Sask. child-care centres excited to welcome back children starting June 8

Child-care centres in Saskatchewan are able to open their doors to all children — with some new rules — starting June 8 as part of Phase 3 of the province's reopening plan.

For some it's a drastic change. For others that have been operating at a limited capacity for the children of essential workers, there will be almost no change at all. 

Bati McComas is preparing to reopen the Alcerces Spanish preschool and Kindergarten in Saskatoon. Usually filled with snotty noses and lots of hugs, the centre has had to change some of its protocols. 

"We are very excited for the children," McComas said.

Changes include having to do drop-offs at specific stations, not allowing parents inside and only having eight children with a teacher. 

"It was a big task," she said. "It's really hard in between for them, need to be really careful, organized. Luckily we have a large space." 

Registration will be first come, first serve, McComas said. 

Provincial guidelines around child care limit facilities to 15 children in one defined area. Children and staff should remain together as a group, there should be fewer toys and parents should not enter the facility unless absolutely necessary. 

The guidelines are familiar to YMCA Regina, where child-care programs have been running at reduced capacity since the beginning of the pandemic for children of essential workers. 

"We're really optimistic with the movement in Phase 3," said Steve Compton, CEO of YMCA Regina. "More families will need us back and we need them back and we're looking forward to serving them."

Compton said that since the beginning of the pandemic, staff have been doing daily temperature checks, questions, sanitization and more. He said they are working through the new guidelines for Phase 3, but that they are similar to what the facility is already doing. He said staff will mainly be looking at the new drop-off and pick-up guidelines. 

The YMCA is looking at children returning on a case-by-case basis, he said, as families have different situations with work and personal preference. 

"There's some mechanics and some facility challenges that we have to work through, it does allow most people to return," Compton said. "We have very few complete cancellations of service."

Compton said that looking forward, he hopes the YMCA can help families whose plans have been disrupted. 

"There might be a role for us to play in that recovery as the community comes back online," Compton said. 

Anil Karim, executive director of Building Brains Early Learning Centre in Saskatoon, said the new regulations announced for June 8 are comprehensive and take away any ambiguity for the child-care sector.

Building Brains, a Calgary not-for-profit, opened two campuses for child care and early learning in Saskatoon in 2019. The preschool campus had 90 spaces, while the toddler and young child care campus had 60. It was reduced to eight children per room on March 20, 2020, but Karim said they saw the change coming and prepared early.

"A few weeks prior to that, we had put in our own health and safety guidelines and sanitation guidelines," Karim said. 

"When these guidelines came in, some of our procedures were a bit more strict."

The centre was doing temperature checks, avoiding cross contamination, wearing gloves when needed and physically distancing from other groups. Children who were staying at home had online groups and social media videos as resources for parents. 

With the new regulations, the toddler campus can accommodate 57 children, while the preschool centre can only accommodate about 45 — or half its capacity.

Returning spots will be first come, first serve, Karim said.

"There's many parents that are still working from home and we have work-from-home solutions where we can do online preschool specifically for the older children … So it's really just looking at what are the needs of those children," Karim said. 

Karim said he hopes child care centres with capacity help those that are full or unable to take more children. 

"We all know that Saskatoon is the largest child-care desert," Karim said. 

"In this environment where child care is essential for getting our families back into work … we can make sure that children are safe and secure while families are working and parents are going to work."