an after school care program in its community earlier this year.

Victoria, B.C. – The University of Victoria resolved to close an after school care program in its community without precedent, without warning, and without sufficient planning for children and parents.

The unexpected closure, if successful, leaves 47 children out of care at the end of this school year, when UVic is planning a $1.685 million renovation of their facilities for pre-school programming.

While UVic’s people need the many pre-school programs in their community, including the existing 40 spaces for 3-5 year old children on campus, there is no community resource equipped to replicate its after school care programming. Unlike pre-school care, most after school programs are out of catchment or at capacity with one to two year wait lists for UVic’s students, staff and faculty.

There are currently long waitlists for UVic child care programs across all centres and age groups, with the wait times for UVic’s after school care program often exceeding two years. A 2011 University of Victoria Report of the Working Group for Child Care Expansion did not recommend sacrificing after school care to create toddler and preschool spaces, but called for an expansion of out of school care programming.[1] UVic last expanded child care facilities in 2001.

The closure of after school care programming puts UVic out of step with peer institutions in BC; UBC and SFU provide hundreds of child care spaces across multiple locations in their community, including spaces in before and after school care programs. By next year, UBC and SFU will have expanded their services to provide one childcare space for every 88 and 70 registered students, respectively. UVic will have one space for every 270 students in 2017.

Mr. Jim Forbes, Director of Campus Services has claimed that “the decision to close the after school program was very difficult and the impacts on parents and children were fully considered.”

However, in May 2016, Jim Forbes discouraged the Parents Advisory Board (PAB) from consulting with the wider parent community and voting on the university’s proposal to close after-school care. Instead, the administration gagged PAB members, unequivocally directing them – against their primary role – to withhold information regarding the after-school care closure from other parents and the public.

Since then, in addition to the PAB, the University of Victoria Students’ Society (UVSS), Graduate Students’ Society (GSS), Professional Employees Association (PEA) and Faculty Association (FA) have expressed surprise and concern regarding the university’s decision to close their after school care program without sufficient consultation of their memberships. In response, UVic temporarily suspended the closure earlier this year, pending the outcome of a formal process of consultation between UVic and the Faculty Association. [2]

The university has yet to survey parents, conduct focus groups, or provide the public an opportunity to review a $1.685 million renovation of the existing child care facilities in open house or town hall events. When asked for comment in his Campus Update this month, UVic president Jamie Cassels effectively dismissed questions before telling parents: “I just don’t want to talk about child care anymore.” [3]

An unexpected, unprecedented closure of after school programming adversely impacts the financial, educational, occupational, and social well-being of many children and their families for many years to come. A group of affected parents, current attendees of the after school program, former attendees of the program, staff of the program, and other concerned people call on the University of Victoria to:

Make a definitive commitment to continue after school programming on an on-going, long-term basis. UVic must pursue this commitment in genuine consultation with its community: especially the staff, faculty and student parents of children in need of care.

Release documentation of the process surrounding the decision to discontinue UVic’s decades-old 0-12 child care model on campus, including a thorough cost benefit analysis of the $1.685 million expense on the existing care facilities.

Media Contacts:

Jonathan Faerber, student; faerber@uvic.ca

Jennie Nilsson, staff; jnilsson@uvic.ca,

Marcus Milwright, faculty; mmilwrig@uvic.ca

Maycira Costa, faculty; maycira@uvic.ca

On behalf of the UVic Child Care Alliance

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