VANCOUVER – Daycare operators in British Columbia are scrambling to keep up with increased demand for child support as more parents need places to babysit their kids because schools will not open.
Janos Stiasny, owner of Wise Owl Montessori Child Care, says spots in his daycare have filled right up because of the ongoing teachers’ strike.
He says he normally gets more than 65 children, but after the strike his care centres are looking after about 90 kids in total.
Talks between the government and teachers fell apart over the weekend, dashing any hopes parents had that school would start as scheduled on Tuesday.
Both sides have said they are willing to speak again, but no meetings have been scheduled.
The province’s 40,000 public school teachers went on strike two weeks before the summer break started, booting half a million students out of class.
The sticking points are pay, class size, and the amount of support staff per class, and talks over summer months progressed at a glacial pace.
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