PARENT MEMO
TO: ALL PARENTS
FROM: KATIE HARBISON, PRESIDENT
DATE: MAY 14, 2020
The Board of Directors and administration of Chambliss Center for Children have been working hard to determine the best timeline for the reopening of our childcare center. We know many of you must return to work, and we appreciate your patience as we have worked to make a thoughtful decision. After many discussions and meetings, we have come up with a long list of new procedures and a reopening date of Friday, May 22nd.
I want to assure you that we have spent a lot of time reviewing the CDC guidelines for the opening of childcare centers and making plans for how to implement as many of them as possible. We have developed many new protocols that are outlined on the attached pages. You should read these new safety protocols thoroughly and sign and date the last page. You will need to turn in a signed copy on May 22nd, or whenever you bring your child back. Please note that all parents must wear a mask inside our buildings, so please make plans to obtain a mask or bandana to wear when dropping off or picking up your child. We will be enforcing this rule.
Staff training on these procedures will occur next week to make sure they are all comfortable with implementing them. Furthermore, in order to ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep your child safe, we are going to require every staff member to have a negative COVID-19 test before returning to work. We realize that this does not mean that someone can’t contract the virus after testing, but it is one more way to keep the virus out of our buildings and to help you feel comfortable about bringing your child back.
However, if you aren’t ready for your child to return, we understand. We will not charge you until your child returns. We will hold your spot until Monday, July 6th. Please keep in touch with us if you do not want to immediately return but plan to be back on or before July 6th.
We will not be enrolling any new children into our summer program at this point, but if you had previously enrolled your child in our school-age summer care, you may bring him/her on Friday, May 22nd. If you have questions about enrollment or billing, please call our front office.
We are making one other change that we have discussed internally for many years. This seemed like the right time to begin a new schedule for charging fees. So, beginning on Monday, May 25th, we will charge your account on Mondays for care that week. We encourage you to pay your fee early in the week, but you have until Friday to pay. After that, your account is considered past due. Please note that we will not charge for care on Friday, May 22nd. Charging will begin for all children who have returned on Monday, May 25th. That is also Memorial Day, so please make reservations in the front office if your child will be attending that day. If your child is not signed up for care on Monday, May 25th, we will not have staff prepared to care for your child.
Again, thank you for being patient with us during this uncertain time. We hope that you will help us keep our staff and your children safe as we navigate a safe reopening. If you have any concerns, please reach out to staff. We hope that you are safe and healthy, and we look forward to seeing all of our little friends in classrooms and hallways soon!
New Procedures for Early Childhood Education Programs
Effective 5.22.20
Check In
· Before entering the building, everyone will be required to stop at one of our two temperature stations before entering. If there is a line, families must keep 6 feet distance from each other while waiting in line. The temperature stations will be open from 6:30-10:30 am. If you are arriving at another time, you MUST go to the front office to check in first. If you are arriving before 6:30 am, after 6 pm, or on a weekend please check in with Night Dismissal.
· All children and staff will have their temperature taken. If the temperature is found to be 100.4 degrees or higher, he/she will not be allowed enter the building. Staff should inform their supervisor via text if they have to go home. The new requirement is that staff and children must be fever-free for 72 hours (without medication) before returning to work or care. We recommend contacting your physician if you have other symptoms or the fever persists.
· Parents will be given a piece of paper with the child’s temperature on it that should be turned into the child’s teacher upon arrival at the classroom. Children will not be allowed to enter the classroom unless the parent has a temperature slip for that child. Staff will also be given a temperature slip that must be turned into their team leader before reporting to their classroom. Team leaders will be keeping a chart with their department’s temperatures in a secure location.
· Anyone (age five and over) entering the building is required to wear a clean mask or face covering of some sort. Staff and enrolled children age five and over will be given a clean cloth mask to wear for the day upon entry. Those masks must be returned upon exiting so that the masks can be washed and disinfected. Staff and children can wear their own masks as long as they are cleaned each day following CDC guidelines. Masks will be treated as part of the dress code for staff and not wearing one will result in disciplinary action.
