Before/aftercare providers need a seat at the table

[Anonymous]

It seems like many families on this forum can accommodate full-time or part-time DL, and it is a question of convenience, effectiveness of DL, safety, etc. However, there are many families who do not have that flexibility of preference whether it be due to their job or otherwise. It's not as easy, in the current environment, to change jobs to one that allows a WFH option. There are many single parents who cannot "trade off" days with a spouse either. Before and aftercare providers provide a critical need for families. Below is a copy of the letter sent by some providers to the MoCo Board of Education and other leadership. I think it's important that people also write to their elected officials to emphasize the importance that these providers are part of the discussion, such as Jack Smith, Mark Elrich, Ramona Bell Pearson, MoCo Council, and the Board of Education.

Dear Community Leaders,

We write to you today as a coalition of school-age child care providers who are based in Montgomery County and serve its residents. Last year we served over 11,700 children at 85 MCPS facilities and together we employ over 1000 child care professionals. Before COVID-19 forced the closure of schools, child care centers, and summer camps, we were competitors. Today we reach out to you, united, asking for guidance and assistance.

For decades, our parents and families have enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership with MCPS and the communities it serves. We acknowledge the difficulty in returning children to school, yet we have not had any communication, specifically to us as partners, about possible plans for children returning back to school buildings. Moreover, we are concerned that, as representatives of a majority of school-aged child care providers in Montgomery County, not one of us has been invited to provide feedback or collaborate with MCPS as these plans are formulated. Childcare is a foundational service that needs to be in place for children to return to school, and for parents to return to work, and we want to be an asset to our school system in planning for a successful Fall. We implore you to let us bring our years of collective experience to the table and assist MCPS in making these difficult decisions.

In addition to requesting a seat at the table, we urgently need to know MCPS' decision making framework for reopening the schools. It takes a great deal of time, funding, and intellectual capital to develop new policies, train our staff, procure personal protective equipment (PPE), adjust our enrollment systems to meet the needs of families, and communicate all of this with the communities we serve. In order to provide the high quality of care that we have established in our programs, we need more guidance than what we’re currently receiving.

To put it bluntly, without child care, parents of school-age children will not be able to return to work on the first day of school. Since being forced to close our school-based programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have each taken steps to survive these closures and be able to reopen and serve Montgomery County residents when they return to work. We have applied for the CARES Act funds, we’ve furloughed longtime employees, and those of us with our own spaces have opened our programs for children of essential personnel. We’ve done everything possible to stretch our dollar, but with the razor-thin margins that child care already operates within, we’re simply running out of funds to maintain our businesses until we can generate income again. We implore you to urgently pass an additional child care recovery measure for the providers that offer care in our children’s schools. School age care is critical to the recovery and long term health of Montgomery County. For more than 50 years, before and after school programs have provided families trusted and safe learning environments for their children while they work. It is critical that this partnership with working families is sustained.
Many of us were excited to see Montgomery County proactively looking to assist the childcare industry through the $10 million dollar recovery fund, but were bewildered to find it was only available for early childhood providers (ages 0-5). As we serve working families who rely on child care before and after school, there is a large population which the current funding ignores.

If anything, this pandemic has illuminated the inequities that exist across our very own county and has reinforced the need for high quality before and after school programs to help mitigate the opportunity gap and support children's academic, social, and emotional wellbeing. We all want Montgomery County to be the benchmark for how to learn from, and build upon, the shared-experience of COVID-19. We’re not asking for the work to be done for us. We’re asking to join you in this endeavor and ensure the long term health of school age child care in Montgomery County.

As providers, we are working together and replies sent to this address ([e-mail]) will be sent automatically to our individual inboxes. We look forward to working together on these critical issues.

In service,

Bob Sickels

The Big Cheese
Kids After Hours

Brian Rindos
Managing Member
Kids Adventures LLC

Deirdre O'Grady and Elizabeth Lewis

President & Vice President
Cosmic Kids Inc.

Jay Gerson
Owner
KidsCo, Inc. and 
KidsCo, Jr.

Joanne Hurt
Executive Director
Wonders Early Learning + Extended Day


Joe Richardson
CEO
Bar-T Year Round Programs for Kids

Laura Bardini
Executive Director
Rockville Day Care Association, Inc.

Lesley Walsh-Everhart

Chief Executive Director

Academy Child Development Center, Inc.


