The Drayton Valley Early Childhood Development Centre is updating its late fees.
Representatives of the Centre were at Drayton Valley town council’s June 15, 2022 meeting to get Council’s approval for the change.
Under the new policy, if you are running late to pick up your child, you will be charged $10 for the first five minutes, plus $10 per minute after that. If you are late three times in a six month period, your childcare space will be terminated.
According to Bernice Taylor of the Early Childhood Development Centre, tardy parents have been on the rise. Taylor says this is highly inconvenient, as many of their staff have second jobs to get to. It also gets into budgetary reasons, as they have to start paying overtime.
Councillor Bill Ballas wanted to know if parents have the courtesy to call ahead and let the Centre know they are running late.
Taylor said they usually do. She added, however, that they would be very flexible with this policy. In the case of a family emergency or inclement weather, they would be willing to waive the late fees. According to Taylor, this is more for the parents who sit in their car for 15 minutes on their phone.
Mayor Nancy Dodds wanted to know how bad this problem currently is.
Taylor responded that it tends to be a seasonal occurrence. For example, Taylor says there have been some families picking up their children early because they want to enjoy the summertime weather.
“We have had years where it is really bad, we have had years where it happens, maybe, three times in the course of the whole year,” shared Taylor. “Right now, we are seeing occurrences maybe twice a week.”
Ballas chimed in again, expressing concern about terminating the childcare space.
But Taylor assured him that they have never had to do that, and that one instance is usually enough to convince parents to be on time.
The new policy was passed by town council.
Comments