Are your private daycares closing?

[shaynaatl]

Our public school is going online only for at least one week, then they will re-evaluate. Our private daycare says they are remaining open. Are your daycares staying open? I'm wondering if they are reluctant to close due to the financial hit (if they have to issue refunds for time closed). 

[loira]

A goes to a private preschool, and they follow the schedule/protocols of the local school district. So if schools close the preschool will follow suit.

[farfalla2011]

So far, we're still open, but I have a feeling things will change by the end of next week.

[Mrs.flang]

Ours has sent out a few updates as things have gotten worse but still are staying open as of now. I can't really see them closing voluntarily unless there's a first hand case or exposure, like if a teacher got sick or something. I contemplated pulling DDs for 2 weeks to mirror the public school system, but I mentioned it to the pedi at our wellness check that happened to be this morning and she said we'd probably be ok. Idk what to do!

The director sent an email this morning that NJ governors office was providing a briefing for "Child and Youth Care Centers", so I've been waiting for some kind of update from that, but nothing yet.

[sapphireblue]

Two children in our town, one in an elementary school, and one in a daycare, have tested positive as of about an hour ago.

So I assume they will be closing. I already told my kid's preschool last night that we were pulling him.

[Susie]

Mar 13, 2020 14:54:55 GMT -5 shaynaatl said:

 I'm wondering if they are reluctant to close due to the financial hit (if they have to issue refunds for time closed). 

Things are changing hourly here, but our daycare hasn't said anything yet besides repeating the CDC and DOH recs.  I'm not expecting a refund if they do close, which I expect to become necessary within days.   We've never gotten a refund or a credit in the past when it has closed for a snow day, when the federal building closed by presidential proclamation, etc.

Obviously I'm not categorically into the idea of paying a couple $k/month to have care for both my infant and preschooler closed down, but I'm not sure I'm mad at the idea of them keeping the money for this.  I'm a lucky one, I will be able to WFH (as much as my kids allow), I will continue to be paid.  If my daycare refunds my tuition, then what about the teachers' pay?  The rent for the space?  Small businesses and childcare providers probably need my tuition $ more than I do.

[Poppy]

Ours follows the school district for weather but said they are not closing even though the schools are. I'm sure they're worried about their bottom line (and hopefully about the teachers who would almost certainly go without pay). We pulled our daughter today.

I do plan to give her teachers money directly if the school closes (we are thankfully in a really good position and can help). I know they are stressed to the max about this.

[sapphireblue]

I want to add--my SO stays home with our other child so pulling my older son is a very easy decision for us. I have friends that are struggling because they don't know who would watch their kids if they pulled them from daycare.

[undecidedowl]

We use ymca daycare. Right now, they are staying open and accepting school age kids. They generally err on the side of trying to always stay open so we will see. We are planning to send our kids next week just for times we have to be at work. If I WFH, I will keep then with me to minimize exposure times.

[Mrs.flang]

Mar 13, 2020 15:14:36 GMT -5 sapphireblue said:

Two children in our town, one in an elementary school, and one in a daycare, have tested positive as of about an hour ago.

Do you know how they're doing?  Everything I've heard has been that children aren't as severely effected, so I'm curious what led them to get tested. 

I've been trying to stay calm although I tend toward anxiety but if I start hearing of children in serious danger I'm going to lose it.

[mbcdefg]

Ours says they will remain open. MH and I are thinking we’ll pull DD out for a least a week while we see how things go.

Essex County NJ - one “presumptive positive” case in a nearby town. Other cases a bit further away.

[purplepenguin7]

Mar 13, 2020 15:53:10 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Ours says they will remain open. MH and I are thinking we’ll pull DD out for a least a week while we see how things go.

Essex County NJ - one “presumptive positive” case in a nearby town. Other cases a bit further away.

can you share where this case is?  I am in Essex county too and haven't heard of any so far. I'm terrified of my daycare closing while my husband is out of town. thanks!

