Coronavirus (COVID-19) Updates
Communication
May 12, 2020
Hello parents! Writing to communicate with you that we are still uncertain about a reopening date for daycares. We do understand this is a difficult situation to break down for Governor DeWine and we respect that he is doing his best to gather the data to get it right.
AND we understand that this is so challenging to piece together childcare when you may be going back to work, already back at work or have been working the whole time.
We want to thank each family for your continued support as we navigate and make decisions. One thing is for sure: our values of community, family and love have not changed.
Keep an eye on your email this week as we will be sending out a survey on how to best support you and your children return. We are looking forward to that day!
We are here for you — please email us if you have questions or concerns: nourish@nourishearlylearning.com
April 28, 2020
Hi parents!
Yesterday afternoon, Governor DeWine let us know he does not plan to open daycares in the first 2 weeks of May as part of his Responsible Restart Plan. "It's very hard to control the environment in daycares/school. I understand what parents are going through, but we have to start with what is easiest to control."
So we linger in uncertainty for the time being and we understand that is a strange place to be for many of you -- how will I physically go back to work without childcare? Each of your circumstances is unique.
How are you feeling? We are sad (heartbroken as some have said) and are missing you all very much AND we know that Governor DeWine is doing all he can to keep us safe and healthy.
When we do come back, we will have protocols in place; while we can't social-distance 2 year olds, our staff will take every precaution necessary to keep Nourish healthy, disinfected, calm and safe. We're making plans for when we come back together, what it will look like, staffing, new handbooks with "pandemic" on the front page, etc.
We are also working on some special touchpoints for Teacher Appreciation Week, Graduation and further connection throughout the month of May. Stay tuned.
Two Important Reminders:
Each class is doing their own forms of social learning--whether via Zooms, emails, YouTube channels, personal check ins--as each of them is in their own unique circumstance. They are thinking of your little ones constantly. Please remember that all resources are optional. We understand the stress of this moment.
If your financial situation has changed and you need to shift your financial plan moving into May, please email billing@nourishearlylearning.com (copied here). We are committed to working with each family and finding the balance to keep operating when we return. (We have applied for PPL and one other grant, for full transparency -- we have not heard back at this point in time).
Please remember to check out our blog, Facebook, and Instagram to get connected. We are so thankful to our Parent Group for putting together incredible special moments virtually for Founders Week.
In continued faith,
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Team
March 23, 2020
Hello there!
It is with both sadness and abundant faith that Nourish will (temporarily) close it's doors beginning Thursday, March 26, 2020 as mandated by Governor DeWine in yesterday's press conference. Coming together for the health of all is nourishing.
We will remain open tomorrow (Tuesday) and Wednesday for those who still need care.
Like all small businesses, this is challenging—emotionally, mentally, and yes, financially--and we want to do what is best for our families, our staff and the children. We want to continue to help sustain our staff financially, as much as we can, for as long as we can. We want to continue to pay for this building for as long as we can. All so when we come on the other side of this, the children are welcomed back to what they have always known: a space of safety and love.
For understanding how to move forward, we ask that if you have a change in circumstances or a change in mind, you refill out the financial questionnaire here by Wednesday, March 25. These are timestamped, so if you change your mind from the last time you filled it out, we will see the updated information. If you answers remain the same, you do not have to do anything.
If you are a member of the essential workforce, please let us know immediately. We want to support you with your childcare needs.
It is not lost on us that the day of our closure has fallen on the anniversary of Barb, Robin and Whit's death. It is ultimately a paradox — that we have been fighting to keep our doors open for three years just to get them closed to protect others from death. Normally, we would have the children come together to memorialize Barb, Robin and Whit, but instead, this is our plan:
If you are interested, please film your child (or family) doing both or either of the following and email the video to NourishParentGroup@gmail.com by tomorrow (Tuesday, 3/24) at 3:00 PM:
singing "This Little Light of Mine"
Blowing bubbles
On Thursday at 10:00 AM, everyone in the Nourish family is invited to go outside and blow bubbles, video it and tag Nourish Early Learning on Facebook and Instagram
If you need bubbles, our parent group can get some to you! Please email them.
To get updates on this, become part of the Nourish Parent Group on Facebook and follow on Instagram and Facebook
We are also committed to building this community in this time of uncertainty. These are our commitments:
Our teachers are working now to make sure you have the support you need to learn through play with your children
Miken and I will be bringing our "Heartfulness" curriculum online by talking openly on Instagram Live in the evenings. This week, the topic is death, which is timely. This will support you in bringing the invitation to your children and feeling confident in answering their questions about the topic.
We will be updating our blog:
check out the most important thing to add your daily rhythm (it's for you, parents!)
