Sperenza day camp questions investigation by province

A day camp which recently had its licence suspended for five days, is criticizing the Department of Education's investigation practices. A young boy who was attending camp with Sperenza was rescued by camp staff from nearly drowning in a pool last month.

• 'Not all superheroes wear capes': Child rescued from pool

After that the P.E.I. Child Care facilities Board says it received several complaints.The board is responsible for licensing child care programs and is appointed by the minister.

The chair of the board told CBC its investigation was "beyond" the pool incident but that there were supervision issues, which led to a five day suspension.

Sperenza speaks out

In a news release, Sperenza saidthat investigation process was not thorough enough and didn't take into account how the business operates 85 percent of the time, pointing out the program operates mostly outdoors.

Sperenzawrotethatit continued to operate this week despite the suspension, because the company asked the board to provide childcare for Sperenza's clients but that the board refused to help.

• Sperenza day camp suspended due to supervision issues, says child care board

Sperenza also saidthe department hasn't offered counseling after the pool accident for staff, children or the owners, and that the standards dictated by the province are archaic. The business did not specifywhich standards are out of date.

"It is a real shame when bureaucrats make decisions from such a non-child centred approach. However, their decision to close us impacted all families and children that count on us.Because the Board and government can not understand what Sperenza actually does, they are trying to square a circle, and we challenge the status quo of four walls," the company wrote in the release.

The company says its goal is to "Remove barriers to inclusion, physical activity, removing screen time from children throughout the day. All this while including kids from all socioeconomic backgrounds."

Board following Act

In a written response the P.E.I. Child Care Facilities Board chair Bobby Cameron said,"The Child Care Facilities Board licenses and regulates early childhood programs, which includes school-aged child care, according to the Child Care Facilities Act and Regulations."

He said that the act gives them the right to suspend a licence.

"Under the Child Care Facilities Act, may suspend a child care licence should the board feel that the facility is not operating in accordance to the terms of its license. "

Sperenzahas said it plans to appeal the suspension.It's also written on its blog that thecompany's counsellor-to-child ratio is much better than required.

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