[Blue Moon]

Mar 13, 2020 16:30:25 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

Mar 13, 2020 15:53:10 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Ours says they will remain open. MH and I are thinking we’ll pull DD out for a least a week while we see how things go.

Essex County NJ - one “presumptive positive” case in a nearby town. Other cases a bit further away.

can you share where this case is?  I am in Essex county too and haven't heard of any so far. I'm terrified of my daycare closing while my husband is out of town. thanks!

I think Montclair.

[sillygoosegirl]

Ours decided to follow the local school district, as they do for snow days. They decided and announced this about 2 hours before the public school district announced it was closing the schools for 2 and a half weeks (inclusive of regular spring break in both cases).

They won't be issuing refunds, I assume. They don't in the event of snow days.

It's for the best and in hindsight I kind of wish they'd closed sooner. Wednesday a kid was sent home with a fever and last night my kid had a fever and is now coughing. The closures are effective Monday, but since my kid is sick, she's at home today too. It's a tiny daycare (11 kids at a time, total enrollment around 17 kids), so the risk was low, compared with larger daycares and schools.

Work is temporarily removing it's ban on parents working from home when they don't have child care. But DD is so lonely and doesn't really get why she can't visit with her friends who are also off of school, like we'd normally do during a break (her symptoms are super mild, if I wasn't scared she might be carrying something that could kill her friends' grandparents, I'd still let her play with other kids).

ETA: there are supposedly no presumptive or confirmed cases among students or teachers in our local school district, but there are several in the county and neighboring school districts, so I fully support that it's the right move, even though it sucks. Better for kids to stay home well than sick.

[isabel]

As of now, our daycare is not closing even though the local districts around us are. I'm not sure how I feel about it. If I weren't in a weird situation with work (quitting my job, starting a new one), I would just tell them I'm working from home and keep my kids home with me. But I don't know what to do with my job stuff going on.

[numbers]

Yes, ours is closed for the next 2 weeks.

[mbcdefg]

Mar 13, 2020 16:30:25 GMT -5 purplepenguin7 said:

Mar 13, 2020 15:53:10 GMT -5 mbcdefg said:

Ours says they will remain open. MH and I are thinking we’ll pull DD out for a least a week while we see how things go.

Essex County NJ - one “presumptive positive” case in a nearby town. Other cases a bit further away.

can you share where this case is?  I am in Essex county too and haven't heard of any so far. I'm terrified of my daycare closing while my husband is out of town. thanks!

patch.com/new-jersey/montclair/woman-66-hospitalized-montclair-coronavirus-officials

[lovelyshoes]

Ours are open for now, but I am going to play it by ear. I need to work and my older son needs to do school work, but I don’t know if I want him going there. Trying not to stress, but it is not easy.

[cricketwife]

My daycare is staying open and I’m really peeved about it, mostly because I think it reflects poor judgment. My kid will not be there.  This is the email she sent a few hours ago

Good afternoon,

It has been a long crazy week! Hopefully this weekend everyone can relax and regroup for next week.

COVID-19
Our 1st priority is to keep everyone safe and healthy of course. My 2nd priority is to keep the center open! With the help of our parents and our local health department giving us resources and advice we hope to be able to do just that.

What we will do:

1. We have increased the cleaning and sanitizing of our center, which we have always done when sicknesses has invaded our center.
2. Making sure staff and children who are sick are sent home and stay out until they are feeling better and symptom free. Asking parents who are sick to not bring their children in the child care hall, we will be more than happy to come to the foyer area to escort your children to their classrooms if needed.
3. Please use the hands free sanitizers outside the hallway before entering. Encourage the children to wash their hands when entering the classroom.
3. Restricting outside visitors (except therapists, I feel the children still need these therapies and services at this time) but I will monitor the therapists to ensure they are following our sick policies.
4. Educating the children/staff about the importance of hand washing in every aspect of their day.

If by chance we do encounter a case of the Coronavirus in our center (child, staff, parent);
1. We will contact the Health Department and inform our families.
2. We will follow the advice of the Health Department and the DHHS to determine what our next step would be.

