School disruptions cause problems for YMCA school programs

The Regina YMCA would have felt an impact Thursday if Saskatchewan teachers had gone ahead with a plan to withhold lunch-hour supervision as their contract negotiations with the provincial government continued.

On Monday, the teachers’ announcement prompted school divisions around the province — including those in Saskatchewan’s two largest cities — to unveil contingency plans. In some cases, school divisions decided to shorten school days.

Late Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation announced it was scrapping that plan after being invited back to the bargaining table.

Steve Compton, the CEO of the Regina YMCA, said early dismissals affect his organization’s before- and after-school programs.

Compton said the Regina YMCA operates 12 child-care centres, about 750 licence spaces and more than 20 before- and after-school sites and early learning centres between Regina and Moose Jaw.

For the before- and after-school programs, Compton said the YMCA usually has two staff members for the morning and another two for after school. Compton said that allows for parent dropoff and pickup at the end of the workday.

“When there’s closures or any disruptions at the schools, those programs cannot operate and that’s been something that certainly impacted parents at this point,” Compton said Wednesday.

Compton said it’s a challenge for the YMCA to accept extra kids on a short notice based on its staffing ratio. He also said the organization’s child-care centres usually are full.

“We can’t really accept any more children than our operating licence allows us to operate. A full (large centre allows 90 children), so if a new parent comes, the waitlists are long and deep,” Compton said.

“They’re hopeful that we can provide care outside of those traditional child-care spaces either through to the day camps or activities at one of our centres. We’re working hard on that and trying to anticipate how to be ready to help parents there when and if there’s further actions here.”

Compton said the YMCA plans for times when school is out, but on more irregular disruptions like Thursday’s planned one, things are more difficult.

“We’re having parents ask us if we can provide something similar right now to day camp-type of activity if there’s another full-day closure, for example,” he said.

Compton said the YMCA is working on some plans in the meantime to provide solutions for parents in case of further schedule disruptions.