Podunk Below the Masthead (Thursday, May 20, 2010)

A local daycare operation expands, School District 52 may soon be discussing cameras in the schools and the Kootenay Community Garden gets a little bit closer to completion, some of the items for your Thursday review.

Daily News, front page, headline story
LOCAL DAYCARE EXPANDING - MORE ROOM FOR BABIES AND YOUNGSTERS -- Details on the addition to Discovery Child Care Centre on Prince Rupert Boulevard, which will double it's capacity to 32 when it opens in June.

The ability for School District 52 to place cameras within classrooms and other school property could be a step closer after Bill 20 amendments work their way through the legislative process in Victoria. However, while some schools in the District currently use some cameras, the use is not widespread and  School District 52 chair Tina Last suggests that any increased use of video surveillance could be a controversial issue in Prince Rupert and may be a way off in the future just yet.

The British Columbia Maritime Employers and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union will continue to battle over who has the best interests of female workers at heart as a human rights suit continues on to the next stage. The issue has become intertwined with the current round of labour negotiations between the employers and union representing British Columbia's estimated 3000 maritime workers.

The Sports section features a look at last weekend's panhandle games, the track and field event held at the Charles Hays field.

(Daily News Archives for Thursday, May 20, 2010)

Local Daycare expanding - more room for babies and youngsters 
Cameras in the classrooms? 
Her House burned down in Port Simpson 
BCMEA and ILMEA dispute
Rupert landfill - messing with the mass

The Northern View
No new items posted to the Northern View site for Thursday.

CFTK TV 7 News
Taxi Driver Bear Sprayed -- A review of the Haysvale assault of a Skeena Taxi cab driver earlier this week (see article here)

CFTK TV 7 News
Help our garden grow -- Details on the progress of Prince Rupert's Community Garden at Kootenay Field on the west side of town (see article here) Sahar Nassimdoost's report can be (viewed here)

CBC News British Columbia, Daybreak North
Daybreak North is only posting selected items on their website now. 

The most recently posted items can be found on the archive page for Daybreak North click here

Daily News, front page, headline story
Local Daycare expanding - more room for babies and youngsters
By Monica Lamb-Yorski
Staff Writer 
Prince Rupert Daily News
Thursday, May 20, 2010

 Discovery Child Care Centre on Prince Rupert Blvd. will be opening a brand new additional building in June.

Initially the centre opened in 1996 to accommodate teenaged parents attending nearby high schools. It was licensed to care for children up to three years old.

Five years ago, Prince Rupert Options for Social Growth Society, the not-for-profit organization running the centre, set a goal to expand and create a space for children three to five years old.

This will allow the centre to care for children from the time they are born until they enter school, said Manager Leah Jowe.

Jowe was promoted to manager last November, after working at the centre since the summer of 2009.

She has worked in early childhood education for the last six years, previously in Vancouver.

“I’m from Prince Rupert and decided to come back. My family is still there,” Jowe said, adding that she was a high school student at CHSS when the daycare opened.

In Vancouver, she was involved with children over three and has really enjoyed working with babies.

 “Some of the babies were a lot smaller when I started in the summer and I’ve seen them developing their personalities. You can have the little class clown or the quiet shy one. It’s been an awesome experience to get to know them. Most of them are around the same age and at about a year they start walking,” Jowe commented. 

According to Jowe, a previous manager applied for the license to allow the centre to care for children over the age of three.

 “We received a new license which changed us into a building with one side for infant and toddlers and the other side, multi-aged care, which means we can have one infant, three children under the age of three and the rest of them have to be between the ages of three and five,” Jowe explained.

Most of the children are in care for the full workday, while three belong to teen parents and are usually picked up by 3:30 p.m., when the school day is over.

The main focus remains to assist teen parents with being able to finish their high school education, but there aren’t as many children of teen parents as there were in the past.

 “It’s a tough one. I’d like to think that it’s because there are less teen parents, but you go downtown and you see quite a few young moms with babies. Hopefully we can promote continuing on with your education. It is really hard though, I couldn’t imagine being a teen parent,” Jowe commented.

Once the new building is opened, children between ages three and five will be accomodated there, while the original building will be used for children that are under three.

Peggy Julseth, Northwest Housing Development Consultant from Terrace, has managed the building project. “We received financing from the Ministry of Children and Families with some extra financing from Northern Savings Credit Union.

We were approved some time ago, but it was quite an exercise to get it under construction,” said Julseth. Through the project, Julseth has worked with the society and its building committee. “We [currently] have a capacity of 16 children and the new building will give us an additional 16 spots,” Julseth added.

A grand opening of the new facility will take place on June 8, 2010 at 1:30 p.m.