Problems persist for those needing before and after school childcare

Parents were promised the system for signing kids up for before and after school care was fixed, but as CTV’s Spencer Turcotte reports, there’s still uncertaint

Another family in the Region of Waterloo is raising concerns about the sign-up process for before-and-after school care .

According to Cheryl Hossfeld, she was able to sign her daughter up for care at the Waterloo Catholic District School Board school her daughter attends. When Hossfeld tried to sign her son up for the same program at the same school, she said her son was assigned to care at a different school.

“I got my daughter in. That was fine. But when I got the email for my son it said he had gotten switched to a different school, and I’m like, ‘are you kidding me?’” Hossfeld said.

The Catholic board is doing a staggered approach this year, with different schools assigned certain days for families to sign up. It comes after the system used to register, Onelist, was plagued with problems last year.

According to Hossfeld, this puts her in a bind because she is looking for work, but this may bring her job hunt to a halt.

“I was so frustrated. I got no sleep Tuesday night because I’m like, what am I supposed to do? Do I find a job? Do I stay at home?” Hossfeld said.

In a statement to CTV News, the company that operates Onelist said everything went smoothly.

“The system has remained stable throughout, and the staggered school-by-school approach has helped to ensure a smooth experience for families. Minor issues were addressed quickly, with no impact on families’ ability to register,” Darryl Buck, CEO of One Human Service Network.

Hossfeld is still confused as to how her son and daughter, who will attend the same school, ended up registered in two different extended care programs. It’s been days since she signed up and the situation hasn’t been fixed. Hossfeld said this is more than a minor glitch.

“He’s not even actually enrolled. He would be put on a waitlist,” Hossfeld said.

CTV News has heard from several parents at the Waterloo Region District School Board who also experienced technical errors when trying to sign up for before-and-after school care. Many say they’ve also been waitlisted.

Both school boards tell CTV News they’ll have a better idea of how many children are on the wait list in the coming days.