Tacoma, Puyallup schools to launch child care for kids of first responders, medical workers
Tacoma and Puyallup school districts are launching child care sites for children of first responders and medical worker families starting Monday.
In Tacoma, there will be five day camp sites: Stanley, Lowell, Bryant and Geiger schools and the Al Davies Boys and Girls Club.
The district will close the playgrounds at the four schools as a safety precaution, district spokesman Dan Voelpel said. Families that can use the camps will be invited by the district to do so.
The sites will be staffed by district employees and other community partners.
Superintendent Carla Santorno called on staff to stand up and stand together during the “war on coronavirus.”
“Beginning Monday, March 23, paraeducators, custodians, nurses, bus drivers and other classified staff will be called to work sites on a rotational basis to staff five ‘day camp’ sites that will care for the children of first responders and health care workers,” Santorno said in a message to staff Thursday.
In Puyallup, all of the district’s 22 elementary schools will provide child care in addition to free meals.
Puyallup’s sites will operate Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at all elementary schools beginning March 23.
As schools across the state closed to stop the spread of coronavirus, state Superintendent Chris Reykdal directed districts to provide two duties: meals and child care for first responders and health care workers.
Is it safe?
The use of child care sites has some wondering: What happened to social distancing?
Districts have not yet released information regarding the structure of operations for each site but have said they’re implementing social distancing practices.
The Washington State Department of Health has released guidelines for districts operating child care sites.
First and foremost, the department said, is to “exclude children, staff, parents and guardians from sites if they are showing symptoms of COVID-19, have been in contact with someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days or are at high risk due to underlying health conditions.”
The department encouraged health screening at entry by taking temperatures and checking for symptoms each day.
The department also encouraged reducing group sizes to no larger than 10 people — for example, one adult and nine children, or two adults and eight children.
“Keep groups together throughout the day, do not combine groups ...To the degree possible, maintain the same groups from day to day,” the department said. “This will help reduce potential exposures and may prevent an entire program from shutting down if exposure does occur.”
The health department also gave the following directives:
▪ Limit rooms to 10 people total. Large rooms, like gymnasiums with a full-sized basketball court, can be divided into two rooms.
▪ Incorporate social distancing within groups, aiming for at least three to six feet between children and minimizing the amount of time children are in close contact with each other.
▪ Offer outdoor play in staggered shifts.
▪ Eliminate large group activities.
▪ Plan activities that do not require close physical contact.