If you have any other questions please let me know.

Have a great weekend!


I mean, a total WTF to waiting until there’s an actual case in our daycare before doing anything. 

[sapphireblue]

Mar 13, 2020 15:18:56 GMT -5 Mrs.flang said:

Mar 13, 2020 15:14:36 GMT -5 sapphireblue said:

Two children in our town, one in an elementary school, and one in a daycare, have tested positive as of about an hour ago.

Do you know how they're doing?  Everything I've heard has been that children aren't as severely effected, so I'm curious what led them to get tested. 

I've been trying to stay calm although I tend toward anxiety but if I start hearing of children in serious danger I'm going to lose it.

I haven't heard how they are doing, but I did hear that one of them was at the hospital yesterday. However, this is all rumors flying in a smaller town--although so far all of the rumors have been confirmed within hours.

I too have heard it widely reported that kids aren't getting as badly affected. I guess this one was sick enough to go to the hospital--but that might not actually be the case. I also heard that the family may have recently returned from a cruise so maybe when the child showed any symptoms they proactively took him or her to the hospital for testing and not necessarily because the child was super sick. 

That's what I'm hoping, anyway.

[VillainV]

Our school is closing, but the private daycare that we use for after-school is staying open, so we plan to use them. The class size is very small (like 5-10 kids) and they do a lot of outside time.

[nessness]

Ours hasn't. All the public schools in the county are closing as of this week, so I expect they'll follow. We're going to pull DD2 anyway, as someone will already have to be home with DD1.

S/o question: If your daycare has closed, are they expecting you to pay?

[konapoppy]

Ours is still open. School district is closed for 4 weeks. We will see what Monday brings 🤷🏻‍♀️

[joy]

Newp. Closed today for two weeks.

[winemaker06]

Our daycare is doing the same cricketwife. It’s a chain and our director is a bit WTF at the moment about having to stay open.

I have one kid at daycare, and a Kindergartener who goes there in the mornings before school. Public schools are closed for two weeks, so we are keeping both home for the duration. DH will be using PTO for it and a summer vacation is looking unlikely this year.

I’m hoping daycare corporate comes to their senses, because it seems to defeat the purpose of closing schools if many kids go spread their germs at daycares.

[seaturtle]

Ours is following the state, which as of now is keeping schools open. Since positive cases doubled in the state since yesterday I can't imagine that will last for very long. H and I can work from home (my company mandated it as of Wednesday) but can't do much with a 16mo old who needs constant supervision. We asked one of his teachers if she could watch DS if daycare closed but now we're rethinking it and will likely just tag-team around meetings or take time off.

[MrsE]

Ours is still open. The daycare teachers told me many other families are pulling their kids out of daycare. Literally every school system around us is closed (all VA, DC, and MD public schools). It sounds like there will be pretty low attendance if daycare stays open. On one hand, I want to keep DD home, but on the other hand it may be pointless since DH still has to go in for meetings anyway. He’ll still be around people in close proximity so would there even be a point in keeping her home?

[brooke77]

Our public schools are closed for the next two weeks. Our private daycare is still open, but I will not be surprised at all when we get notification that it is closed. Both DH and I are WFH (me with a rotating schedule and DH indefinitely), so I don’t expect the daycare to be able to stay open much longer.

We got a notice earlier of the plan and they did say that in the event of closure, we won’t owe tuition, which I found surprising.

[Blue Moon]

Ours is open, but so are our local schools. When schools close, I’ll pull my 2 year old from daycare if they don’t also close. I will most likely be working from home, since I teach in a neighboring district (but different county).

[beerlover]

Ours is still open as of right now. I work at a cyber school and we are not closed. I cannot get anything done with my son here (and he was already home 2 days this week due to daycare training days for staff), so he’s going. That might change if we get any diagnosed cases here. I am dying at the thought of trying to work with my kid here for weeks.