Updates for Monday, March 15th

Sunshine Families,

 

I want to thank you again for your patience and support as we try to do our best to provide safe childcare during these difficult times. We are very grateful to so many of our families who have kept their children home last week. Not only has this supported health official’s efforts at social distancing, this has also allowed us to concentrate our efforts and resources on proving childcare to those of our families that absolutely need it. While we will work to remain open in as safe a manner as possible, local and state officials continue to stress that if you are at all able to keep your children home, please do so. This would not only help limit their risk of exposure, but also help protect your broader household, as well as help limit the overall spread of the virus throughout our community.

 

We also ask you to keep in mind that this is a highly dynamic and ever-changing situation. Please be sure to check your inbox for any additional updates from us. As you may have seen Putnam County closed all childcare centers for 5 days starting Monday. We expect Westchester county to make an emergency declaration at some point Monday. As part of this declaration schools will be closed for a multi-week period. The Governor and County Execute have stressed the importance of continuing to provide childcare for those families that absolutely need it (especially healthcare and first responder staff) but we don’t know how the County will choose to address that need. As soon as we know more we will update you.

 

In addition to the updates sent around earlier today, please see below for additional changes for tomorrow:

 

1. All the changes we are implementing, particularly changes to our staff schedule, are designed to keep our environment as safe as it can be. Unfortunately, they are also highly disruptive. In order to properly plan and schedule we are asking that if you plan on bringing your child to Sunshine Starts tomorrow (Monday 3/15), please fill out this form.

 

2. Given the current situation and updated guidance from state and health officials, we will be particularly vigilant in our daily health check. We will be paying particular attention to any respiratory symptoms (cough, fever, sore throat, shortness of breath). Needless to say if you child has any such symptoms you must keep them home. The question came up as to what constitutes a fever. We follow medical guidelines that a core temperature of 100.4F is considered a fever. When measuring the temperature externally (as opposed to rectally or orally which we are not able to do) the reading can be about 1F lower, so we consider a reading of 99.6F a fever. While normally we wouldn’t have serious concerns over borderline cases such as 99.6F, these are not normal times and we need to take extra precautions.

 

3. Tomorrow we will be following a set schedule for pick ups and drop offs based on you child’s last name. We ask that you please keep to your time slot and allocate extra time for pick up and drop off. Please see the bottom of this email for the drop-off and pick-time based on child’s last name. If you are unable to use the slots below please reach out to us and we will make alternative arrangements.

 

Finally, we want to support all our families to the maximum extent that we can. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if we can be helpful.

 

Drop off:

 

 

Pick up: