A High River daycare owner received some relieving news on Friday afternoon, though it came at nearly the last possible minute.

Julia Gwyn-Morris, Owner of Daydreams Early Learning Child Care Ltd in High River, is one of many daycare owners who were waiting on bated breath for provincial confirmation as the school year drew closer and closer.

Her daycare is one of many that offer busing services to rural Albertans who rely on such services to get their kids to and from school.

Despite busing services such as Southland Transportation being given new parameters for COVID-19 measures, daycares offering busing services were left in the dark.

A week and a half ago, Gwyn-Morris and other businesses offering the service were told they'd soon receive an update, which they did eventually arrive on the Friday before classes were scheduled to resume.

They were contacted by a Licensing Officer Supervisor who told them via email to move forward with their operations in accordance with school Scenario 1 for the time being, and that an official update for child care operators would be provided at a later date.

Gwyn-Morris says she doesn't know what took so long.

"They could have done it a week and a half ago or two weeks ago. It would have helped a lot of not only families, but daycare operators and staff to know we're in the right direction, instead of waiting until Friday afternoon."

She says she gets the feeling rural areas were either forgotten, or the need for these kinds of transportation services were overlooked.

"Urban areas have public transportation. Say Calgary for instance; if parents had no other option, they could teach their kids to go on the bus. We don't have that here, there's no public transportation."

She says the lack of confirmation wasn't only adding stress to daycare operators, but parents as well, some of whom may have made preparations to miss work in order to accommodate having to drop children off at school themselves.

Even with the confirmation that they'll be able to provide transportation, Gwyn-Morris says they have to be prepared for a possible change in service when new guidelines are provided.

"We've let parents know that we will be transporting, however, what we have said also is we still do not have the new regulations, they're just saying 'go by what was already posted, but be prepared that something might change.' Then we'll have to notify them of those new changes. All we know is that we can drive kids based on school protocols in scenario 1."

She says she has a meeting scheduled with Livingstone-Macleod MLA Roger Reid to discuss the issue, as well as a handful of other issues faced by child care operators in the province.

 

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