After-Hours Childcare (AHC) is an important service to those who use it and before the AMS Board of Directors took the liberty of cancelling it, they should have come up with a firm solution instead of an ill-researched alternative that has left the 17 to 20 families who use the service with no inexpensive childcare provider to turn to.
In March, AHC became a grants-based program. The decision was made by AMS Council after Kelly Steele, VP (Operations), and the Andrew Graham, Director of Media and Services, reviewed AHC’s statistics. The numbers revealed that the program was used predominantly by faculty and of the SGPS. In July, the AMS Board of Directors approved a decision by AMS Council to cancel the program completely.
It is true that, relatively speaking, only a small fraction of Queen’s students are affected by the cancellation of AHC. However, this does not mean that we can simply ignore these students nor does it mean there won’t be more students in the future who could need the service. Juggling the demands of schoolwork is difficult enough, but adding in the care of a young child makes it nearly impossible. It is particularly hard for student-parents with evening classes or who need extra study time.
In the past, prior to the grants-based program, AHC charged parents $3 per hour and $1 per hour for each additional child. These fees cater directly to students on tight budgets. Childcare centres in Kingston charge anywhere from $25.50 to $49.50 a day.
Operation of AHC began in 1995. Since 1999, it has lost a total of $60,000. The AMS contributes about 34 per cent of the funding necessary to operate the service, and students who choose to pay the $1 opt-outable contribute 14 per cent. Although a loss of $60,000 over five years is considerable, compare this to the $160,000 loss accumulated by the Queen’s Entertainment Agency (QEA) over a four-year period from 2000 to 2004. The QEA receives $21,000 each year from its $3 opt-outable fee. And in 2003 alone, Alfie’s Pub lost $180,000.
Cutting costs and being financially responsible is a concern for the AMS, but it should re-evaluate its priorities. If we can excuse the QEA’s or Alfie’s’ losses and fight to keep these services, why not keep the AHC?
The decisions made by the AMS are lasting, and before it starts deciding to cancel necessary programs like After-Hours Childcare, it should seriously consider the ramifications of these decisions and think through the solution it offers.
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