 It's great to be after lunch and I think let's approach this in the spirit of this document and we write this from the perspective of kids But as a bunch of adults, let's play right and that's what the system needs to start doing is to start playing together a little bit better Let's also acknowledge that our planning that we may have really goes for naught if we continue to devalue and underpay the world of EC So all our plans are rooted in that right there. Let's let's change that piece This is our story and it's unique to us. It's our context You have unique challenges you have unique stories to tell and so we will tell a story from Mildreni Valley That is not my story. It's it's a collective story. It's a collaborative story and I think the story really starts and I'm gonna probably repeat a few things that people have said this morning But let's imagine you're you're that four-year-old child Walking to a school in your neighborhood with your parents. You're gonna go play on the playground apparatus And the parents are saying to you that will be your school I'll suggest right now that it's already that child school and we need to open the door to that child before they turn the age of five And we need to have that child and and I think the child gets it I think we need to have adults understand that the playground the school in the classroom or the kids Doesn't belong to the adults, right? So there is a shift in mindset right there that we need to be following A lot of stuff will return on investment investment in child care child You know early years and so on there is so much out there that we have been doing like many other school districts I'm gonna talk about a couple things in particular where we might be playing outside the box a little bit First let's acknowledge that we do lots of great things in schools Our strong start programs have been amazing and I want to reinforce because I think we sometimes Understate the value of those programs that are as much about educating and informing and connecting parents to be better parents Which is foundational to everything because they are probably the most consistent adult in that child's life So those are really important and we operate some great strong starts I wish we could have enough money to pay for them, but that's another story Let's look it in we are also operating before and after school care on our school In our school buildings on our school grounds some of those are in partnerships with organizations community schools non-profits and so on and and those are working Amazingly and I will reiterate reiterate that piece this morning that if we have enough room for the kids between the bells We've got enough room for the kids before and after the bells We just got to find a way of making it happen And if that sounds overwhelming You know when we look at how many child children are actually going to access it We're not really saying a school of 250 has needs to have 250 spaces for it It's going to be a smaller number than that, but we shouldn't let that fear of being oh my god We can't do it stop us from starting so we started doing some of those programs We also have as many as you do childcare on And in our schools on our school sites some of those Really the majority of them are through lease arrangements with not-for-profits and other organizations who operate them on Our school sites what might be a little different is that the school district our school district is actually a daycare provider We hold the license for a preschool program, which in fact is illegal because If you read the school actors is one line in there that says that we aren't actually allowed to offer early learning programs except Giving prior approval from the minister now the minister actually came and visited it was awesome And he didn't tell me to shut it down. So I think tacitly that means it's okay to keep going and so So we are we operate that We're the license holder we hire the employee to And we pay that person $25 an hour because it's just a morally right thing to do and We also so it's it's meeting that demand for do you have additional space that we can access? Yes, but the really cool thing about that is we've also made that what we call the learning lab It's a hub where we have early childhood educators in partnership with North Island College They come and it's part of their early childhood program and they spend time in that environment as part of their ECE program So not only were we meeting space needs We're also looking at increasing capacity and those people who enter the ECE profession. So it's awesome And then we also had an earlier center for the past three years Which built some amazing relationships in our community multiple partners multiple agencies and so on and we lost our funding But we then got it back because we were successful in the process and we now hold the MCFD contract for the regional earlier services in our district and We're able to continue the work that we started years ago in our community and we have that regional approach now and To do that we hired Three individuals to provide leadership and management to it So we have three people in our district who are dedicated solely to the world of early learning It's not off the side of someone's desk. It's not part of another portfolio So our district leads Stacey medicine the principal is with us today I also have two others who are managers of our contract and so they breathe life into the MCFD contract They are also and I'm going to use the word pedagogist does for us because they are working with our community To engage with those who are offering childcare pre-k those who are in primary classrooms So it's learning its education its partnerships its collaboration and so on It's it's new to us but I think that group of amazing women are just rocking it for us and hands up to them You stand up and I have to finish And I just want to make it all really clear to everybody Okay, and we've also Created a bit of a stir out there a little bit of a ripple goes through our community Some people understand us and love us some people are afraid of us and reject us because the big systems come in to take over Ours is not about control. We seek no control over this We want to influence and we think we have some resources to help influence the early learning world And that's what we're trying to do So if it ever happens at the end of the day that it resides in the Ministry of Education right on and and if it means that people Are going to get paid the decent wage? Awesome. We just got to fund the thing right? But we've tried we're working outside the box We're building childcare and