Children's Place parents have been granted a conditional extension of time at the Rolling Hills daycare centre — but only until Nov. 20, nine weeks past the Sept. 18 closing announced by Community Living Dufferin (CLD).

The action has resulted in a mixture of outrage and determination among the parents.

"(We) parents demand accountability for actions taken against a public trust (and) consider Rolling Hills a public trust as (grant) funding is from the Province and, we believe, the county. As such, CLD needs to be held accountable.

"The parents are outraged at the CLD board portraying themselves as angels within the media. (We believe) there's more to the story about the closing (and) want to get to the bottom of the action. It doesn't add up," they said through a spokesman as a summary of their consensus following additional meetings.

The parents, who had collected pledges and offers of assistance to cover possibly half of the centre's alleged operating deficit, had asked last Tuesday for an extension for the whole of the 2009-10 academic year, generally to the end of June 2010.

In a terse e-mail last Thursday, Community Living Dufferin's board of directors offered the extension with the following conditions, to be completed by interest parents by Sept. 4:

"Pay a one-time commitment fee of $100 per child by September 4th, 2009; Confirm with Karen Bowen your childcare needs for October and November; Pay in advance for a minimum of the four weeks of care."

The email said the current fee schedule would apply. As well, "Any parent in arrears must have paid all outstanding fees to be eligible to participate in this extension."

Although the Board had said the deficit for 2010 would be well in excess of the stated $70,000 for 2009, it had never given the parents an operating statement — only the figure of $70,000.

And, "The projected financial shortfall for 2009- 2010 would be far greater than last year's $70,000 due to the fact that operating costs have increased at the same time that enrolment has declined."

The Board said it could not "match dollar for dollar the financial shortfall (last Tuesday's) proposal would require."

In fact, the offer made by the parents following their brief preparation time might have fallen short of expectations.

Of those, 97% favoured an extension to next June, and two-thirds would offer donations of $625 per child, plus "67.7% would keep children enrolled if extension was granted which accounts for 36 children," a reduction from the previously reported 75.

The parents admit the survey was incomplete but point to the relatively brief time they were given to come up with a satisfactory business plan.

It is the brief notice combined with the hospital's apparent intention to convert the building to specialist physician accommodation combined with the county's announcement of additional spaces for school-age children at the Jean Hamlyn Centre that has had some parents wondering when the hospital board began considering the renovations.

Neither the current president/ CEO, Cholly Boland, nor his predecessor, Bob Baynham, could be reached for comment. Mr. Boland is on vacation until next week.