Both of Shelley Kennedy's children experienced a stint of remote learning in Term 2 as Margaret Hendry School struggled to have enough staff to stay open.
Ms Kennedy expected it to be disruptive as she continued to work from home, but she didn't expect to have to pay for before and after school care for her son when he wasn't attending school.
"It was okay for me to absorb. I'm okay financially, but there definitely would have been other families who probably are struggling and it's not much fun to pay for something that you essentially can't use," she said.
"Some people have multiple children in [care] and for them to have to do [remote learning] twice. It's a significant burden."
The single mother said the school was very supportive but there was a mismatch between the federal government child care subsidy rules and the Education Directorate's policies of using remote learning to cope with COVID-related staff shortages.
Woden Community Service, which operates the out of school hours care program at Margaret Hendry school, continued to operate on pupil-free days and remote learning periods so children could still socialise and parents could work as needed.
Children's services director Vivienne Gould said the organisation faced fixed costs, including wages, rent and equipment.
"We are cognisant of the fact that there a lot of families experiencing hardship at the moment," Ms Gould said.
"Woden Community Service works individually with them to discuss how we can ensure they are receiving all the support they require, for example setting up special payment plans or applying for additional childcare subsidy."
An Education Directorate spokesman said out of school hours care providers were not allowed to waive gap fees except for in certain circumstances under the family assistance law.
Providers can only waive fees if:
- the child or their immediate family member must isolate with COVID-19
- the child is at higher risk of severe disease from COVID-19
- the service, or a room at the service, is closed due to COVID-19
The Commonwealth government has increased the number of allowable absences before families lose their child care subsidy from 42 days to 52 days.
Before and after school care will be operating as normal at public schools on the extra pupil free days in Term 3. A full-day service will not be offered because schools are still open for supervision.
Communities at Work children's services director Kellie Stewart said parents have welcomed the opportunity to get some work or study done for a few hours in the afternoon during remote learning periods.
"We have a large number of families that still utilise the service during times the school has implemented remote learning for their year cohort," Ms Stewart said.
"We have a number of vulnerable families that rely on out of school hours care for their own circumstances, and the service remaining open and operational supports their needs, whilst also ensuring the safety of children."
Ms Kennedy said it was an ongoing issue that the federal and state governments should sort out.
"I spoke to parents who are sort of feeling the similar way, that it's just unreasonable to think that we're going to use the facility when we've asked to be remote," she said.
"The federal government should understand that we're having such a hard time that ... half the school is gone into remote learning and there's the teacher shortage. They should be supporting that by complementing the policies and we know they can do it because they did it last year.
"This is something that I think the governments need to work out and not just fob off."
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