Editor, the Gauntlet,
Re: "Playtime grinds to a screeching halt," March 7, 2002,
I read this article with interest since I am a faculty member who has been on the waiting list to get into the university day care since mid-1999. I was particularly interested in the statistic saying "currently, less than 20 per cent of children enrolled at the day care have parents who are U of C students."
I registered for the day care waiting list when I was pregnant with my second son. I wanted to enrol him in the day care the following September 2000, joining my older son.
When I checked my status on the waiting list earlier this year, I was told not to expect a spot in fall 2002 for my now three-year-old son. My older son no longer needs day care since he will be starting school.
The reason I was given for him not getting in the day care was that any undergraduate student who registers after me has priority and bumps me down the list. Although it has been frustrating, I have accepted this.
However it is even more frustrating that, as a member of the university community, I have no more priority than anyone from the outside who applies to the day care.
Because of the priority given to undergraduate students who want their children in the day care, I find the 20 per cent number for undergraduate students’ children in the day care concerning. Who are the other 80 per cent?
A small number could be the children of graduates who did not want to move them-which I agree with-however, I find it quite surprising that the number of other children is this high.
Meanwhile, I continue to take my children to a day care near my old workplace, by Deerfoot Trail and Memorial Drive. I can only look at the day care just outside my office window and imagine how less stressful my drop-off and pick-up would be if my son were on campus.
Janice P. Bodnarchuk
Instructor
Faculty of Management