Coming up: healthy snacks and lunches (nourishing your body)
This community is resilient — we have seen it before — and we are grateful for each one of you for giving us the honor of caring for your children.
In love, love and more love
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Staff
March 20, 2020
Hello there!
WHAT A WEEK. Thanks for hanging in there, for being an awesome community and continuing to trust us for the care of your children. Continued praise and thanks to our staff who are simply rockstars.
Miken and I have attended many webinars on the best guidance in order to do what is best for all and in the last 48 hours as well as communicate with other centers across the country. Overall, there continues to be no guidelines for child care centers. "We are essential to the essential," if that makes sense.
As of now, we will remain open on Monday, again, unless we are mandated by the government to close. Things are shifting quickly and we will update you as soon as we know if this happens via email, Brightwheel and Facebook. We are highly suggesting the following for next week:
If anyone in your family is sick with the symptions (low-grade fever, dry cough, shortness of breath), please keep your child home.
If you are able to keep your children home because a parent of guardian is working from home or staying home, we are now asking that you do so
A reminder that if you continue to send your children, please be vigilant about keeping the children away from those in your immediate community who are at higher risk
Stay home. Seriously, stay home if you can...
Thank you to all who have filled out the financial questions. These will hold while Nourish remains open and operating. If you have not answered this yet, please do so ASAP. Some answers to your questions:
If you are sending your child(ren) at this time, you will be charged 100% for the service, unless a special circumstance has arisen
If Nourish is mandated to close, this agreement will be sent out again for you to update at that time
We'll be in touch this weekend with any updates or to confirm this.
You can find us on Facebook and Instagram in the meantime.
In continuity of health,
Miken, Alex and The Entire Nourish Staff
March 18, 2020
Hello again!
We will remain open tomorrow, Thursday, March 19, continuing our practice of pick up and drop off through the front. We have a few new added procedures, as mandated for the safety of all:
All humans (little and big) will be screened for symptoms upon arrival. This will be added into our hand washing routine. Symptoms are that of a respiratory infection and include:
Dry cough
Shortness of breath
Sore Throat
Low-grade fever (100.4)
If a child does have a fever, they must stay home for 14 days or test negative for COVID-19, in which case they can return after 72 hours.
These are stringent because we want to slow the spread. We understand testing is not easy to get.
We want to remind you to practice social distancing, or, more appropriately: physical distancing. This means staying home and spending time with the people under your roof. This means not having play dates, book clubs, parties. We can all do our part to help the community at large. There are great ways to meet up virtually!
We continue to monitor the situation closely, listening to Governor DeWine and the CDC. We are praying for health for all.
Love,
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Staff
March 17, 2020
Hello Nourish Families!
We will remain open tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18. We will continue the process of drop off and pick up taking place at the front awning. You guys have been doing amazing!
I want to pause for a moment to truly highlight our staff and their continued efforts at Nourish to create a peaceful and loving environment for the kids to come to, while, we're sure, wrestling with their own anxieties. They are showing up in a way that I am proud of and astounded by. While you continue to do your job, they are there for the kids, continuing to play with consistency.
We also want to let you know for those who have chosen to keep your children at home, we are working on creating supportive resources for you to turn to. The beautiful thing is that you already have everything in you to connect and play with your child; we simply want to bolster your days should you need.
Love,
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Staff
March 16, 2020
Hello Families!
An update to let you know we will remain open March 17, 2020 (tomorrow), again, until we are mandated to close. We will run like today with drop off and pick up taking place through the front door. Thank you to all of you for helping in making this process smooth!
We do want to let you know that Governor DeWine has alluded to daycares shutting down. We will be here until that is mandated and we are thinking ahead to that by understanding your needs as well as the needs of our staff. Thank you to all who answered our survey. Our hope would be that we could assist you in-home should this come to be. We are working behind the scenes on that but want to bring some peace to your mind.
Continued health for all,
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Staff
March 15, 2020
Hello Families!
As you may or may not know, Lucas County has had it's first confirmed case of COVID-19. There is no one is our immediate Nourish Community under investigation for this virus. We are continuing to follow the CDC guidelines to remain open, however we are highly aware of the practice of social distancing and are urging our community to do so if they are able to protect those around us.
Nourish would like to be sure to offer services to those who find childcare essential at this time. In order to gain clarity, we have created a short poll for you to take so we know our numbers for ratios.
Many of you have already asked (out loud or to yourselves) the big question: what about tuition? We realize everyone has a different financial situation and we want to be sympathetic to that in also holding true that Nourish is a small business with a very high overhead. Our first priority is the community’s safety and our second is taking care of our educators so that they may take care of your children. In this moment, those are opposing forces.
We want to still be able to pay our teachers during this stressful time and we want to be fair to parents. We strive to pay our educators well and if we continue to do so without receiving any tuition, Nourish would become financially devastated.
