I bet all daycares in MoCo open June 22nd

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Daycares fall under the Maryland Department of Education so changes come from the state level. Since we are in phase 2 that means that daycares in Maryland will accept the children of essential employees, nonessential employees returning under phase 1 and nonessential employees returning to work for phase 2. the exceptions are Montgomery county, PG and I believe Baltimore (although I’m not sure if Prince Georges or Baltimore have the same restrictions that Montgomery county has). In montgomery County we are still only under phase 1 which means technically we may only watch essential children and children to phase 1 employees. This was not made clear to daycares so that may be why you have phase 1 and phase 2 employees back in care in Montgomery county. Also, only one parent must fit into that category in order for a child to qualify to return.

Since it sounds like you're a child care provider, I wanted to point out that federal employees *are* phase 1 employees. They're plausibly even essential employees, but there's little question that federal agencies are allowed to operate during phase 1.

Yes I am a provider. I didn’t realize that I addressed several employees, my apologies if I confused anybody. In general a lot of people were confused on what essential employees versus nonessential employees meant. Daycares are going by the governors executive order on the definition of essential versus nonessential.

My point was just that the posts here seem to indicate that many providers are goi g with narrower definitions than what is described in the executive orders. Federal employees were the main example. Feds are explicitly listed in the section on essential employees. And certainly federal agencies are covered by phase 1 reopening. If daycares are turning away feds, then they haven't read the executive orders.

Would you mind linking to where federal employees return under phase 1. The list I have goes by specific profession not “federal”.

NP. It’s in the executive order. I’m at an agency that can’t telework at all, and they gave us letters to give to childcare facilities, saying we qualify for EPCC services.

That would’ve made you an essential employee under the original executive order. I’m specifically asking about the poster who said that all federal employees return to work qualify for phase 1. I just read through the executive order but I’ve missed it. Believe me when I say that if it is allowed under phase 1 there are many daycare providers who would love to take their old clients back.

1) Executive Order 20-03-25-01 defines essential employees as including government employees required to work during the state of emergency. I assume the fed in your family is required to work, at least if you to continue to collect a paycheck. Most of us are on mandatory telework, as far as I can tell.

2) Executive Order 20-06-03-01, paragraph V explicitly excludes federal agencies from closures, making them part of the phase one/two reopening

[Anonymous]

I think the problem is that many interpreted “government employees” as ONLY those who physically need to report into the office, not those who are still required to work, but able to work from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that many interpreted “government employees” as ONLY those who physically need to report into the office, not those who are still required to work, but able to work from home.

Perhaps, although I'll note I just received an email from the Assistant State Superintendent for the Division of Early Childhood Development, Steven Hicks. In it he said:

I am sorry that it was not clear to you that all workers, regardless of whether they are teleworking or on-site at their businesses, are eligible to access child care. We have not had this misunderstanding from any other parents, but do want to make sure you are aware that teleworking parents that meet the criteria, as described in our FAQs, are eligible to access child care.

(emphasis his)

It seems pretty clear to me. I don't understand why they're being so vague in their FAQs on this subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Daycares fall under the Maryland Department of Education so changes come from the state level. Since we are in phase 2 that means that daycares in Maryland will accept the children of essential employees, nonessential employees returning under phase 1 and nonessential employees returning to work for phase 2. the exceptions are Montgomery county, PG and I believe Baltimore (although I’m not sure if Prince Georges or Baltimore have the same restrictions that Montgomery county has). In montgomery County we are still only under phase 1 which means technically we may only watch essential children and children to phase 1 employees. This was not made clear to daycares so that may be why you have phase 1 and phase 2 employees back in care in Montgomery county. Also, only one parent must fit into that category in order for a child to qualify to return.

Since it sounds like you're a child care provider, I wanted to point out that federal employees *are* phase 1 employees. They're plausibly even essential employees, but there's little question that federal agencies are allowed to operate during phase 1.

Yes I am a provider. I didn’t realize that I addressed several employees, my apologies if I confused anybody. In general a lot of people were confused on what essential employees versus nonessential employees meant. Daycares are going by the governors executive order on the definition of essential versus nonessential.

My point was just that the posts here seem to indicate that many providers are goi g with narrower definitions than what is described in the executive orders. Federal employees were the main example. Feds are explicitly listed in the section on essential employees. And certainly federal agencies are covered by phase 1 reopening. If daycares are turning away feds, then they haven't read the executive orders.

