Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  It's Time for All Childcare Centers to Close Nationwide

    Posted 04-01-2020 01:44 PM
    The lack of respect, concern and acknowledgement for the childcare industry over last several decades has been deplorable.  Childcare and Early Childhood Education have been the anchor and stability in America, that has allowed the economy to grow and prosper.  However it has been on the backs of the childcare labor force and the owners, operators and directors that are responsible for keeping these programs going regardless of the circumstances.

    We have now reached a crisis that no one saw coming.  Three to four weeks ago, our government started shutting down businesses, schools and public spaces,  There were cries to help save restaurants and start using take out so they wouldn't have to close and lay off employees.  Other small businesses were ordered to close as well, but their product or services were not something that could be saved by just ordering out.

    Through all of this, childcare centers were told that they needed to stay open to provide care for "essential workers".  And although centers were losing enrollment and revenues due to the government telling people to stay at home and closing public schools to help with social distancing, there were no cries to say, hey community and parents we need you to help save the day cares by continuing to pay your tuition, even though your child may not be attending, or make a donation to your local day care to help keep them open.

    Now almost 4 weeks later, thousands of childcare centers have closed nationwide, but childcare centers are still being told to stay open because they are an "essential business" needed by the community so "more important" people can still go to work.  And yet there has still been no significant support directed towards the childcare centers.  The SBA 7 Cares Act that just passed is too little, too late.  The actual "loan" money won't be received for at least another two to 3 weeks and it has become impossible for the childcare centers or their employees to access and register for the unemployment benefits due to that system being overwhelmed with request.

    So why are we continuing to try to stay open for a small group of people that are considered "more important" than we are.  Why are we continuing to put our staff, our children and ourselves at risk for getting the virus, because the government somehow now considers us to be "essential" but only because they need us for the "truly essential" workers to be able to go work.  We are not getting the support we need, we are not getting the acknowledgement that we deserve, and we are continuing to be treated as an after-thought in the bigger picture of how to survive this crisis.

    So I say that it is time for all Childcare Centers across the Nation to close their doors this week.  A complete shutdown of the childcare industry, just like the rest of the economy has been shut down.  We deserve to be respected and protected just like everyone else who participates in this economy.  We shouldn't wait for the Government to tell us what to do.  We are on our own and we need to decide for ourselves what is best and right for our Industry.   It does no one any good to be a marter at this time.  If we unite as a Childcare Early Childhood Education Community on this one single issue, we can finally get the attention of the Local, State and Federal Government and say to them, we can and will be a necessary part of the economic recovery in the future, but only after you have taken care of us first.

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    Tim Kaminski
    Director/Owner
    Gingerbread Kids Academy
    Richmond TX
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  • 2.  RE: It's Time for All Childcare Centers to Close Nationwide

    Posted 04-01-2020 03:34 PM
    Hi Tim 
    I hear your frustration.
    The childcare industry, especially front line early educators and small owners and directors have  been confronted with seemingly un-resolvable opposing priorities and often limited guidance and information to inform hard decisions. I think its important that  each Family CC Home, Center-based program and childcare organization consider its individual challenges and the needs of its staff, families and the community it serves and make the best decision it can about staying open for children of essential workers who are not early educators or closing for the duration of social distancing. I hope we all honor and respect each decision. 

    Some states have been stepping up to support the industry - here's a link to what my home state - Vermont - is providing in terms of guidance and immediate financial supports
    https://dcf.vermont.gov/cdd/covid-19. I am really appreciative of these policies and resources even as I consider it may not be enough to cover hazard pay and health care coverage for early educators available and willing to provide services, and the increased health, safety and sanitizing products and processes child care programs need to put in place to protect all participants.  