new buildings and everything else We'll come back and tell you how it went, but it's really a Rewarding piece because I am a secondary English teacher And for me who realized I'm way too far downstream This is the upstream solution. So thank you In 1998 a Coquitlam middle school community grappled with two worrisome issues a lack of after-school care programs for its kids and Some of its youth becoming involved in high-risk behaviors The community created a plan to provide its own after-school program to foster resiliency skills in vulnerable kids Secured grant funding and in January 2000 Kateslam from the Halka Malam word meaning coming together Began serving students at Banting Middle School Created to support indigenous youth. The program however was free and open to all Kateslam has grown over the years to serve three additional middle schools in 2017 the first Kateslam mini program opened at Glen Elementary. I have the honor of being Glenn's principal Glenn sits in the urban heart of Coquitlam and serves more than 520 students in kindergarten to grade 5 who speak 39 different languages We are indeed a United Nations of schools with a mosaic that represents many of the world's cultures Despite this diversity our community is united by one value It takes a village to believe to raise a child many caregivers in our village However, experience financial pressures complex work demands and difficulty securing child care as a school system our ability to mediate directly Those financial and work pressures is minimal But possibilities certainly do exist for us to significantly alleviate child care challenges and in doing so Indirectly alleviate the other pressures perhaps contributing to improved family mental health Kateslam is one possibility Its model is simple Utilize existing school district spaces and organizational structures to provide high quality before and after school programming for students Employ an affordable flexible not-for-profit fee structure provide nutritious hot breakfasts Hire safe caring and responsible adults who are trained in youth and social work Education or child development and psychology Deliver beyond the bells of the school day Evidence-informed programming designed to help children develop skills in self-regulation resiliency personal and social awareness and responsibility compassion kindness and curiosity Allow parents to meaningfully engage every day with their neighborhood school within the bookends of their work day and Bring schools and a community partner together to share in the work of supporting children and families to thrive Essentially Kateslam allows the Glen Village to provide its members with seamless care and education on a shoestring So what does Kateslam mini look like sound like feel like for the kids? It's arriving at school up to an hour before classes start Meeting friends and program staff in the community kitchen for a hot breakfast And then when the bell rings trendling off to meet their teachers later It's heading down the hall to the multi-purpose room to unite with program staff once again and begin working on homework Have a healthy snack and then pursue a mix of structured and unstructured activities such as crafts cooking reading games Toys outdoor play movement activities in the gym and of course special projects for families Bringing kids to a familiar building with safe trusted Staff before heading off to work and then picking them up from the same familiar faces and building at the end of the work day For Glenn school staff. It's collaborating with a trusted partner to best meet the needs of kids and improve their chances in life So why is Kateslam not in every one of our district schools? Well, we have met some obstacles to expansion We're currently navigating the dilemma of whether to seek licensing under the community care and assisted living act or to continue as a single Theme recreational program which does not require licensing this journey is proving is proving quite complex The expectations of the act as we've heard today are much different from those of the school act For instance the adult to child ratio and floor space ratios that are deemed safe for my Glenn students during instructional time Do not meet criteria for childcare Kateslam currently operates under conditions similar to those under which children learn with their teachers and support staff during Instructional hours, but a child care license would require greater numbers of staff and a lesser number of students Thus reducing our capacity to offer the program at the affordable costs that we currently do While the licensing officers in our community have been extremely eager to work with us The act currently allows them very little in fact no flexibility for exemptions on staffing and space ratios Predictable operational funding is another obstacle to expansion Kateslam which also offers programs in five other district elementary schools Succeeds because of the dedication and tenacity of its executive director Karen Bell She works tirelessly to chase down donations and grants that allow her to pay staff and the bills While charging a flexible and affordable rate to families I am able to provide safe space free of charge and we share costs on many of the operational expenses But this is certainly not a sustainable model when Karen retires Kateslam may well cease to be Recruitment and retention of staff is the final obstacle to expansion We are currently able to secure high quality staff willing to work at the minimum wage our shoestring budget allows Because they are so passionate about what they do However, this pool of human capital is limited and the level of expertise and experience required for this work Certainly deserves a higher wage an increase to our funding would allow us to recruit and retain enough high quality staff to expand I'm grateful for the opportunity to share about our Kateslam collaboration Thank you to all three ministries and I just wanted to end by saying I've been doing this for 27 years And this summit just leaves me so hopeful that together our greater provincial village will be able to come together to craft a system of seamless Care and education for all BC families to thrive. Thank you First of all, it's a we're starting out as a partnership with the Ministry of Education And they're offering us some support and some people and some critical friends as we work through this We have hired two amazing early childhood educators that are part of the district team one starts at 7 30 a.m. and Finishes at 1 30 in the afternoon. So she works In the kindergarten classroom in a in a program before and then stays in the kindergarten classroom