MAPLETON – Mapleton council narrowly approved sending an application to the UGDSB to operate municipally-run before and after school programs at their elementary schools.
Amy Grose, recreation manager, said they have identified a serious gap and need for childcare in the township.
A survey to residents gauging interest in a summer camp program had more than 40 per cent of respondents indicate they would participate in a before and after school program run by the municipality.
Although the request for proposal (RFP) period has passed, the UGDSB granted the township an extension as the board has also identified a need for this in Mapleton.
The UGDSB has four schools throughout Mapleton.
Councillor Marlene Ottens mentioned the township has an unusually high amount of children but very few childcare options.
“I recall from various county-based reports that Mapleton has a higher percentage of children under 18 than any of the other townships in the county and by a very wide margin,” Ottens said.
“Ironically we’re also the only ones without childcare which seems incongruous as two statistics.”
Councillor Paul Douglas commented he found it unusual for this to be municipally-led and thought typically the board or an organization like the YMCA would handle this.
Grose agreed that is usually the case in urban areas but it isn’t always the case in smaller areas.
She noted the Town of Minto runs this program at their UGDSB schools.
“The RFP goes out every year and none of these ‘Ys’ or other groups have chosen Mapleton as where they want to run programs,” added mayor Gregg Davidson.
“Same problem exists when it comes to childcare centres, operationally having a Y do it is a lot better, not one has stepped up to do it for Mapleton.”
Davidson said this is a good opportunity to bring this service to the community while recovering costs through fees with subsidies offered by the county.
Councillor Michael Martin was uneasy over the appearance of “leg work happening in the background.”
Although the program would be intended to be cost-neutral, Martin said that rarely happens and wanted more information on actual costs to the township before supporting an application.
Davidson took issue at the suggestion of this happening behind the scenes and clarified it happened to come up during a recent meeting he and Grose had with a school board trustee.
“When it came to a meeting I was having with the UGDSB trustee, I invited Amy to listen,” Davidson said.
“What was interesting is the UGDSB trustee brought up a before and after school program that Amy clicked with.”
The mayor was blunt with council telling them there was no time to delay this application as they’ve already been given an extension.
“I’ve been working with the county for six years to get some kind of daycare, before and after school programming here in the township,” Davidson said.
“This is an opportunity for the township to step-up because no one else is stepping up to do it here.”
Grose later mentioned neighbouring municipalities have been contacted by the school board and the county to see if they would run this program in Mapleton schools because nobody has shown interest in doing so.
Martin still was uneasy and made a motion to defer which was defeated.
The recommendation to send in an RFP was approved in a 3-2 vote with Douglas and Martin voting against.
