Lil' Jems Early Learning Childcare Centre in Yarmouth (Contributed Photo)
The owner of a childcare centre in Yarmouth is frustrated over a lack of consultation from the provincial government.
The province are asking families to keep their children home over the next two weeks, to create childcare spaces for children of essential workers.
The province says parents will not be charged fees if they choose to keep their children at home and they will not lose their spot when their children return.
Jodi MacKinnon-LeBlanc of Lil’ Jems Early Learning Childcare Centre says it’s not fair to expect centres to take on all these new children.
She says her centre is not equipped to meet the needs.
“For me to have ten empty spaces in a classroom of 16, and for me to absorb ten community children into that classroom, there’s no way that would be anything but unacceptable and stressful for children.”
She says many parents have said they aren’t comfortable with other children joining the centre.
“Children have to go through one of the classrooms just to get outside or go to one of their classrooms in the morning. I don’t have a way to isolate these children that are coming from the community from the other children. I’m not going to be able to meet their needs at all.”
The province says children aged two to four are encouraged to wear a mask, but can be exempt if they can’t or don’t want to wear one.
MacKinnon-LeBlanc says staff are giving it their best shot, and it’s her priority to make sure the needs of the kids at her centre are being met.
“There’s nothing that says we have to accept these children yet. At this time, I’m saying no because we have many children with high needs. The classrooms have been designed specifically to meet their needs. It would create chaos.”
