The Board of Trout Lake Community Centre has chosen to cut funding to the preschool, resulting in the loss of a beloved teacher for the upcoming school year. 

Trout Lake Preschool is a wonderful place where kids from the East Vancouver community have grown, learned, and thrived for years. That is due to the incredible care of the three teachers who have natured and cared for our next generation for over a decade. 

Cutting funding and removing one of the three teachers from the preschool will impact the children, parents, and the community. Not to mention how it feels for the three teachers who have dedicated their lives to educating and caring for our next generation.

The justification given by the Community Centre leadership is that since COVID is "over" they will be cutting preschool staff to save on costs. 

Here's why parents are saying NO, that should not be an option: 

1)  Parents registered for September under the assumption that the wonderful support from those three teachers would remain. The funding cut decision was communicated months after Fall registration, leaving parents no time or choice to find other options that have a more balanced staff to student ratio for this high needs group of students. Some of those parents have been waiting on formal diagnosis that would allow for additional support for their children, but as we all know, those wait lists are incredibly long, and can often take years.

2) The current cohort returning in September requires three teachers due to a significant portion of children facing barriers, identifying as neurodivergent, and/or medically complex. Our community is very concerned the well being and health of these children is being jeopardized for a monetary issue which could be addressed elsewhere. Preschool is a critical part of early learning, we shouldn't be looking to cut corners when we know adequate support results in better outcomes that last a lifetime. 

3)This staffing cut will stop the deep cleaning protocols at Preschool established during COVID. The school's cohort has multiple children at high risk of respiratory failure from Asthma and other chronic diseases. Exposing these children unnecessarily to surface transmitted viruses could result in preventable hospitalizations and grave harm. These children deserve the best possible chance at a healthy school experience as they learn and grow at this critical age.

The time to act is now, tell the Trout Lake Community Centre Board of Directors that we are not willing to sacrifice our children's futures for short term cost savings. In the long run, we all pay when we don't invest in our community's children.