The brand new Kool Cats Kid Care location in College Heights, which will hold 50 kids between infant to 5 years old and kindergarten / grade one after-school care, finished construction in January but has lain dormant since.
My PG Now reported on this story last week, in which Jean Petrovic, Kool Cats’ Administrator, said the delay in opening all came down to an unsigned lease agreement between the city and School District 57 – and that the District had possession of the necessary paperwork since December.
When My PG Now requested an interview with a representative from the District, we received an email response from Ellen Bryden, SD57’s Privacy Compliance and Risk Management Advisor, that read: “Please note this is a facilities and legal matter and we cannot discuss this or give official statements at this time.”
However, under a week later, the Prince George Citizen reported SD57 officially declined the lease agreement, quoting acting Superintendent Pam Spooner as saying “There’s a lease agreement that we don’t think is going to be feasible for us moving forward.”
The City of Prince George confirmed to My PG Now all lease agreements they sign with non-profit organizations, like Kool Cats – and by extension in this case, SD57, are only for $1,000 a year.
The School District has not responded to My PG Now’s requests to confirm or deny the end of the lease agreement, but has obtained an email from Kool Cats to its waitlisted parents that reads:
“These are the facts. The City of Prince George partnered with the College Heights Community Association to apply to the Provincial government for the BC New Child Care Spaces Grant. The City has been wanting [the] School District to have the lease agreement since the beginning as we already have a lease with School District for our current facility. In December, [the] School District received a draft of the lease agreement from the City to start negotiations. This week, it was announced that School District has determined that they did not want to move forward with the lease agreement. The City has been working hard for us and is also wanting to have the daycare open soon. The City holds the contract with the government, and we must give City time to go through their process to have a successful solution for the future of Kool Cats Family Care.”
The email also states SD57 is no longer a part of the process whatsoever.
To recap, the lease agreement, reportedly $1,000 a year, for the much-needed childcare space was in possession of School District 57 for five months – four of those months the signing of the lease was the last large hurdle to clear before opening – and now, the district has backed out.
“The rug has been pulled out from underneath us,” Emily Hutchinson, a parent lucky enough to be towards the top of the near 250-person Kool Cats infant and toddler wait list, told My PG Now.
“The school board [turned] their backs on these families who are in desperate need of childcare. I don’t understand why they held the lease for so long to end up not signing.”
Frustrated, she said she wishes the upcoming by-election could clean the boardroom out, not just elect two new trustees.
“This has become all about egos, you are not thinking of the children, and that is your job,” she said. “I want answers. I want to know what happens next. That building cannot sit empty when there are hundreds of families needing childcare.”
The Citizen also reported Spooner saying the district’s current priority is their own childcare programs – six centres in three communities that provide 145 spaces for children 0-5.
“People will be losing their houses and missing car payments if they have to go down to single income, or if they already are single income – how are they functioning if they can’t go to work,” Hutchinson asked.
There is no current estimate for an opening date for the centre.
Funding for the building was provided by the provincial government as a part of its ChildCareBC program.
If School District 57 provides a statement or an interview on the subject, My PG Now will publish a follow-up article.
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