Are most daycares still closing early?

[Anonymous]

Daycares operate on razor thin margins during the best of time. Despite getting PPP grants, our downtown DC daycare has taken a huge hit during the pandemic due to cohort restrictions and a loss of infant revenue (there is a huge drop in demand for infant spaces). Tuition is going up, and in some cases hours reduced, so daycares can remain open. This is why childcare needs federal support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daycares operate on razor thin margins during the best of time. Despite getting PPP grants, our downtown DC daycare has taken a huge hit during the pandemic due to cohort restrictions and a loss of infant revenue (there is a huge drop in demand for infant spaces). Tuition is going up, and in some cases hours reduced, so daycares can remain open. This is why childcare needs federal support.

maybe DC but there are NO infants spots available in any centers within 15 minute drive from me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shortened hours for the same price tag SMH.

Yes, to pay for all of the additional expenses that a pandemic brings about.

... and the increase in wages that a pandemic demands to pay your child's teachers.

Right- ours went UP with shorter hours. So I guess now the rest of us need to demand a shorter workday?

Or get a nanny that works the hours that you need!

Yes because nannies are so affordable, especially good ones with fluent English...Many of us in this expensive area cannot afford nannies but can afford daycare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Daycares operate on razor thin margins during the best of time. Despite getting PPP grants, our downtown DC daycare has taken a huge hit during the pandemic due to cohort restrictions and a loss of infant revenue (there is a huge drop in demand for infant spaces). Tuition is going up, and in some cases hours reduced, so daycares can remain open. This is why childcare needs federal support.

maybe DC but there are NO infants spots available in any centers within 15 minute drive from me.

People want care close to home but not work. So the downtown DC daycares are way under capacity. We drive our kid 30 minutes each day downtown. Not ideal, but it's manageable.

[Anonymous]

Daycares are also closing early because of staff shortages and ratios. It is already a high burn out profession not having enough people to cover shifts or the low pay, long hours. It is very difficult to find people willing to work daycare. So instead of having to pay overtime or even benefits, daycare hours are cut short.

Also, there is a lot of enhanced cleaning going on which means disinfecting every single toy and this takes up time as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Daycares operate on razor thin margins during the best of time. Despite getting PPP grants, our downtown DC daycare has taken a huge hit during the pandemic due to cohort restrictions and a loss of infant revenue (there is a huge drop in demand for infant spaces). Tuition is going up, and in some cases hours reduced, so daycares can remain open. This is why childcare needs federal support.

maybe DC but there are NO infants spots available in any centers within 15 minute drive from me.

People want care close to home but not work. So the downtown DC daycares are way under capacity. We drive our kid 30 minutes each day downtown. Not ideal, but it's manageable.

They come at a premium, though. I looked at ones near my office downtown and they were $2200, $2300 for toddler care vs. $1600-$1900 where I live. Only the poshest lowest-ratio ones in my area (or the inexplicably expensive Bright Horizons locations) are above 2k. I live in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours opens 45 min later (big deal) and closes 30 min earlier. Same price tag. If I knew it went to teachers salary I'd be more supportive. But it would be nice if they opened even 15 or 30 min earlier.

We are at a daycare in Va that still has shorter hours and it's because of staffing. Pre-pandemic at the very beginning of the day and the very end of the day they could group the kids together so long as they stayed in ratio, now because of covid protocols they cannot mix the kids from different rooms together and so they need a staff member for each age group of kids as soon as they open and to stay until the last kid goes home--so they would need more staff hours to keep the old pre-pandemic hours and they can't afford that cost and/or don't have enough staff to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daycares are also closing early because of staff shortages and ratios. It is already a high burn out profession not having enough people to cover shifts or the low pay, long hours. It is very difficult to find people willing to work daycare. So instead of having to pay overtime or even benefits, daycare hours are cut short.

Also, there is a lot of enhanced cleaning going on which means disinfecting every single toy and this takes up time as well.

The child-care/education/pre-school arena is understandably frazzled and fraying. As much as we want the global pandemic to be fully behind us, it's simply not. We are still working through it and will be for another year or so. And that's only if another deadly variant doesn't come our way. All child care facilities I'm aware of are looking to hire teachers, bus drivers, teaching assistants, etc. Many are operating their third year in red ink due to the requirement to reduce enrollment to comply with physical distancing mandates. Many parents, for some reason, have decided to become unreasonably demanding this year when their child's school is simply struggling to survive and do they best they can with masking, extra cleaning, physical distancing, ad nauseum. We all still need to be giving each other grace and understanding if we plan to successfully get through this as a community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Daycares operate on razor thin margins during the best of time. Despite getting PPP grants, our downtown DC daycare has taken a huge hit during the pandemic due to cohort restrictions and a loss of infant revenue (there is a huge drop in demand for infant spaces). Tuition is going up, and in some cases hours reduced, so daycares can remain open. This is why childcare needs federal support.

maybe DC but there are NO infants spots available in any centers within 15 minute drive from me.

People want care close to home but not work. So the downtown DC daycares are way under capacity. We drive our kid 30 minutes each day downtown. Not ideal, but it's manageable.

They come at a premium, though. I looked at ones near my office downtown and they were $2200, $2300 for toddler care vs. $1600-$1900 where I live. Only the poshest lowest-ratio ones in my area (or the inexplicably expensive Bright Horizons locations) are above 2k. I live in Virginia.

Look around. Our fed-sponsored center (open to non-feds) is under $2K for toddlers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Daycares operate on razor thin margins during the best of time. Despite getting PPP grants, our downtown DC daycare has taken a huge hit during the pandemic due to cohort restrictions and a loss of infant revenue (there is a huge drop in demand for infant spaces). Tuition is going up, and in some cases hours reduced, so daycares can remain open. This is why childcare needs federal support.

I agree, but it’s not happening, sadly. We are so behind other western nations when it comes to childcare and family leave policies, but it seems most Americans prefer it that way.

[Anonymous]

Ours closes early, which is 6. They used to be open until 6:30

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Daycares operate on razor thin margins during the best of time. Despite getting PPP grants, our downtown DC daycare has taken a huge hit during the pandemic due to cohort restrictions and a loss of infant revenue (there is a huge drop in demand for infant spaces). Tuition is going up, and in some cases hours reduced, so daycares can remain open. This is why childcare needs federal support.

I agree, but it’s not happening, sadly. We are so behind other western nations when it comes to childcare and family leave policies, but it seems most Americans prefer it that way.

Federal dollars come with even more strings and red tape. Child care facilities already, understandably, jump through VDSS and Fairfax County hoops. I don't know of any now independent pre-schools/day care facilities willing to be encumbered by the feds so they steer clear of even advocating for such a relationship. The CARES Act loan $$ was intended to be a grant, which is fine. Schools simply had to prove to their bank they'd used it for salaries, PPE, filters, etc. and the loan was made a grant. If the feds let an establishment run with alternative forms of accreditation/licensing/accountability and not additional federal red tape, some might consider it.

[Anonymous]

We are still at reduced hrs (8-5:30)
Originally it was 6:30-6:30