For 3 weeks in summer

City closes almost half of all kindergartens

Almost half of all facilities in the Upper Austrian capital will become "summer locations" for three weeks. Karin Hörzing (SPÖ), Deputy Mayor of Linz and Head of Social Affairs, argues that the closure is due to low capacity utilization - the Greens, VP and FP see this as a huge step backwards.

"The continuous opening hours in summer will remain in place, the model improves working conditions for employees and also increases efficiency in staff planning. As Deputy Mayor Karin Hörzing (SP) argues, it can also be "sold" that almost half of all kindergartens in Linz will be closed for three weeks from the end of July and merged into so-called "summer locations".

"Only a fifth of all children present"
If Hörzing is to be believed, however, this is a logical step. After all, a balance sheet for the years 2021 to 2023 shows that at the start of the summer vacations in July, the kindergartens and crèches are mostly more than 50 percent full, but attendance figures drop significantly at the end of July and beginning of August. "A more detailed evaluation for 2023 showed that only around a fifth of all children were present in many facilities, and in some it was even less. We had some with just five percent occupancy. In calendar week 33, there were only two facilities with an occupancy rate of over 40 percent," says Hörzing.

Day nurseries not affected
For this reason, the decision has now been made to concentrate on a few "summer locations" for the last week of July and the first two weeks of August. The opening hours of the facilities will remain unchanged and the crèches will not be affected by the merger. The summer operation of the after-school care centers will also remain unchanged at the three locations Harbach (North), Raimund (Center) and Löwenfeld (South).

"Information comes far too late"
For women's city councillor Eva Schobesberger, the three-week summer closure is a huge step backwards: "Once again, it's the mothers who are affected. They now have to find out in March that everything is different in summer." VP local councillor Theresa Ganhör, herself the mother of a six-year-old daughter, echoes this sentiment: "The information comes far too late for parents. Many families have long since booked their vacation and relied on the childcare times for their little ones in their familiar surroundings."

FP social spokesperson Peter Stumptner says: "We expect this summer to be evaluated carefully and that improvements can be made at short notice if necessary."