When a 70-year-old man crashed his car into a Richmond Hill daycare last week, killing a toddler and injuring several others, it spooked the director of St. John’s Christian Nursery School in Waterloo. “It actually did make me stop and think about our playground and how it is a bit vulnerable being in a parking lot,” said Christine Helgerman, who operates the licensed child-care centre which sees up to 90 children daily. There are two playgrounds on-site, one of which is in the middle of the parking lot. There are plenty of parking spaces next to both of them. “We share our space with Luther Manor, the seniors’ residence. So many of these parking spots are theirs,” said Helgerman. Other daycare sites across the province have parking lots that could pose a threat too, so given last week’s tragedy, Minister of Education Paul Calandra gave clear direction. “We asked providers, daycare operators, municipalities to immediately close parking spaces in front of vulnerable doors, windows, and we are out there now. I’ve ordered my ministry to work with inspectors, service providers and operators, frankly, to identify vulnerabilities across the system,” said Calandra. Helgerman received that memo, which suggested using pylons, signage and staff vehicles to block off vulnerable parking spots. But that created other barriers since they share the lot with the seniors’ residence. “They own some of those spots so for us to start blocking them, that’s not fair,” said Helgerman, explaining that it would also create more congestion and danger for everyone. Since she wanted to follow the province’s directive and eliminate as much risk as quickly as possible, she came up with a more permanent solution. On Wednesday afternoon, the daycare centre began replacing pylons with large landscaping rocks, which have been pushed up to each playground’s fence. That way, no spots are blocked, and instead, there is an added shield of sorts. “We are getting about 30 boulders installed today, and the cost will come between $15,000 and $20,000,” Helgerman said. The trouble is, the not-for-profit’s funding formula didn’t account for projects like this, meaning they’ve had to dip into their reserves. Helgerman is hopeful the province, or Region of Waterloo, may dish out some cash down the line to help cover the bill. “Right now, I’ll spend the money and hopefully we’ll get some money given back to us in later days,” said Helgerman. Either way, it’s a bet she’s willing to take – not wanting to put on price on the safety of both the kids and seniors that share a space.
