I Susie t something will have to give soon, because more and more workplaces are calling people back, and reduced hours will not work when everyone starts commuting again.

Nope. Still closing at 430. Center in Alx. We absolutely love the place but it's very inconvenient

Please keep in mind that regulations vary by locality. Montgomery and PG each have slightly different interpretations of the MD rules and CDC guidelines, for example. Arlington, Alexandria City, Fairfax, Falls Church City, and Loudoun also have different rules. Something allowed one place might not be allowed in another place.

Ours reopened in July 2020 with its full standard hours, but with a few minor exceptions from normal:

- Each class is kept separate all day long;
- No teachers / carets float between classes;
- Separate playground times for each class; no overlaps
- Hot lunch previously included is not available. So I pack a cold lunch for DC.
- Each class/age-group has a different 15-minute drop off period in the AM, to keep different classes separate.
- PM pickup is unchanged, since people were using scattered pickup times even before the virus.

There have been a few cases of children catching Covid at home, but no transmission at the daycare/school, per county Health Dept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our daycare extended it's hours by half an hour earlier in the morning. They still open half an hour later and close an hour earlier than they used to. They have the same teachers with the kids all day where they used to do shifts and combine classes during "aftercare".

Ours is a center and they reduced staffing significantly to comply with Covid regulations. They also had reduced enrollment. I think these things are ramping back up again but I don't think they're combining classes at all. I definitely don't think they've given themselves a "raise". If anything they've lost money.

Same with ours, they're also not offering lunch. At this point I think it's a financial decision rather than Covid risks. My return to the office is not imminent (probably the fall) so it works for now but I know of families where neither parent can WAH and it's a struggle for them.

Ours is doing this too - no lunch. Maybe started as a COVID thing, it now no way. They keep charging for it too. And are combining classrooms. This is a big sticking point for me.

Ours had been normal hours since reopening last June (center).

Anonymous wrote:Re-upping this thread to see what daycares are doing as offices start to reopen.

Obviously OSSE is not changing their guidelines for daycares as quickly as offices reopen. Our center staggers schedules with children having a set 8.5 hour schedule to stay with the same primary teacher from drop off to pickup. This has worked fine while we worked from home, but my office just announced that they will reopen in a week, and I’m not sure what we will do about the additional commuting time when daycare has no flexibility.

Really, my problem is more with employers who do not consider childcare infrastructure in their plans than with my daycare that has done a great job with preventing community spread by strictly podding kids and staff and complying with all the additional regulations.

Ours hasn't announced anything yet, however my office is eyeing a fall return so still have some time. That's super crummy that you were only given a week notice!

I see less of a need to keep the same teachers with the kids all day now that most teachers are vaccinated. Ours is still doing this too- the same teachers for the shortened 8.5hr day, whereas previously there was a morning shift and afternoon shift. Kids from different classes only mixed at the very beginning and end of the day (before 730am and after 530pm), and I can understand the argument for not resuming that yet.

Re-upping this thread to see what daycares are doing as offices start to reopen.

Obviously OSSE is not changing their guidelines for daycares as quickly as offices reopen. Our center staggers schedules with children having a set 8.5 hour schedule to stay with the same primary teacher from drop off to pickup. This has worked fine while we worked from home, but my office just announced that they will reopen in a week, and I’m not sure what we will do about the additional commuting time when daycare has no flexibility.

Really, my problem is more with employers who do not consider childcare infrastructure in their plans than with my daycare that has done a great job with preventing community spread by strictly podding kids and staff and complying with all the additional regulations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My in-home daycare is now 8 - 5 p.m. instead of 7 - 5:30 p.m. It's somewhat of a joke that they claim the shortened hours are for extra cleaning because the daycare owner lives across the street and she leaves when the last kid is picked up at 5 so no one is staying and cleaning up.

On the plus side, your in-home daycare can probably return to normal hours whenever they choose to (maybe when the plurality of parents can no longer telework?) whereas centers will be hampered by the numerous issues the center director mentioned.

At least where I am there are plenty of centers that have hours beyond that and it doesn't seem to be an issue but obviously this is going to vary by state/locality. We are actually moving our older DD to a center since there are not many kids her age at the in-home daycare.

Your point is kinda exactly why it's frustrating though because she could operate under normal hours but it seems like she has no plans to do so. She used to be 6:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. and then she cut it back to 7 - 5:30 and now 8-5 and it's hard to get out of work in time to get there by 5. I get it though, she runs her business and she can set the hours even without manufacturing a reason, it's just a little harder to make it work than it needs to be.

Anonymous wrote:My in-home daycare is now 8 - 5 p.m. instead of 7 - 5:30 p.m. It's somewhat of a joke that they claim the shortened hours are for extra cleaning because the daycare owner lives across the street and she leaves when the last kid is picked up at 5 so no one is staying and cleaning up.

On the plus side, your in-home daycare can probably return to normal hours whenever they choose to (maybe when the plurality of parents can no longer telework?) whereas centers will be hampered by the numerous issues the center director mentioned.

My in-home daycare is now 8 - 5 p.m. instead of 7 - 5:30 p.m. It's somewhat of a joke that they claim the shortened hours are for extra cleaning because the daycare owner lives across the street and she leaves when the last kid is picked up at 5 so no one is staying and cleaning up.

I appreciate the comment from center director about how the current regulations affect this decision. The reasoning makes a lot of sense to me and it seems like centers are in a difficult position until limitations on floating teachers change. Both our daycare and preschool are on reduced hours (8:00-5 from 7-6 and 8:30-5:30 from 7-6). One just announced that they will return to regular hours at start of the new school year August 30, and while I’d like it to be earlier I glad to know the timeline that we’re dealing with.

I'm a director and we are open for a little less than 8 hours daily. Why? We are still not allowed to combine groups of children. The same staff have to remain with the same children all day, with the exception of a floater who may only be with a max of 2 groups per day. My employees work 8 hour days. Until we are allowed to combine children in the mornings and in the evenings, we will continue to have reduced hours. We do not claim any additional cleaning time, as regular cleaning, sanitiation and disinfection is already part of our schedule and we have an outside cleaning crew in the evenings.

The only centers I know of who are actually following regulations AND open their full normal hours are those who have multiple sites and therefore enough employees (with some of those sites still being closed) to staff open centers for a full day.

We’re at 8-5 instead of 7:30-6. It’s fine as long as we are still working from home, but we won’t be able to commute with those hours.

Anonymous wrote:Ours has been operating at the same hours since they reopened in June 2020. It's a large center, if that matters; the ones I know with reduced hours are all in-home.

Ours is in-home, shut for awhile, but opened with full hours (7-5:30).