For over 11 years, I’ve been sitting with my morning coffee and watching parents pulling and pushing their kids along 108A Avenue on their way to drop them off at daycare.

Around two and a half years ago, Russel and I became parents through adopting our fabulous daughter Shaina and we entered the world of childcare. McCauley Community After School Care (MASC). would become Shaina’s haven for after school and they would even pick her up from the bus stop on 97 street!

McCauley Community After School Care has been an integral community resource for 30 years. Located in Sacred Heart School, 70 children attend the McCauley Community After School Care and go to 12 different public and separate schools.

Then in November, the news came that the Edmonton Catholic school board may close the daycare at the Sacred Heart location and move to a new location somewhere else in another neighbourhood. The collective groans turned to outrage as parents and daycare staff tried to surmise why moving a very much needed and credible non-profit childcare program elsewhere would be advantageous to any of the school boards, especially since half of the kids go to Catholic schools like Mother Teresa. Apparently the space was to be used for school consultants to be collectively working under the roof of Sacred Heart School.

The parents and staff mobilized and wrote a collective letter outlining the impact of the move on the neighbourhood and families. We met with school trustees from both the Catholic and Public school boards on January 12, 2011 at Sacred Heart School to discuss the impact to the community of the cancellation of the childcare centre lease by the Catholic School Board. Both John Acheson, Catholic school board trustee, and Dave Colburn, Public school board trustee, came out to the meeting.

Parents presented varied perspectives about the importance of the childcare to their children and to their lives. The common theme of parents’ presentations was how wonderful and attentive the staff of MASC is to their children and that they would lose the consistency of the childcare from their children’s lives. “Safe, secure, loved – these things met are met at McCauley,” one parent stated which holds the sentiment of most parents.

The hard work of concerned parents had paid off and John Acheson, trustee for our ward, had brought forth our concerns to the Catholic school board trustee meeting and we had been heard.

Rob Turrilli , District Land Use Planner, for the Catholic school board, made the announcement that the administration would not be cancelling the lease at Sacred Heart School and that the decision had been rescinded. Though the daycare may still be moved within Sacred Heart School, it will not be leaving the building or our neighbourhood.

The hard work of concerned parents had paid off and John Acheson, trustee for our ward, had brought forth our concerns to the Catholic school board trustee meeting and we had been heard. The Catholic School Board had wisely decided not to end the lease with MASC.!

Molly, director of childcare at MASC for 19 years, exclaimed, “MASC will be in McCauley another 30 years and we are excited to continue to work with children in this neighbourhood.”

Anna Bubel, McCauley resident and advocate, said ,“For once in a blue moon we have had a victory in McCauley.”

Jennifer Diep said, “My son Ivursyn has his closest friends at this daycare. If this changed, his growth and development would be interrupted.

The parents and staff of MASC would like to thank the Catholic School Board, John Acheson, and the administration for listening and responding to our concerns and investing in our children and neighbourhood in continuing to provide a place for our childcare.