COVID UPDATES

Last Updated: January 2021

While many things have changed, our commitment to the health and safety of your family and our staff has remained the same. Below you will see some immediate changes to our program to meet the new health guidelines.

Adults and Visitors are prohibited from entering the center (employees only at this time).

Drop Off/Pick Up Routine:

Your child’s teacher will meet you outside their classroom door every morning/afternoon. There will be markers on the ground indicating where to stand -6ft apart from other parents to practice social distancing. All parents must wear a face covering when dropping off and picking up. Your temperature, as well as your child’s temperature will be checked by the teacher. Your child’s temperature will be taken again mid-day as well.

We will also ask about any symptoms (cough, fever, etc.) experienced at home. If your child shows any signs of symptoms, they will be excluded at entry. If a child exhibits signs of illness throughout the day, or shows a temperature of 100.4 or higher, parents will be notified immediately to pick up the child.

Here Are Additional Changes Being Made:

1. Group sizes remain the same (each classroom ranges from 4-8 children total) Each teacher being fully responsible for the same group of children daily. 
2. We will continue to promote healthy hygiene practices such a frequent hand washing by all children and staff upon entering, before/after each activity-including diaper changes, and before/after meals.
3. In addition to our daily cleaning practices, we will disinfect all toys and materials various times throughout the day to ensure effective germ removal. We will also be sanitizing and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces after each use.
4. Please keep in mind when dressing your child for school every morning, we will be frequently using bleach for sanitizing purposes so there’s a possibility it might transfer onto clothes.
5. We will be encouraging social/physical distancing as much as we can through increased spacing of toys and play equipment, small groups, and no mixing between groups. We will monitor distance between the children during play and maintain distance between children during nap time.
6. All staff will be required to wear face coverings while at work and daily health screenings and temperature checks are conducted. All staff is fully vaccinated for Covid-19.
7. We will be adjusting activities and procedures to limit sharing of items such as toys, belongings, supplies and equipment. We will prepare individual activity/art packets for each child’s use.

We are confident that with these new measures in place we can limit the chances of exposure to everyone involved in the day to day operation of First Steps.