New classroom procedures
· Shoes will not be allowed inside any classroom. Children and staff should leave shoes in the hallway before entry. Socks should be worn each day and should be provided by parents. We suggest that children wear non-slip socks to avoid injury. Children will put shoes back on to go outside and when leaving for the day.
· Children and teachers must wash hands every 30 minutes each day. Each classroom will have a chart for a teacher to initial that this was done as scheduled.
· Teachers are encouraged to have multiple shirts or smocks available to wear each day so that they can be changed if soiled. Changing shirts between close contact with children will also decrease the potential for germ spread. If staff members need a clean shirt, please contact Kim Borrego to be loaned a shirt to wear. Those borrowed shirts should be returned to the dirty basket along with dirty facemasks at the end of the day.
· Classrooms will not allow visitors of any kind. This includes volunteers, family members, friends, co-workers, birthday parties, etc…. until further notice.
New cleaning/safety procedures
· Please remember to keep six feet distance from others whenever possible. In order to encourage social distancing, we ask that no more than one person enter any office at a time.
· We ask that families send only one authorized adult to pick up and drop off children to decrease the traffic inside the buildings.
· We encourage you to pay your child’s fees over the phone via credit card to limit the number of people going to our front office. Check or money order payments may be put inside the payment drop box in the main hallway outside Kim Borrego’s office. Receipts will be sent via email whenever possible. NO CASH PAYMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED UNTIL FUTHER NOTICE.
· Masks must be worn by all adults and children age five and over at all times inside the building. This includes when picking up children and coming in to the office. Please keep your mask snug and covering your nose and mouth.
· Hand sanitizing dispensers are located on the wall inside all entrances and exits. Adults are encouraged to use those.
· Staff will disinfect high-touch surfaces three times each day, especially door knobs, light switches, key pads, and other hard surfaces.
· We have recently retained a new cleaning company that will also have daily responsibility for wiping down high-touch surfaces inside and outside of classrooms.
· We have purchased a new Clorox disinfecting fogging machine that will be used each weekend until the threat of COVID-19 has substantially decreased. This machine should kill any germs that are present in our buildings.
· Whenever possible, children will be kept with the same staff members all day to minimize the mixing of children and staff. Playground and gym times will also be staggered to prevent the mixing of classrooms.
If you are sick
· It is important that no one enter the building if they are sick or have been exposed to someone who is presumed to have COVID-19. Staff should immediately communicate to their supervisor if they are feeling unwell or have a child who is not feeling well.
· Children who present any symptoms of sickness will be isolated and parents will be called immediately. We ask that you make every effort to quickly pick up your child so that we can minimize exposure to other staff and children.
· Staff and children must be fever-free for 72 hours (without medication) before returning to work or care. We recommend contacting your physician if you have other symptoms or the fever persists. Staff and children may be required to obtain a doctor’s note before returning.
If there is a case of COVID-19
· If a staff member, child, or close family member develops COVID-like symptoms or is diagnosed with COVID-19, we ask that you inform Kim Borrego or Sumer Arispe as soon as possible.
· Depending on the exposure of that person, the agency could temporarily close classrooms, close the childcare center, and/or send staff home to quarantine. We will quickly communicate these kinds of measures to parents and staff. Parents, please make sure your cell phone number and email address is updated in the front office as the messages will be sent via text or via recorded phone messages. Staff, please make sure your supervisor has your updated phone number.
· We will follow CDC guidelines to safely clean and disinfect the areas of our buildings/campus that might have been exposed to the virus.
Nikki Miller will serve as our “Safety Queen” during this time to ensure that all safety procedures are being followed. We understand that this will take us all some time to get used to. We ask for your cooperation and patience as we are implementing all of these procedures in accordance with CDC recommendations and to keep you safe. If you see anyone who is not following the new safety protocols, please report this to Nikki in the front office as soon as possible.
PARENTS:
I understand these new procedures and agree to follow them. If at any time, it is deemed by Chambliss Center for Children staff that I am not adhering to these procedures, I realize that I could be prevented from entering the buildings. In some circumstances, my child could also be terminated from care.
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Signature Date