But not feds who are teleworking full time, right? My daycare said it was only those who couldn’t telework full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that many interpreted “government employees” as ONLY those who physically need to report into the office, not those who are still required to work, but able to work from home.

Perhaps, although I'll note I just received an email from the Assistant State Superintendent for the Division of Early Childhood Development, Steven Hicks. In it he said:

I am sorry that it was not clear to you that all workers, regardless of whether they are teleworking or on-site at their businesses, are eligible to access child care. We have not had this misunderstanding from any other parents, but do want to make sure you are aware that teleworking parents that meet the criteria, as described in our FAQs, are eligible to access child care.

(emphasis his)

It seems pretty clear to me. I don't understand why they're being so vague in their FAQs on this subject.

Are you also a daycare provider? If so hello! Just so the parents on this forum know, we have been giving such little guidance on certain areas and mountains of guidelines and regulations in other areas. I know for a fact that there was widespread confusion about teleworking and who had access to daycare. Some providers were only excepting kids if their families were physically Going to work whereas others were excepting parents if they were teleworking.
I also don’t understand why they’re being so vague about so many questions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that many interpreted “government employees” as ONLY those who physically need to report into the office, not those who are still required to work, but able to work from home.

Perhaps, although I'll note I just received an email from the Assistant State Superintendent for the Division of Early Childhood Development, Steven Hicks. In it he said:

I am sorry that it was not clear to you that all workers, regardless of whether they are teleworking or on-site at their businesses, are eligible to access child care. We have not had this misunderstanding from any other parents, but do want to make sure you are aware that teleworking parents that meet the criteria, as described in our FAQs, are eligible to access child care.

(emphasis his)

It seems pretty clear to me. I don't understand why they're being so vague in their FAQs on this subject.

It's telling that they don't realize their language is confusing. The EPCC program has run it's course- they state seems more concerned about parents who aren't working utilizing daycare than providing easy access for those who are. I know plenty of working parents who are hesitant to send their kids back- I don't think there is going to be this mad rush of people without jobs utilizing childcare right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Daycares fall under the Maryland Department of Education so changes come from the state level. Since we are in phase 2 that means that daycares in Maryland will accept the children of essential employees, nonessential employees returning under phase 1 and nonessential employees returning to work for phase 2. the exceptions are Montgomery county, PG and I believe Baltimore (although I’m not sure if Prince Georges or Baltimore have the same restrictions that Montgomery county has). In montgomery County we are still only under phase 1 which means technically we may only watch essential children and children to phase 1 employees. This was not made clear to daycares so that may be why you have phase 1 and phase 2 employees back in care in Montgomery county. Also, only one parent must fit into that category in order for a child to qualify to return.

Since it sounds like you're a child care provider, I wanted to point out that federal employees *are* phase 1 employees. They're plausibly even essential employees, but there's little question that federal agencies are allowed to operate during phase 1.

Yes I am a provider. I didn’t realize that I addressed several employees, my apologies if I confused anybody. In general a lot of people were confused on what essential employees versus nonessential employees meant. Daycares are going by the governors executive order on the definition of essential versus nonessential.

My point was just that the posts here seem to indicate that many providers are goi g with narrower definitions than what is described in the executive orders. Federal employees were the main example. Feds are explicitly listed in the section on essential employees. And certainly federal agencies are covered by phase 1 reopening. If daycares are turning away feds, then they haven't read the executive orders.

But not feds who are teleworking full time, right? My daycare said it was only those who couldn’t telework full time.

Wrong. That's one area where Assistant Superintendent Steven Hicks has been quite clear to me. The Division of Early Childhood makes no distinction between teleworking and on-site employees. He thinks they've been clear on this, although I tend to agree the new FAQ is confusing on this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the problem is that many interpreted “government employees” as ONLY those who physically need to report into the office, not those who are still required to work, but able to work from home.

Perhaps, although I'll note I just received an email from the Assistant State Superintendent for the Division of Early Childhood Development, Steven Hicks. In it he said:

I am sorry that it was not clear to you that all workers, regardless of whether they are teleworking or on-site at their businesses, are eligible to access child care. We have not had this misunderstanding from any other parents, but do want to make sure you are aware that teleworking parents that meet the criteria, as described in our FAQs, are eligible to access child care.

(emphasis his)

It seems pretty clear to me. I don't understand why they're being so vague in their FAQs on this subject.

