Parents of Val-Bélair students are angry. The primary school her children attend has announced that it will not be able to offer bus transport a week before classes start at noon, even though the day care center is already overcrowded.
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“The worst thing is that we don’t know why,” argues Sonia Gagné, a mother of two primary school children who is in a very bad situation. The École de la Myriade says it’s because there weren’t enough registrations, but the carrier says there was no driver available. In both cases it is something that is predictable!”
As a house painter, Ms. Gagné has to leave her job to pick up her children from school, feed them and take them back to afternoon classes.
“This is really nonsense,” says Suzie Gagnon, mother of two boys, ages 10 and 11. My in-laws will help us for now. […] It’s complicated because I have a daycare center so I can’t leave the kids alone. Also, I live too far from school for my boys to walk.
No Exit
Sonia Gagné regrets that her children’s school has encouraged more students to return home to free up lunchtime care at the daycare, but that it does not offer the possibility of accessing care regardless of the sector.
“We can’t send them to day-care centers because they’re no longer accepting registrations. My people, when they go to our house from school, as soon as they enter the house, they have to leave the house because we stay too far away. There really is no other solution,” she states.
It’s even worse for Sophie Hamel. Her 11-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son were both enrolled in the school’s daycare. She then opted for the bus after being emailed asking if she could take that option for lunch.
“They took the registration (for the ride) and the payment, but they never told us there was no bus. I had to call to ask questions but even the school didn’t know. […] When I wanted to enroll her in the day care center again, it was too late, there was no more space. »
For at least a month
Angered by the school’s “poor communication”, she took matters into her own hands and decided to file a complaint with the Center de Services Scolaire de la Capitale. He informed him that the situation should last “at least a month”.
“They are sure that there will be no solution before then. Given the labor shortage, why do we wait so long before informing parents, knowing that finding staff is difficult? , argues Sonia Gagné.
At the time of writing, the Center de Services Scolaire de la Capitale had not yet responded to questions from the journal.
– In collaboration with Nicolas St-Pierre
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