When the teacher arrives at 8 30 to be a part of that team the second early childhood educator starts at 11 30 and Continues to work in the kindergarten classroom and stays until 5 30 p.m. So it's a seamless day Where there's overlap of two hours in the middle of the day and the two early childhood educators and our amazing kindergarten teacher Work collaboratively as an educated team to deliver an amazing well-rounded program for our kindergarten and grade ones and We're already finding out that the they're thriving together They're equals in there and the space is shared and the resources are shared and then during the End of the day because there are more than one kindergarten teacher involved They end their day every day with some outdoor learning and then when it's dismissal time Some children go off to their families and some return to the kindergarten classroom again in a shared space with shared resources and shared Supplies so we've are we're just beginning just backing up how it came to be I want to thank Maureen Dockendorf for showing me a video was 11 minute video From Ontario that showed the concept of this seamless day, and then we had a conversation about this Are you interested in trying some of this well? I've never been shy of kind of stepping out and trying something new But in this case I saw some amazing opportunities for our families and more importantly some amazing opportunities for our children and I had just the perfect classroom that would work in this situation because I knew a Teacher remember it's the it's the end of May That I could approach and of course she was on board and I want to just stop right now And I'm talking fast because I know only in five minutes and I have a lot to say But I just want to say that you know I certainly played a role in getting this off the ground and helping to create the vision in my district But the real work is happening in that kindergarten classroom with those ECEs And I want to introduce Malia Dirk at the back and stand up Malia If you want to connect with Malia She's the kindergarten teacher in that room That's taken a lot of risks and working out some bumps because we really hope we can leverage this to be on this one site So again, we looked at this video with Maureen Dawkendorf talked to Malia and then we I really wanted to work with our partner group So we have a partner group that already works in that school on some preschool programs Some before and after and I didn't want to come in as the big district. We're going to compete We're going to steal your ECEs So met with them talked to them about the vision and how can we work together to make this happen and not only were they Supportive we ended up really strengthening that partnership even more so because by us focusing on kindergarten and grade one they could focus on some of the older children and that was a Challenge for them to have a quality program that addressed Kindergartens and grade ones and then maybe up to you know 11 or 12 years old and then it allowed more people On the waitlist to get in so that really was positive and actually even more strengthened Our relationship and presented more opportunities for us So then I had to work with our QP Union because we had to create some new job descriptions We didn't have ECEs in a seamless day as part of our employment So we had to work with them in that and then I also had to work with our QP Union on agreeing to a letter of understanding Because we wanted some language agreement or language around bumping and leaves that wouldn't be good in this environment Particularly similar to what we have a strong start. So it was right in the middle of bargaining But we kind of could have these side conversations and again super super supportive and that worked really well with our our QP Union so then we put a posting out and Actually, we're worried about recruiting but we were able to recruit two amazing early childhood educators and then Put up we had to get licensed and I will tell you that I knew nothing about licensing and that was a really good thing in this case Because I'm not sure I would have treaded down I always see my job as a superintendent to try and keep the noise away from the people who really do the work and the principles and The teacher Malia so I said well I can I run a district I can go down this road and get this space license It's June and parents were signing up and really thrilled well That was a another process and you know, that's a whole nother story, and I still have a little bit of PTSD about that process but we got that place license with want just by losing one week and I just will suffice it to say that I needed less scrutiny to run a school district and As a superintendent and to work with my principal then I did at getting this one space license But we were able to get it licensed. I certainly felt the pressure of those parents They wanted in and they couldn't wait to begin and they had no plan B I was almost going to have them dropped off at my office at one point it I was actually not thinking very straight at one point because Everyone was so anxious to get this going But what are we already noticing in our humble beginnings of just a couple months in our parents are loving this program Not only do they love the one-stop drop-off, but they love the seamless day of policies We're starting to meet with our parents and they're telling us of the policies that are now in line with what happens during the school day Something we didn't even realize and they appreciate that they Appreciate that their children are coming home really connected and loving three adults in their classroom And the parents are saying that we feel connected in fact I come to the end of the pick them up and I get to hear stories about my child's whole day and the Eces know at the end what kind of day that that child has so parents are giving us such positive feedback we've We're consulting with Sharon Jaroski because we've agreed to do an evaluation piece of this around student outcomes So we're already meeting parents and telling them about the kind of outcomes around social emotional learning and attachment to adults and All the good things that we know makes a difference to connecting students to school and to Their teachers so we've started that Our ECEs are telling us that they are how thriving they are in this environment. Not only are they having Professionally a very satisfying experience, but they're talking about how they're growing professionally Working alongside an amazing teacher working with the framework of early learning in a way that makes them valued contributors to this educational team during the day