Ministry of Education
Early Years and Child Care Division
315 Front Street West, 11th floor
Toronto ON M5V 3A4
TO: Consolidated Municipal Service Managers and District Social Service Administration Boards (CMSMs and DSSABs)
FROM: Holly Moran, Assistant Deputy Minister Early Years and Child Care Division
DATE: November 18, 2022
SUBJECT: Care for Eligible Health Care Workers
On November 16th, CUPE announced their intention to withdraw their services in schools beginning on Monday November 21, 2022.
The ministry has advised school boards to:
- Continue to provide in-person learning for all students where possible.
- Transition to synchronous remote learning if it cannot maintain the healthy and safe operation of in-person learning.
- Ensure that all efforts are made to preserve access to full day child care centres co-located with schools.
The government is taking every reasonable effort to support the parents of school-aged children who may not be able to support their child’s learning or care at home. The Ministry of Education will provide funding to service system managers so eligible workers can access care for their school-aged children at no cost for the duration of the CUPE labour disruption. Please see below for further details.
Eligible Programs include:
- Licensed child care programs
- Day camps
- Recreation programs
These programs may be directly operated (i.e., the municipality) or delivered by a third party (e.g., YMCA, Boys and Girls Club).
Providers for school-aged children are asked to create conditions that support students’ engagement in remote learning where possible. Service system managers and program operators are encouraged to continue to work with school board partners to ensure collaboration and the smooth operation of these programs.
Eligibility:
The program is intended to provide alternate care arrangements for school-aged children of health care workers, including, but not limited to, doctors, nurses, PSWs, health care providers, staff working in long-term care and retirement homes, as well as other applicable congregate care settings at no cost to the parent. Staff in licensed child care settings, both homes and centres, are also eligible.
It is anticipated that full time licensed child care programs (children aged 0-4) in schools will continue to be open and accessible, even if a school pivots to remote learning. However, younger children who are not yet school aged are eligible (these children would only be able to receive care in a licensed child care setting).
Funding
Service system managers are being asked to keep track of funding associated with managing this service and will be asked to provide a rationale for the incurred costs.
For ease of completion and to ensure consistency, a sample budget template will be provided.
CMSMs and DSSABs are required to complete and submit this template to the ministry. The ministry will follow up with further information on the submission due date. However, for planning purposes, you can anticipate that this template will be due to the ministry within 6-8 weeks following the end of the CUPE labour disruption.
Thank you,
Holly Moran
c.First Nations with Licensed Child Care Programs