    I have heard, and it is likely true, that essential workers may prefer someone coming into their home to provide childcare. Some essential workers - who are putting themselves out there every day providing healthcare, delivering mail, stocking grocery shelves, and managing government programs bringing relief and resources to all of us, (to name a few essential services) - have trusted family, friends and neighbors who are able to support that. Others simply do not. For those families, who better to provide safe, nurturing, responsive care in a crisis than early childhood professionals? We have, as a profession and industry, skills, knowledge, experience and spaces that are particular to childcare as an essential service.  It is not business as usual and you are right, we've been given few guarantees on how to provide and sustain it. It means limited group sizes, smaller adult:child ratios, stepped up preventive health practices, intensive cleaning and sanitizing, adjusted routines - both in the program and for families coming in and out of the program-, and as much time out of doors in active play as we can get into the day. This is our work and we know how to do it. I hope we don't all decide to step back and let someone else solve this thorny challenge.
     
    This is an unprecedented moment in history. I hope that the childcare programs and early educators who can, will step up with courage, expertise, creativity and yes, love for children and families who need us, and communities who, if they didn't appreciate us before, will learn in this moment, who we really are and why what we bring is particular and essential.

    I commend and appreciate each and every early childhood professional and child care program making their way though these trying times and challenging decisions - whatever you decide is right for you. Hang in there and lets work together to make sure we can rebuild a stronger, better, more resourced early care and education system all across this country  once we come through this.


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    Reeva Murphy
    Early Care and Learning Consultant
    Heart of a Child
    Stowe VT
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  • 3.  RE: It's Time for All Childcare Centers to Close Nationwide

    Posted 04-01-2020 05:14 PM
    Hello Reeva,

    The current problem is that there has not been immediate help from the local, state or federal governments in order to financial prop up the childcare centers. More than 20,0000 childcare centers have closed so far in Texas, at least 120 of those are in Fort Bend County where my centers are located.  We started warning our local officials at least 3 weeks ago that this was going to happen as soon as the school districts in our area started closing and the public school teachers started withdrawing their children from our programs since they could stay at home with and therefore they didn't want to continue to pay for tuition.  Once our State and County started issuing "Stay at Home" orders we saw our wkly attendance drop to around 25 per day versus our regular 120.  We received further withdrawal notices and our actual enrollment left after next Wednesday was down to 65.   And that was just for one of our locations.  Our 5 after-school programs, that were located on the Elementary school campuses, have been closed  for the past 3 weeks since the school districts are closed and we just got notice that they will continue to be closed through April 4th.  We had 220 students enrolled in those programs and that generated $40,000 a month in revenue for us. Now all of that $40,000 for March has to be refunded to the families and none of them opted to bring their after-schoolers to our two main locations which we had kept open to be able to support them.  We also will not have that additional $40,000 in the month of April.  Our other main location which has been around for 38 years also saw more than a 50% drop in attendance and revenue, so as of last Wednesday, we had close the doors on both those locations and lay off 45 employees.

    Centers like ours across the U.S. have had to sacrifice so much over the years, in order to make childcare available to the general public.  The sacrifices were low teacher pay and no benefits, accepting subsidies that didn't reimburse at our actual rates so we then had to right off the difference as a loss, and compliance with unfunded mandates from state licensing that increase our operating costs, but provided us with no additional financial relief.

    It is ridiculous to think or expect that childcare centers and their employees should be expected to sacrifice even more during this crisis when public schools are creating even more of a barrier to families to be able to work and yet they continue to pay all of their teachers and staff because of tax payer funding.

    People don't appreciate what they have, until it is taken away from them or it is no longer available.  It is not noble or commendable for childcare centers to stay open at this time and sacrifice the health and well being of their staff and the children they care for when all other major industries are shutting down to protect their workers and families including the public schools.  Our industry has been taken advantage of enough, and we collectively should demand more at this critical time in our history.  As long as we continue to make sacrifices in our industry due to a long held altruistic view of what childcare should be and what it should cost, we will never gain the respect and resources that are needed for this industry to succeed beyond this crisis.

