The legislative framework for the delivery of extended day and childcare programs and services has changed and evolved significantly since the authorization of the current standing policies in 2014. The standing policies P.035.SCO, Extended Day Programs and P.059.SCO, Child Care Programs in Schools served the District well as it navigated the introduction of Child Care to the OCDSB suite of services.
In 2022, the new Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement was signed by Ontario to help further the commitment to create new child care spaces, ensure accessible high-quality care and ensure the affordability of before- and after-school programs. The District has completed the process of licensing its early learning programs in adherence with the Ministry standards for program delivery.
The District is looking into amalgamating the two standing policies into one policy that removes explicit language in the legislation and better reflects the current practice in the District. The proposed amalgamated policy will be presented to the Ad Hoc Policy Committee on September 13, 2023. You can review the report accompanying the policy to the Committee here.
We welcome feedback from all members of our community by emailing [email protected] by 29 September 2023. The revised policy integrating the feedback will be presented to the Ad Hoc Committee for approval before it proceeds to the Board of Trustees for final approval in January 2024.