Are you also a daycare provider? If so hello! Just so the parents on this forum know, we have been giving such little guidance on certain areas and mountains of guidelines and regulations in other areas. I know for a fact that there was widespread confusion about teleworking and who had access to daycare. Some providers were only excepting kids if their families were physically Going to work whereas others were excepting parents if they were teleworking.
I also don’t understand why they’re being so vague about so many questions.

No, I'm a fed.

And honestly, this situation doesn't quite apply to me. While there's some question about my eligibility, my wife is a health care worker, so we clearly qualify based on her job. But I started looking into this after our provider expressed confusion based on the seemingly-conflicting guidance she was getting from the county. And shortly thereafter, parents within my agency started asking related questions now that we're not expecting this to end anytime soon. The more I looked into it, the more angry I got, to be perfectly honest. This shouldn't be that hard. Just provide direct answers.

My proposed revised FAQ entry back to Mr. Hicks was this:

Q: Who can access child care?
A: Parents who are essential persons or who returned to work (or continued to work) under the Governor's Stay-At-Home and Reopening executive orders. Essential persons are defined in the Governor’s Executive Order Number 20- 03-25-01. Phased reopening employees include those who work in businesses, organizations, and facilities opened by the Governor, or who work for federal/state/local government agencies, media services, or non-profit organizations who were excluded from the order to close. The executive orders do not place additional restrictions at this time, and include employees who must report in-person to their workplace as well as those that work from home. If parents/guardians are able, they are strongly urged to keep children at home as the first and best option to protect them from the virus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Daycares fall under the Maryland Department of Education so changes come from the state level. Since we are in phase 2 that means that daycares in Maryland will accept the children of essential employees, nonessential employees returning under phase 1 and nonessential employees returning to work for phase 2. the exceptions are Montgomery county, PG and I believe Baltimore (although I’m not sure if Prince Georges or Baltimore have the same restrictions that Montgomery county has). In montgomery County we are still only under phase 1 which means technically we may only watch essential children and children to phase 1 employees. This was not made clear to daycares so that may be why you have phase 1 and phase 2 employees back in care in Montgomery county. Also, only one parent must fit into that category in order for a child to qualify to return.

Since it sounds like you're a child care provider, I wanted to point out that federal employees *are* phase 1 employees. They're plausibly even essential employees, but there's little question that federal agencies are allowed to operate during phase 1.

Yes I am a provider. I didn’t realize that I addressed several employees, my apologies if I confused anybody. In general a lot of people were confused on what essential employees versus nonessential employees meant. Daycares are going by the governors executive order on the definition of essential versus nonessential.

My point was just that the posts here seem to indicate that many providers are goi g with narrower definitions than what is described in the executive orders. Federal employees were the main example. Feds are explicitly listed in the section on essential employees. And certainly federal agencies are covered by phase 1 reopening. If daycares are turning away feds, then they haven't read the executive orders.

But not feds who are teleworking full time, right? My daycare said it was only those who couldn’t telework full time.

Wrong. That's one area where Assistant Superintendent Steven Hicks has been quite clear to me. The Division of Early Childhood makes no distinction between teleworking and on-site employees. He thinks they've been clear on this, although I tend to agree the new FAQ is confusing on this point.

Well I don’t know how to get my daycare to see that that’s what they mean if the FAQs are confusing.

[Anonymous]

Well, the Governor's press conference seemed to render much of this moot...

I really know what the state's announcement regarding child care centers generally reopening means for Montgomery County. As I had been saying above, the county really had just been going along with the state, which makes sense because the state regulates child care.

I strongly suspect that any difference between what the Department of Education was saying and what the county was saying was merely attributable to confusion.

But with the state EPCC program presumably ending, what will MoCo do? Child care doesn't even seem to be in the state's executive order- that's being done at a regulatory level of the Department of Education.

I suspect we're going to be in for a confusing week as the county tries to figure out what they're going to say.

[Anonymous]

What did the governor say in the press conference? I tried calling the early childhood office today to get more information. I spoke to two people, both of whom appeared to be (at least) as confused as I am. No help at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland is sort of in a weird place right now with daycare. Basically z anyone can use the daycares that are open right now. But, the room size restrictions probably make some daycares unprofitable. That also means there's a shortage of availability at some places.

