Letter to Parents March 18, 2020
March 18, 2020
Dear Spare Time families,
New information and directives regarding the COVID 19 virus are coming to all of us daily, from the Federal and Provincial governments, and the City of Vancouver.
Childcare falls under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health, therefore we wait for guidelines and recommendations from the Office of the Provincial Health Officer and BC Communicable Disease Control. This is the latest communication we have received:
Childcare falls under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health, therefore we wait for guidelines and recommendations from the Office of the Provincial Health Officer and BC Communicable Disease Control. This is the latest communication we have received:
As of today, the centres have continued to follow enhanced cleaning and disinfection guidelines, followed hand hygiene instructions (children and staff), practiced social distancing between adults in the centres (staff and parents) and kept the children in small group sizes. We have cancelled field trips and inter-centre events and we are not visiting any busy parks or playgrounds.
Many of you have withdrawn your children from Spring Break care, and I would like to assure you that we understand and support your decisions and will refund your fees.
What we do not know at this time is whether we will be able to continue to operate after Spring Break. The Vancouver School Board has not yet informed us of their intentions regarding the buildings. I believe there is a joint task force now examining how childcare in Vancouver can continue to safely operate under the current circumstances.
For regularly enrolled families who will temporarily withdraw children from our programs at this time for reasons related to the pandemic (ie; working from home, isolation, etc.) , or if we are directed to close down our centres, you will not lose your child care space when we resume regular operations. Your postdated cheques for April, May and June will be returned to you, and you will still be considered as registered in the program.
We intend to keep the centres open throughout Spring Break, however, if too many children are withdrawn, we may be unable to operate (financially) without support from outside sources. We are exploring solutions for this possibility.
I will continue to keep you updated.
Sincerely,
Astrid Visscher Administrator
Spare Time Child Care Society