Tim
Thank you for the reminder of the date approaching. I have personally been so in the event and applying instructional strategies, increasing parent engagement through blended learning, creating individual learning kits for both settings, to observing the changes in funding for our ECE public school based, that I am just now thinking WOW.
I have over 16 years in education and the last 9 has gone from teaching foundational skills, to social emotional, to Equity and meeting the health and safety of our students, family and staff. So when I stop to think of where we are now after a year our ECE services are even more needed. It is clear that providing a healthy and safe environment is not depended on the center alone. We need to shift to
meeting the needs of the parent from home to building. A clear example, are the continued assessment requirements for students both ASQs and the State School Readiness are still on the table. We have to collaborate with how it can be done and with safety.
Yes, some parents have create their own educational co-ops, and they still need to learn how to time manage working from home and engaging with their child's learning.
The reality is the funding is there we just need to be innovative enough to approach the outcomes differently. VPK requires 3.5 hours of direct instruction blended. Head Start has a Family Engagement contract, that outlines parent and providers expectations, therefore, let us review realign resources that will prepare our families for the reality. Things will not be the same and accesses to services have to be different. All parents will not need full day child care, but the availability for it and the safety is needed. Can you see a real one stop program that assesses the needs of the child, access the screening, provide blended learning for parents, work life development, and support? I have learned on thing for sure our parents are very Technology savvy. They are teaching their children and don't even realize how to direct it to a well rounded school ready child.
Anyway, our program numbers to what we are use to are not the same, however, the need is there just with a shift.
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Terri Robinson
Department Lead Teacher
Boynton Beach FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-24-2021 01:33 PM
From: Tim Kaminski
Subject: The Impact of Covid 19 on ECE Programs 1 Year Later
It's hard to believe that on March 9th, we as ECE providers, will have been dealing with an ongoing pandemic and crisis for a full 12 month period. In Texas and many other Gulf Coast states we are used to Annual Disasters due to our Tornado and Hurricane Seasons. With those disasters there is always a beginning, middle and an end and at some point we are able to move on get back to normal. However, with the Covid 19 pandemic, the problems never seem to end and in fact they continue to get worse. Early on in the pandemic, I was interviewed by NPR, our local and state news stations and newspapers as to what impact I thought the pandemic was going to have on childcare centers. It's now a year later and I am planning on going back to those news sources to give them an update on what has happened over the last 12 months and although I think most of us have had similar universal experiences over this past year, the ECE industry is so varied that I'm sure that some of you have had very unique experiences based on where you are located and how long you have been in the industry. I would like to hear from other providers on how this past year has impacted your program, your children and their families and yourself and where do you think your program will be a year from now.
I'll start the conversation by saying that 4 out of our 7 locations are still closed. The three that have remained open are operating at less than 50% enrollment from where we were at this time last year. We have applied for every PPP loan, local and state grants that have been available and we're still always just one payroll away from having to close. We have seen more behavioral issues with our students due to new stressors in their homes and the inconsistency of their schedules. We have had to cut staff hours and reduce our operating hours. Many of our parents work from home now so they have chosen to keep their kids at home to save money. Our local school district only has about 50% of the students attending in person, so that has devastated our after-school programs. As for me, my stress level is through the roof and I spend my days searching the internet for more grant programs both for small businesses and specifically for childcare programs and the rest of my time is spent trying to explain to our State and local leadership about how dire the situation is for childcare providers at this time.
That's my story, what is yours?
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Tim Kaminski
Director/Owner
Gingerbread Kids Academy
Richmond TX
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