Hi James,
We feel your pain. We have remained open since the pandemic hit back in March. We are a full day program with infants to pre-k, and school age students in the afternoons. When schools closed back in March the school age students started coming full days and we had around 17 of them. We normally have about 26. Early on we implemented many of the CDC emergency guidelines for childcare centers including screenings, reduced class sizes, increased hand washing etc. Ultimately our State mandated that only staff and students could be in the center, unless there was an emergency so parents now have to drop off and pick up outside the building. Initially we diligent about trying to keep the students at "safe distances". Everyone 3 and above is required to wear a mask including staff except when outside or during snacks and meals. Since March we have only had 4 confirmed cases of Covid 19. 3 staff and one child. All four were exposed away from the center and found out they had been exposed before they came back to the center. We have only closed twice for a week each time as over abundance of precaution.
However, after 7 months, we have not had any other cases develop most likely because we do so much on the front end, before anyone enters the building. We take temp checks upon arrival and we do not let anyone come in that has any signs of a respiratory issue such as runny noses, cough etc.). We clean all major touch surfaces once every hour, and the rooms are cleaned daily as well. We send all bedding and pillows home each night for washing and we don't allow anyone to come. We hand wash multiple times during the day as well as use hand sanitizer. We have become less zealous about the "social distancing" as that concept is not natural or good for children or people in general. Our focus is more on hygene and the masks, but it had become a losing battle to try to keep the kids separated. Our public schools have reopened and we now have after-school students coming back in the afternoon from 6 different elementary schools. We use the same screening precautions with those students before they are allowed to get on our van. I If they have a fever or cough we do not pick them up and they have to go back to the front office of the elementary school. We have 2 students that are doing "full day" virtual learning and both are on different schedules so it is still difficult even with only two students. Our school district refuses to meet with the childcare centers to come up with a different plan for virtual learning so we don't anticipate that getting better any time soon.
Of course this has only been our experience and others may be having more or less challenges, however to date, across the country there have been no extreme outbreaks reported in childcare centers since March so I would think that says something about how high or low the risk factors are for children and staff in those programs.
Best of luck.
Tim Kaminski
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Tim Kaminski
Director/Owner
Gingerbread Kids Academy
Richmond TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-15-2020 03:37 PM
From: James Mitchell
Subject: What are your thoughts on distancing/sharing
Hey all,
I work with 4/5 year olds in self directed play based school. Our school went virtual in March of last year and just re-opened for in person last week. I've got 10 kids, most of whom know each other from last year. We're are part day and outside 100%. I find myself struggling mightily to put effort into keeping the kids physically distant during play. It's not how they play. It doesn't seem to me to be appropriate or even possible. Sure, I can get them to be a part for a little bit, and then the migrate back together a minute or two later. I find it harmful to the relationships I'm trying to build with them to not allow them to approach me and grab my hand. I find the notion of preventing them from dumping out a bin of cars or magnatiles or dinosaurs and sorting through them together, showing each other what they've found, trading them back and forth and requiring that each item goes through a thorough cleaning before being exchanged, not only impossible, but probably not the best use of our time. We wash our hands about 6 times a day in 3 hours minimum. We have art materials for each student. They change their masks twice and wear them as long as they can. We keep our class separate from other classes so that if one class is infected, it doesn't necessarily mean the whole school will get infected. We clean everything at the end of the day. Am I being reasonable? What are your experiences?
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James Mitchell
Teacher
Silver Spring Nursery School
Takoma Park MD
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