The CEO of the YMCA NL says it is difficult to tell at this stage what sites for the pre-kindergarten program will be ready to go by the fall.

On Tuesday, it was announced that the YMCA would be the operator of the new pre-k program at over 30 locations across the province.

The news comes with a caveat, however, that sites will open either in the fall or in the winter.

CEO Jason Brown says in the immediate future they need to visit the schools across the province to see what work will need to be done to prepare the spaces for the program.

Because of that, Brown says it is too early to tell when some of the facilities will be ready.

He says they are going to hire a consulting team to help them understand the condition of schools and how quickly they will be able to open and operate. They expect that some locations will require less work than others, and thus will be ready to open sooner.

Meanwhile, Brown says the recruitment of the necessary ECEs is something they will be looking at immediately. He reveals that they will need to hire about 75 new staff to cover all aspects of the program.