Kingston Day Care Inc. (KDC) announced today that services will be consolidated at three operating sites in 2012, down from the current four. Child care services currently offered at its Gore Road location (Rideau Child Care Centre) in Kingston East will be discontinued.

“Over the past year, our Board of Directors has assessed the impact of recent changes in the
child care landscape on the programs we offer in Kingston,” explains Board Chair Susan Miklas.
“The introduction of full day kindergarten, the opening of another elementary school in
Kingston East, and expanded funding for Best Start Licensed Childcare from 2005 to 2011 have
led us to conclude that our Gore Road location will be unsustainable by the fall of 2012.”
Miklas noted that KDC currently has 217 infant, toddler, pre‐school and after‐school spaces in
Kingston; the closure of the Gore Road site will reduce this total by 37 spaces.

KDC Executive Director Colleen Peairs notes that KDC will provide transitional support to
families affected by the closure of the Rideau centre. “By notifying families now, we are
providing more than nine months for discussions and decisions about future care. We will
provide care at the Gore Road location until next September, and we will also support families
wishing to relocate to one of our other locations before or by September of 2012.”

Peairs also says that full‐time permanent staff currently working at the Rideau Child Care
Centre will be able to transfer to KDC’s other locations. “Our staff contingent is well‐qualified to
offer quality child care; we are committed to ensuring that they are able to continue to do so in
our other three locations.”

The consolidation of KDC services may result in modest reductions in contract employment as
some permanent staff return to their positions after the conclusion of maternity leaves.
Kingston Day Care was the first agency to offer infant, toddler, pre‐school and after‐school child
care for residents of Kingston East. KDC has two facilities in the district: the St. Martha Child
Care Centre was opened in 1995 and the Rideau Child Care Centre opened in 1999. The St.
Martha centre will remain open along with Trillium Child Care Centre and Collins Bay Child Care
Centre in Kingston West.

Kingston Day Care was founded in 1967 and is a charitable, non‐profit organization operated by
a Board of Directors, which is responsible for the delivery of services, ensuring that services are
responsive and reflective of community need. “This consolidation will allow KDC to continue to plan to meet our community’s future needs for quality, affordable child care,” says Miklas.