Whistler parents worry as municipality says school, daycare need to move

Katie Thompson worries her son's days inside a Whistler, B.C., child-care centre will come to an end in just under a year.

The three-year-old is enrolled in an early-years program at Whistler Waldorf School — an independent school that's operated out of a municipal park in the resort community for more than 20 years.

On June 25, the municipality voted to end its lease agreement with the school by July 1, 2025, citing increased need for recreational space in the growing community.

The move has left parents like Thompson panicked.

"My fear is that my son will lose access to his early childhood education," she told CBC News. "I think it will be detrimental to his development. We won't have any other option than to find a nanny like we did before."

Thompson noted that parents of the 50 other kids who are in the school's early childhood programs might not be able to afford alternative care options such as a nanny.

"It's a significant financial obligation to burden that cost, and they'll probably leave the community," she said.

About 170 students from kindergarten to Grade 12 are also enrolled in the school, which is designated as a non-profit and receives funding from B.C.'s Ministry of Education. It's considered an independent school as opposed to a private school, which are for-profit in B.C. The school charges tuition fees for its programs.

The resort municipality said Whistler Waldorf School, which operates out of portables at Spruce Grove Park and also uses a community field house 10 months of the year, has had decades to find a permanent space.

Acting mayor Cathy Jewett said demand for parkland is high, and available indoor bookable spaces are very limited in the community.

"This was meant to be a temporary solution," she said. "This is a park under a Crown lease grant, and so the grant allows us to use it for parks and recreation. And this field house is for community use. It's a public facility.

"We have to make decisions for the community as a whole," she said.

PJ O'Heany, one of the school's board members, said securing land for a permanent location has been an ongoing struggle.

"Demand has grown in this town for all sorts of facilities, and we are ... trying to find our way through that," O'Heany. "Our expertise is running school and daycare, not development, so we need their help to make something happen."

In a statement, the Sea to Sky School District said it will accommodate the school-age students from the Whistler Waldorf School to district schools in Whistler for the 2025/26 school year, should the need arise.

Child-care challenges

Parents like Jennifer Morrison, who has two kids in the moving daycare program, say alternative options for child care in the community are limited.

"Child care is needed here in Whistler, and the decision to remove 50 spots, it's going to heavily impact us," she said. "Access to child care is vital."

Jewett acknowledged there are widespread concerns in the community over child-care demand.

"We're building employee housing so people can stay in this community and start their families, so we are seeing increased pressures from our worker community," said Jewett.

"We are working towards increasing child-care spaces and getting more grants for child care," she added. "We're going to work towards ensuring our community is supported."

Parents are calling on the municipality to extend the lease by an additional four years as it looks for another home. An online petition has generated about 1,800 signatures.

When asked if an extension was on the table, the acting mayor was non-committal.

"We'll explore with the board of trustees from the school any of the [relocation] sites they have identified," said Jewett.