I think this new status quo will be maintained through the summer. More daycares will open up over the next couple weeks, which might help with availability a little bit

Right. I asked one of DD’s teachers about whether the EPCC thing is done or not today and she said, “It sort of is and sort of isn’t. It’s pretty confusing, but given the 50% capacity limit we have, there are definitely going to be parents who aren’t going to have spots once workplaces start opening up more.”

Oh — one more thing. She said that, since they have to limit each room to 10 people (kids and teachers), the existing childcare ratios mean there are more spots for older kids than younger ones. My 3 year old can be in a room with 9 kids and 1 teacher, but an infant room can’t have a 9 to 1 ratio.

So the restrictions screw over the parents of younger kids more than older kids.

That’s not accurate, at least at my daycare. Every infant parent who wants a spot will get it because the current ration of 6 to 2 is less than 10 people. I contrast, older kids current have 24 kids with 2 or three adults. That will have to go to 9 kids to 1 adult. So, if all families with older kids want a spot, only slightly more than 1/3 will get one - in contrast to every infant family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland is sort of in a weird place right now with daycare. Basically z anyone can use the daycares that are open right now. But, the room size restrictions probably make some daycares unprofitable. That also means there's a shortage of availability at some places.

I think this new status quo will be maintained through the summer. More daycares will open up over the next couple weeks, which might help with availability a little bit

Right. I asked one of DD’s teachers about whether the EPCC thing is done or not today and she said, “It sort of is and sort of isn’t. It’s pretty confusing, but given the 50% capacity limit we have, there are definitely going to be parents who aren’t going to have spots once workplaces start opening up more.”

Oh — one more thing. She said that, since they have to limit each room to 10 people (kids and teachers), the existing childcare ratios mean there are more spots for older kids than younger ones. My 3 year old can be in a room with 9 kids and 1 teacher, but an infant room can’t have a 9 to 1 ratio.

So the restrictions screw over the parents of younger kids more than older kids.

That’s not accurate, at least at my daycare. Every infant parent who wants a spot will get it because the current ration of 6 to 2 is less than 10 people. I contrast, older kids current have 24 kids with 2 or three adults. That will have to go to 9 kids to 1 adult. So, if all families with older kids want a spot, only slightly more than 1/3 will get one - in contrast to every infant family.

15 now instead of 10 per the news today.

Will Elrich attempt to override? I hope not.

[Anonymous]

Updated guidance from the Department of Education isn't available yet, but they're saying all daycares can open with class size limitations of 15 in place.

See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHZqpJgC0g4

Daycare comes up at the 30 minute mark. It's only a couple sentences.

My worry now is that there's no reason for the Department of Education to release revised guidance on child care eligibility. But there's also not really anyone in the county overseeing child care, so whatever MD311 wants to tell people is likely going to be it.

As a lifelong liberal Democrat, I can't believe that I'm basically begging a Republican governor to save us from tyranny...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maryland is sort of in a weird place right now with daycare. Basically z anyone can use the daycares that are open right now. But, the room size restrictions probably make some daycares unprofitable. That also means there's a shortage of availability at some places.

I think this new status quo will be maintained through the summer. More daycares will open up over the next couple weeks, which might help with availability a little bit

Right. I asked one of DD’s teachers about whether the EPCC thing is done or not today and she said, “It sort of is and sort of isn’t. It’s pretty confusing, but given the 50% capacity limit we have, there are definitely going to be parents who aren’t going to have spots once workplaces start opening up more.”

Oh — one more thing. She said that, since they have to limit each room to 10 people (kids and teachers), the existing childcare ratios mean there are more spots for older kids than younger ones. My 3 year old can be in a room with 9 kids and 1 teacher, but an infant room can’t have a 9 to 1 ratio.

So the restrictions screw over the parents of younger kids more than older kids.

That’s not accurate, at least at my daycare. Every infant parent who wants a spot will get it because the current ration of 6 to 2 is less than 10 people. I contrast, older kids current have 24 kids with 2 or three adults. That will have to go to 9 kids to 1 adult. So, if all families with older kids want a spot, only slightly more than 1/3 will get one - in contrast to every infant family.

15 now instead of 10 per the news today.

Will Elrich attempt to override? I hope not.

Montgomery county is still under phase 1 which (to the best of my knowledge) still means 10 people. But maybe it does not apply! We are completely in the dark about this and equally as confused. We have not had any communication from the state or anybody about this. We found out at the same time the rest of Maryland did, watching the press conference and that had very murky answers.

I know this is an important issue for many people here. I will do some research and come back with answers this afternoon.