Well, our fabulous childcare plan is unraveling at the seams. Kari is still very willing to take Maddie in the afternoons, but the plan hinged on getting her into the preschool program that Kari’s daughter is going to in the mornings. Turns out this preschool program, which is offered by the local school division free of charge to people like Kari who live in the neighbourhood, will cost us $4000. Yes, FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! That’s $20/day for a half day program. That’s almost as much as Marcel’s university tuition! And this is the public school system, not a posh private school.
What doesn’t make sense is that in our school division, there is no free preschool program offered, as far as I know. The only option we have is the preschool program through the local community centres. And you have to pay for that. So here we are, living in the same city, with the same provincial education system, and she gets a free program in her neighbourhood, and we get nothing. Zippo. Nada.
For that kind of money, we might as well rent a cheap apartment in the school’s neighbourhood, use that as our address, and give the space away to a homeless person. At least we’d be doing a good deed in the process!
The kicker is that there are spaces available in the preschool program. Spaces that probably won’t be filled. But rather than let our kid in for free like the other kids in the neighbourhood, they’ll leave the spaces open. Sheesh.
Anyone have any ideas how to challenge the system?