Planning underway for new Edam daycare

Some Edam mothers have to stay at home instead of going to work due to a lack of available daycare space available in the town of 500.  

Looking to fix the problem, Apryl Grant and a group of parents banded together to build a government regulated, not-for-profit daycare on Meadow Lake Elementary School property.

Grant said it’s more cost effective for families to have a government regulated daycare versus a private one since some families travel to North Battleford or Turtleford for daycare.

“My daughter is four and in her year there were 26 kids born so there are a lot of kids needing daycare,” Grant said. “There’s currently two daycares (one private and one government regulated) which can only home five kids each.”

Grant and the committee first looked at refurbishing an existing home, but after seeing the daycare regulations they realized it was easier to build a new location.

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“Size and height of windows, the furnace, and tonne’s of other things (needed to be changed) so that’s why we looked at the school area, there’s a spot that would work,” Grant said.

She said they are currently at a standstill until the Northwest School Division approves or denies the construction.

If the proposal is rejected, Grant said the building committee doesn’t have a second location in mind.

However, after seeing similar projects built in Paradise Hill, Spiritwood and Turtleford, Grant said she’s confident they’ll be approved.

If complete the daycare will replace the current government regulated home. Initial plans for the building have it large enough for 20 kids.

Grant said ideally the project will be complete in two to three years.

Colton Swiderski is meadowlakeNOW’s municipal affairs, crime and court, health and education reporter. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski. Concerns regarding this story can be addressed to News Director Geoff Smith at 306-446-6397.