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    Tim Kaminski
    Director/Owner
    Gingerbread Kids Academy
    Richmond TX
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  • 4.  RE: It's Time for All Childcare Centers to Close Nationwide

    Posted 04-02-2020 09:58 AM

    Tim, I have to say that I do agree with all your points.  My organization had to make the difficult choice of staying open to provide care for these essential workers or close.  And we are in a large hospital community in PA.  The Governor mandated the closure of child cares, as non-essential, but you are able to apply for a waiver to provide care to only essential workers.  It was probably the most agonizing decision we have ever had to make, and our Board opted to close as we placed the concern for our employees and children and the greater community above providing care for essential employees.  And I do feel many of the same feelings that you do in regard to why are our employees lives valued so little.  I don't feel that for the pittance these people earn - with a four year ed degree that I should be endangering them and their families, especially when I know the majority of our families can pay for in home babysitting during this challenging time.  

    And, I worry greatly that our decision will not be well received by our community and will have many pieces to pick up afterwards.  I know it is a difficult decision,if you decide to remain open and hold no ill will against who have decided to do so as I am sure they made the decision that was right for them.  Yet, overall, this has shone a light on the necessity of our programs as essential, and I can only hope when the crisis lifts, there will be better days ahead for ECE, but not truly sure how hopeful I am that much will change.



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    Diana Verbeck
    Executive Director
    Danville Child Development Center
    Danville PA
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  • 5.  RE: It's Time for All Childcare Centers to Close Nationwide

    Posted 04-02-2020 09:59 AM
    Hi Tim,
    Check out this new group that was recently started on Facebook by my friend and colleague Abbi Kruse, founder and Executive Director of The Playing Field in Madison, WI - "Essential Not Expendable."  Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2630188163922714/
    and description:
    This is a group of dedicated early childhood professionals. We have committed our careers to caring for and protecting the youngest citizens in our communities. During this time of the COVID-19 outbreak, we find ourselves in need of both care and protection. Our state and national leadership is again treating us as an after thought and showing a complete lack of understanding of our field and our very real needs. They are placing on us the responsibility for the care of children of medical staff, first responders and other needed work forces without offering resources or protection. And, since no one else will advocate for us, we will advocate for ourselves! We call on our state and national leaders to direct stimulus dollars to our programs (and not in the form of cumbersome loans.) No program should have to make the choice between financial ruin or risking the health and safety of children and staff. We require that all early educators and programs who choose undertake the care of children during this time are provided with proper resources including: hazard pay, health coverage in the case they contract the virus or bring it to their family members, and every measure to lower risk of exposure.

    We are all in this together!

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    Amanda Lloyd
    Annandale VA
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  • 6.  RE: It's Time for All Childcare Centers to Close Nationwide

    Posted 04-02-2020 10:23 AM
    Hello Amanda,

    Thank you for your reply.  I went to the facebook page and asked to join so I can share with that group some of what we have been working on in Texas.  Early on in the crisis our focus or I should say my focus was on finding ways to help our centers stay open.  We got together a group of 16 childcare owners and directors to discuss what was happening with all of our centers.  Most if not all of us had never met each other before and yet everyone was willing to come together to see how we could help each other.  There has been little to no direction from childcare licensing or the Texas Health and Human Services.  All they say is to follow the CDC guidelines which stress social distancing which is impossible to do in a childcare setting.  Since no one was talking about the plight of childcare centers during the crisis, I was able to get a local TV station, a local newspaper and NPR to do a story on my centers and the challenges we were facing.  Even after that we did not hear from anyone.  So then we were able to set up a meeting with our local county judge and health department.  We explained that we were at risk of loosing all of the childcare centers in our are due to the business and public schools being closed and their only concern was weather or not we could stay open for the "essential workers".  There was no concern expressed for the health and safety of our workers or the children that would be attending the program and again we were told to follow CDC protocols.  At this point I am trying to get on one of the national morning shows to try to get some attention for us but it may be too little, too late.

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    Tim Kaminski
    Director/Owner
    Gingerbread Kids Academy
    Richmond TX
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