Good Evening Families,
We all are in uncharted territory within this industry/community. As of right now, Playful Learners Preschool has not been advised to close. We are in communications with our local Department of Health, Department of Social Services, and etc. We have been advised to formulate our own policies and procedures to help mitigate any spread within our school community. As a school, since we do not meet the restriction of a large gathering restriction, of 50 people or more, we are not currently at risk of closure. I don’t think anyone has all the right answers, but sharing what we are actively doing to address this outbreak and open dialogue is essential.
- Parents will no longer use the Ipad’s to sign in or out their children.
- Only teachers are allowed access to the Ipad’s.
- Diligently require students with supervision of parents, wash hands immediately once they arrive.
- Restricting care and requiring immediate removal for any students with 99.0 temperature and above.
- Requiring all staff and children with cold/flu symptoms to receive and share a doctors note identifying their sickness with administrative staff.
- We will store hard to sanitize materials for the time being. ( For example, books and wooden toys that can’t be submerged easily)
- We will remove artwork on walls that can be touched or cannot be sanitized.
- We are utilizing our outside environment as much as possible.
- Our sensory tables/bins will only be used with anti-bacterial soap/water mixture and toys/materials that can be submerged.
- Removing carpets from all rooms except for the infant 1 room.
- As carpets are only shampooed monthly in other classrooms and floors are disinfected daily.
- Restricting visitation from parents and staff in classrooms during the programming day.
- Rotate sanitized materials as needed based on usage by students ( if not utilized, rotate completely out).
- Sanitize touched objects throughout the day (gate lock, door handles, etc…)
- Cancel all in-person staff meetings and staff trainings.
We will continue to discuss with our children, healthy habits and practices. We will also implement daily activities to reinforce handwashing and more. If anyone can think of any other things we can do to mitigate the chances for Virus transmission, please feel free to reach out to me. As a collective, I believe that childcare programs (and many other service industries) will ultimately get hit hard by this virus and its resulting restrictions. I am remaining optimistic that we have instituted safety measures in time to stop the spread of this virus.
As we move forward we may see an impact of service to our families due to staffing shortages. In the event of staffing shortages due to sick staff or etc, we will accept children on a first-come, first-served basis.
COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis. My heart goes out to everyone who has been impacted by COVID-19. I never in a million years ever thought we would be in this situation as a world community. Many families and businesses are already being affected despite the fact we have had no confirmed cases in our community. It is impacting EVERYONE. I completely understand any of our families taking precautions and being proactive regarding exposure to coronavirus. And I wish all our families the best as we move towards these unprecedented times. I absolutely understand any families need to withdraw permanently from our program for financial reasons. However, Playful Learners Policy (as stated in the handbook) is that families provide two weeks notice before withdrawing their children. The tuition deposit that is paid applies to the last week of that 2 week notice. We have an obligation to your employees and the business to make sure we follow through on these policies especially at times like this.
Sincerely,
Playful Learners Preschool
