{"id":720646,"date":"2026-06-07T08:32:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:32:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720646\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T08:32:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T08:32:04","slug":"upcoming-closure-of-highland-park-daycare-leaves-parents-scrambling-for-options-calgary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/720646\/","title":{"rendered":"Upcoming closure of Highland Park daycare leaves parents \u2018scrambling\u2019 for options – Calgary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any parent knows that finding a daycare spot for your kids can be a struggle at the best of times.<\/p>\n

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In the northwest Calgary community of Highland Park, the closure of a long-standing program is leaving fewer options for families in the area \u2014 and those who were already a part of it are now scrambling for alternatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you build those bonds with the children and you\u2019re with them for the majority of the day, and we have good relationships with our parents, it\u2019s disheartening,\u201d said Sumeet Sra, owner of NEXT Kids Daycare.<\/p>\n

The Highland Park Community Association didn\u2019t renew the lease of the daycare, which has been running for a decade. It\u2019s set to expire on June 30.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s left parents like Anna De Vries without a plan for her son right ahead of the summer months, which can be the most challenging time of year for childcare arrangements.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe made lots of friends in the program\u2026 friends that left because they had to go elsewhere,\u201d De Vries remarked. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to see those friendships end.\u201d<\/p>\n

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De Vries says the after-school program at NEXT has been instrumental for developing friendships, something she believes is challenging for some children in the classroom setting.<\/p>\n

Terry Egenschwiler has two young boys in the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve sort of scrambled, we\u2019ve tried to make plans but mostly we\u2019re just sort of hopeful the board will come to their senses and get this program renewed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Highland Park Community Association says NEXT Kids was informed last June the lease would come to an end at the end of March 2026.<\/p>\n

The association says a temporary rental agreement was then signed off on to extend the lease until the end of June to align with the end of the school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our arrangements concluding, the (association) has recently begun exploring opportunities to establish a not-for-profit before and after school care model.\u201d<\/p>\n

The association says a volunteer board of directors is taking on the search, but it\u2019s still in the early stages.<\/p>\n

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Sra says she\u2019s reached out to \u201cevery other community centre in the area\u201d to try to find a new home for her business and maintain the service for families nearby.<\/p>\n

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\u201cChurches, commercial buildings\u2026 we weren\u2019t very successful in finding something that would allow us to keep servicing the same schools we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the lease truly does end on June 30, Egenschwiler and Sra both say it\u2019ll be a sad day for all parents, kids and community members at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a few children who did leave, and they were quite sad,\u201d Sra said. \u201cAnd we still see them when we go to our schools for pickup. And they\u2019re very eager to come back to the program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been here for so long\u2026 it\u2019s been a blessing,\u201d Egenschwiler said.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Any parent knows that finding a daycare spot for your kids can be a struggle at the best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":720647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48,23454,24156],"class_list":["post-720646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada","tag-child-care","tag-city-of-calgary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/720647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}