Michelle Martineau Green
Executive Director
Montgomery Child Care Association (MCCA)

[Anonymous]

Thanks for sharing this here. KAH sent this out to parents last week, along with specific suggestions to contact the following people to lobby for the inclusion of before/aftercare providers in discussions and decisions. I sent a letter and hope others will, too.

People to Contact:
Jack Smith, [e-mail]
Entire Board of Education, [e-mail]
Marc Elrich, [e-mail]
Montgomery County Council, [e-mail]
Ramona Bell Pearson, [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Thank you! Messages sent.

[Anonymous]

Agreed, thank you for posting this letter here! I wrote my own letter urging those in charge to give these childcare providers a seat at the table and sent it to everyone listed.

If MCPS keeps shutting them out, it will not be good. It's not okay.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely agree. We are lucky that we are working from home, but many families aren’t (or won’t be come fall). At the very least the providers should be at the table.

[Anonymous]

Given how integral those companies are in this county, it's unbelievable that they are getting radio silence.

[Anonymous]

Agree. I really need to motivate and send the damn letter. We don't "need" KAH as we are both WFH for likely the next year, but we love the program and know people depend on it.

[Anonymous]

I sent a letter earlier this week and just received this response (form letter) from the Legislative Affairs coordinator for the BOE:

The Board appreciates the critical importance of child care to families throughout Montgomery County, and MCPS is working closely with our local and state health officials around the next steps to reopen these services.

Montgomery County is setting its own reopening timetables separately from the rest of the state in the context of the specific public health conditions in this region. While Governor Hogan instituted Phase 2 in the state, Montgomery County did not initiate that phase of reopening locally for another two weeks. Even as Montgomery County enters Phase 2, there will be concerns specific to child care in school facilities that may differ from child care providers that operate in their own or other spaces. MCPS is developing and implementing summer programming in multiple modalities and working through the multiple operational and health systems that must be in place to allow students to return to school buildings. All of these activities must take place in the context of social distancing that limits the total numbers of people permitted to be in school buildings.

As we continue our work to finalize the health, safety, and operational plans for reopening school facilities, we recognize how important access to child care is for our families and our community. We will continue to provide as much access to facilities as quickly as possible within the context of school system operations and public health constraints that are required by our state and local public health officials. We will provide the community updates as we work through this process.

[Anonymous]

I think it should be income based and slots reserved for lower income first as high income can afford to hire a nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I sent a letter earlier this week and just received this response (form letter) from the Legislative Affairs coordinator for the BOE:

The Board appreciates the critical importance of child care to families throughout Montgomery County, and MCPS is working closely with our local and state health officials around the next steps to reopen these services.

Montgomery County is setting its own reopening timetables separately from the rest of the state in the context of the specific public health conditions in this region. While Governor Hogan instituted Phase 2 in the state, Montgomery County did not initiate that phase of reopening locally for another two weeks. Even as Montgomery County enters Phase 2, there will be concerns specific to child care in school facilities that may differ from child care providers that operate in their own or other spaces. MCPS is developing and implementing summer programming in multiple modalities and working through the multiple operational and health systems that must be in place to allow students to return to school buildings. All of these activities must take place in the context of social distancing that limits the total numbers of people permitted to be in school buildings.

As we continue our work to finalize the health, safety, and operational plans for reopening school facilities, we recognize how important access to child care is for our families and our community. We will continue to provide as much access to facilities as quickly as possible within the context of school system operations and public health constraints that are required by our state and local public health officials. We will provide the community updates as we work through this process.

That last paragraph is interesting. If they recognize how important access to child care is for the community, wouldn't they have reached out to any of these major providers for input, updates, etc.? I mean really...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it should be income based and slots reserved for lower income first as high income can afford to hire a nanny.

While I appreciate the intent behind that statement, there is no way that could be feasibly administered for a lot of reasons. One being, wealth is not solely determined by salary. I'm not talking about a big house and fancy cars, I mean divorced families (thus twice the household expenses), high student loans, jobs requiring long hours, etc. Also, exactly what nanny will work from 7-8:35am and 3:30 (or whatever) until 6pm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sent a letter earlier this week and just received this response (form letter) from the Legislative Affairs coordinator for the BOE:

The Board appreciates the critical importance of child care to families throughout Montgomery County, and MCPS is working closely with our local and state health officials around the next steps to reopen these services.

