Early Childhood Covid-19 Playbook

Please talk to your child about the following changes before returning to school so they know what to expect.

● All children will have their temperature taken before entering the building. We have ordered new infra- red thermometers, so it will be a no touch procedure.
● A well child check will also be performed before entering the building, this will consist of a series of questions around current health.
● No child with a fever, a cough, or a runny nose can be allowed to enter the building.
● Families will be given staggered drop off and pick up times. It is imperative to be on time, we can only admit and dismiss one classroom at a time out of one exit.
● All staff will be wearing a mask, please talk about masks with your child. Children are not required to wear masks.
● All adults dropping off a child must wear a mask.
● We can only accommodate one adult in dropping off each child or children. We strongly encourage you not to bring siblings to drop off/pick up if at all possible.
● If your child has a pre-existing medical issue, such as asthma, we highly encourage that you consult with your healthcare provider to decide the best time for your child to re-enter group care.
● Families will not be able to enter the building at drop off or pick up. Please bring your child’s belongings in a bag and prepare your child for saying good-bye at the door, where they will meet an educator or floating educator from their classroom.
● Children who are not yet walking will ride in the buggy/stroller or wagon to enter the building.
● Specific entryways and routes for drop off and pick up will be communicated.
● Please note that educators are not able to engage in conversations or take information about your child at pick up or drop off.
● Families are no longer able to enter the building during the day. Please contact Alex, Erika, Angela, or Allison, or call the classroom phone, if you need to reach us during the program day
● Erika: 503-535-3536, Allison & Angela: 971-254-8353, Alex: 503-535-3523
● If you need to communicate with your child’s teacher, such as information they may need to know to care for your child (didn’t sleep well, Mom out of town, etc.) please use our app, Remini, for communication.

For the health and safety of all children and staff, sick children must stay home. The following guidelines will be in place until we have further developments from the state. The following list is based on recommendations by the CDC, Oregon’s Early Learning
Division, and the Oregon Health Authority:

If a child or family member (within your household) has any of the following, the child may NOT attend school:

● Fever of 100.4 or above
● Cough, runny nose, shortness of breath or other symptoms of respiratory infection, loss of smell, loss of scent

These additional policies regarding illness, as mandated by the Early Learning Division, still apply just as they did in the past:
● A child will be excluded from group care if they present any of the following symptoms, or combination of symptoms, of illness:

○ Diarrhea (more than one abnormally loose, runny, watery or bloody stool)
○ Vomiting
○ Nausea
○ Unusual yellow color to skin or eyes
○ Skin or eye lesions or rashes that are severe, weeping, or pus-filled
○ Stiff neck and headache with one or more of the symptoms listed above
○ Difficult breathing or abnormal wheezing
○ Complaints of severe pain

If a child becomes sick at school, they will be isolated from others and expected to be picked up immediately. If symptoms continue or worsen CDC advises you contact your healthcare provider.

To return to school after suspected signs of Covid-19:
● A child must be fever free for 72 hours without use of fever reducing medication (Please note this is a new requirement).
● A child must be 3 days (72 hours) free of symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath). Fever free is defined as no fever without the use of medications and improvement in respiratory signs like cough and shortness of breath)
AND at least 10 days have passed since signs first showed up, if they are not tested for Covid-19.
● If you choose to have your child tested for Covid-19 and the test comes back negative, your child can return to school in 72 hours.

For a full description of policies around illness and Covid-19 that we will be following, please familiarize yourselves thoroughly with the following two resources:

Guidance for Child Care and Emergency Child Care

COVID-19 Resources

If a child or family member comes in contact with a person who has Covid-19 or suspected Covid-19:
● Family should self-isolate for 14 days from the last day the person was in contact with the sick individual.
● If someone in the family is diagnosed with Covid-19 you must notify the school immediately.

Click here to view a visual of the Exclusion Summary from ELD.

● All food must be sent from home, please include at least 2 snacks and a lunch. Please make sure all food brought from home is dairy/vegetarian. Please note this is a change; both Infant Toddler and Preschool programs are now vegetarian. We are not permitted to serve any food from the school kitchen to the children.
● Label every item with your child’s name. This includes pacifiers and bottle parts.
● Bring a water bottle for your child each day if age appropriate.
● Please bring a blanket or sleep sack; infants must use sleep sacks.
● Please bring multiple extra changes of clothes each day for ALL ages (any clothing with any bodily secretions must be changed).
● Bring a reusable bag to carry your child’s belongings.
● We encourage you to bring lunch/snacks in a reusable sack, with reusable utensils and containers.
● Remaining food will not be sent home; all remaining food will be disposed of.
● Please DO NOT send any toys, books, or other items from home. All shared toys and materials used in the classroom undergo regular cleaning and disinfecting procedures to prevent the spread of germs.

● All children will wash hands upon arrival in their classroom, and directly before exiting for the day.
● We will adjust some classrooms and spaces to allow for extra space between classrooms in use and easy sanitizing.
● We will encourage extra hand washing and social distancing as much as possible.
● We know that young children will not be able to stay 6 feet apart from one another, but we will discourage any physical contact play.
● Classrooms will look different and be structured differently to support increased individualized play with more individualized materials.
● We will follow additional guidelines as set forth by the CDC, Oregon’s Early Learning Division, and the Oregon Health Authority.
● To accommodate social distancing classrooms are limited up to 10 children and 2 to 3 teachers in an age group.
● The same educators will be with the same children each day, unless a substitute is needed. A safe keeper/floating educator will go between two classrooms each day.
● If your child will not be attending for the day, please call the office and let us know as soon as possible.
 

Please click here for our cleaning log to see our procedures.

● Crib and mat sheets will be laundered weekly by the school.
● All lunch boxes will be sprayed with a bleach solution before being sent back home each evening.
● The playground will be sprayed with a bleach solution after use by each classroom.
● Safe keepers/floating educators will wash their hands and change clothes before entering into a different classroom.
● We will do our best to staff our classrooms as consistently as possible in the event that a substitute educator is necessary.
● We will do our best to limit adults in the classroom; if an educator needs something from the office or another part of the building they will call the office and it will be dropped off at the classroom door, as opposed to having another adult enter the classroom.
● We have one playground space available for use for each age group, as well as possible other outdoor spaces.
● To limit exposure with other adults unnecessarily, classes will no longer be taking walks around the building
● All classroom materials will be sanitized and disinfected each evening.
● This is a partial set of policies; we will be following other procedures from our guiding organizations; see links above for more information.

View/Download our Early Childhood COVID-19 Health & Safety Plan - Updated January 21, 2021