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The owner of a northwest Calgary daycare says her facility is implementing new protocols after it was issued a probationary licence.
Fit Kids Care, at 8060 Silver Springs Blvd. N.W., will be under probation until at least Sept. 2. If at that point it meets provincial requirements, its full licence will be reinstated.
The province says the probationary licence is due to what it calls “ongoing non-compliance with provincial standards, including inadequate supervision, failure to report incidents and improper child guidance.”
Owner Susan To called the situation “an eye-opener,” and said she understands where the province is coming from.
“They’re doing their best job to be transparent, which I think is great,” she said. “So I’m happy that they came, and there is some stuff that they found that we need to do better on, which I totally understand.”
Some of those issues include an incident where To says school-aged kids were being “silly” in the bathroom and going under the stalls. She says Fit Kids has modified bathroom supervision and introduced bathroom passes.
There was also an incident at a park that she says staff did not report to higher-ups, so parents weren’t notified. She says there was a meeting with staff to go over proper reporting. To says the incidents involved staff who are no longer with the company.
Fit Kids employs 27 staff members, with 134 children in its daycare and before and after school programs. It was established in 2007, To said.
The province requires the daycare to notify parents of its probationary status. To said parents were notified Wednesday, and said she is confident Fit Kids will pass its probationary period “with flying colours.”
“Our focus has always been the safety and health of the kids and trying to create an awesome environment for the children to want to come to Fit Kids,” she said.