Montgomery County is setting its own reopening timetables separately from the rest of the state in the context of the specific public health conditions in this region. While Governor Hogan instituted Phase 2 in the state, Montgomery County did not initiate that phase of reopening locally for another two weeks. Even as Montgomery County enters Phase 2, there will be concerns specific to child care in school facilities that may differ from child care providers that operate in their own or other spaces. MCPS is developing and implementing summer programming in multiple modalities and working through the multiple operational and health systems that must be in place to allow students to return to school buildings. All of these activities must take place in the context of social distancing that limits the total numbers of people permitted to be in school buildings.

As we continue our work to finalize the health, safety, and operational plans for reopening school facilities, we recognize how important access to child care is for our families and our community. We will continue to provide as much access to facilities as quickly as possible within the context of school system operations and public health constraints that are required by our state and local public health officials. We will provide the community updates as we work through this process.

That last paragraph is interesting. If they recognize how important access to child care is for the community, wouldn't they have reached out to any of these major providers for input, updates, etc.? I mean really...

I came back to this thread to post that I received the above letter, too. Yeah, I agree that recognizing the importance of childcare translates into coordinating with the major providers of it for school-aged kids.

I also am going to contact Elrich again and probably Travis Gayles. It’s not okay to focus on opening restaurants and gyms over schools and childcare facilities, inasmuch as the constraints on the latter are imposed by concerns about community spread. I’m completely obsessed with working out and miss my BC workout so much, but there’s no way it’s more important than kids getting educated and cared for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I sent a letter earlier this week and just received this response (form letter) from the Legislative Affairs coordinator for the BOE:

The Board appreciates the critical importance of child care to families throughout Montgomery County, and MCPS is working closely with our local and state health officials around the next steps to reopen these services.

Montgomery County is setting its own reopening timetables separately from the rest of the state in the context of the specific public health conditions in this region. While Governor Hogan instituted Phase 2 in the state, Montgomery County did not initiate that phase of reopening locally for another two weeks. Even as Montgomery County enters Phase 2, there will be concerns specific to child care in school facilities that may differ from child care providers that operate in their own or other spaces. MCPS is developing and implementing summer programming in multiple modalities and working through the multiple operational and health systems that must be in place to allow students to return to school buildings. All of these activities must take place in the context of social distancing that limits the total numbers of people permitted to be in school buildings.

As we continue our work to finalize the health, safety, and operational plans for reopening school facilities, we recognize how important access to child care is for our families and our community. We will continue to provide as much access to facilities as quickly as possible within the context of school system operations and public health constraints that are required by our state and local public health officials. We will provide the community updates as we work through this process.

That last paragraph is interesting. If they recognize how important access to child care is for the community, wouldn't they have reached out to any of these major providers for input, updates, etc.? I mean really...

I came back to this thread to post that I received the above letter, too. Yeah, I agree that recognizing the importance of childcare translates into coordinating with the major providers of it for school-aged kids.

I also am going to contact Elrich again and probably Travis Gayles. It’s not okay to focus on opening restaurants and gyms over schools and childcare facilities, inasmuch as the constraints on the latter are imposed by concerns about community spread. I’m completely obsessed with working out and miss my BC workout so much, but there’s no way it’s more important than kids getting educated and cared for.

The more people who write the better! I completely agree with your sentiments about priorities.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like MCPS is in over its head just trying to figure out how to do a hybrid F2F remote option. Reading in between the lines of their response I see: "I realize this is important to you, but we just haven't had time to think about this". Which is infuriating. The state guidance specifically says school systems should reopen the daycares in their buildings so their own teachers can actually work.

Our toddler was in one of the full-day daycares in a MCPS building. It makes me so sad to think she'll probably never go back there, though we're still holding out hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it should be income based and slots reserved for lower income first as high income can afford to hire a nanny.

While I appreciate the intent behind that statement, there is no way that could be feasibly administered for a lot of reasons. One being, wealth is not solely determined by salary. I'm not talking about a big house and fancy cars, I mean divorced families (thus twice the household expenses), high student loans, jobs requiring long hours, etc. Also, exactly what nanny will work from 7-8:35am and 3:30 (or whatever) until 6pm?

Actually you can find someone and I think it needs to go for household savings, house price and salary and child support. Your high student loans are your problem as you choose them and could have chosen a cheaper school. The issue isn't necessarily before/after school care its more about the distance learning. Just because you are divorced means nothing as you can have a higher income than two working parent couple.