The Executive Director of North Hastings Children’s Services (NHCS) says she expects there will be increased demand for daycare next year. That’s if a proposal to change start times at two elementary schools goes ahead.
Jessica Anderson says a sudden rise in demand would be challenging to manage, as it would require NHCS to submit a revision to its licence with the Ministry of Education. She says “that’s not a simple process.” The Ministry requests six months’ notice, so there’s already a time crunch to set up more services in time for next school year.
The Hastings & Prince Edward District School Board is considering starting York River Public School at 8:25 a.m., 20 minutes earlier than its current 8:45 a.m. start time. It’s end time would then shift from 3:05 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Bird’s Creek Public School would become a “later” school and have students starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending class at 3:50 p.m.; a 50-minute difference from its current day of 8:40 a.m. to 3 p.m.
NHCS runs before and after school programs at both schools.