This questionnaire will help us make decisions going forward on numbers, tuition and our educators. Please take the time to fill it out as soon as you are able.
Continuing in prayers for health,
Miken, Alex and the Nourish Staff
March 13, 2020
Dear Nourish Families,
Governor Mike DeWine has mandated the closure of public schools K-12. Nourish does not fall under this mandate and as of now, we have made the decision to remain open for child care services next week unless we are otherwise mandated by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services or the Ohio Department of Health.
We have not come to this decision lightly, processing both our responsibility to our parents, our staff and our community. As of this time, there are 13 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the State of Ohio, and no cases currently reported in Lucas or Wood counties.
Nourish is committed to helping our staff navigate the social and economic impact caused by COVID-19. We are working together to alter the habits with increased handwashing, improving our cleaning and sanitation processes and furthering our education on the facts.
In order to maintain a healthy environment, we must have your help following these updated policies, taking effect on Monday:
All drop off and pick up will take place through the pick up line, which is in front of the building under the awning.
This will be staffed from 6:00 AM - 9:15 AM in the morning for drop off and 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM for pick up
If you must drop off or pick up your kids outside of the above hours, we require an email in advance to retrieve your child from the car. Please still pull up in front of the school.
This is to prevent the spread of unnecessary outside germs in the school
All children will wash their hands for 20 seconds upon arrival, which our educators will ensure in a light and fun way
We are now requiring that children be fever-free for at least 72 hours without the use of fever reducing drugs like Tylenol or ibuprofen before returning to school.
Our staff is trained in communicable diseases and we will assess children with any signs or flu-like symptoms with high precaution. Expect to receive a call for pick up if your child shows any of the following symptoms:
Fever
Dry Cough
Difficulty Breathing
As a precaution for our families, we do ask:
If you or a member of your approved pick up list have any pre-existing conditions, please do not come to pick up or drop off
If there are any flu-like symptoms of illness in your family, keep you and your children home
Miraculously, this virus is presenting mildly in children, if at all. However, they can be carriers of the virus so our fear is them bringing it to homes with those who may have depleted immune systems. Continue your awareness of everyone’s ability to carry silent germs.
We are currently assessing the needs of our community for School Age care as they would share a classroom with our Early 5 class. We are working closely with Miss Ali and Miss Deanna to create a class structure to continue with daily education, while also promoting learning with the school agers. This would pertain to any school age family that absolutely needs care.
We will be following up separately with some answers to questions we have been asked in the last 24 hours.
We are committed to communication to the staff and parents via Brightwheel, email and on our website.
We thank all of our staff who are so readily stepping up to serve our families and community, knowing in their heart of hearts that it is our call to duty to keep things as normal as possible for our children so they are not infused with anxiety or concern. Any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to us and we will do our best to reply quickly.
In prayer and guidance,
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Staff
March 12, 2020
Dear Nourish Families,
At this moment, Nourish does not fall under the mandate of closure so we have made the decision to remain open for childcare services.
We understand this is a quick moving situation and at any time we may receive information from the Ohio Department of Family Services or the Ohio Department of Health to close. We will keep you updated.
We have not come to this decision lightly, processing both our responsilbity to our parents, our staff and our community at large. We must work together to alter our collective habits with increased hand washing (20 seconds), increased cleaning and sanitation and furthering our education about COVID-19.
We are still discussing our ability to accommodate school aged children, with consideration of our licensing capacity.
With that, we will be sending out more information tomorrow on updated standards and plans moving forward.
Please be cognizant of who you are around and how germs spread. Keep yourself informed via the CDC. Encourage those babes to use their “germ catchers” (elbows).
In love and health,
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Staff
March 6, 2020
Dear Nourish Families,
We understand that the news about the coronavirus (COVID-19) can be anxiety provoking especially for families with young children. We want you to know that we are tracking the situation and will share all guidance we receive from the Ohio Department of Health. Yesterday, we received a letter from the DOH which we have attached to this email and we encourage you to read it.
At this time, it is important to listen to facts and not respond to fear. Currently there are 3 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the state of Ohio.
As a school we already have systems in place that notify both families and the DOH about infectious diseases in a timely manner. As always, we encourage you to review our illness policy which you can find in our Student Handbook and use it as a guide.
Sickness
The average preschooler comes down with infections ten to fifteen times a year. Each infection strengthens the body’s defenses, so as children get older, they get sick less often. It is important for the health of all in our community that you keep your child home when they are not feeling well.
When there is fever, diarrhea, vomiting or any other symptoms outlined below, you must keep your child home for 24 hours after the symptoms subside without medication. These symptoms include:
Severe coughing
Trouble breathing
Constantly running nose with green or yellow discharge
Earache
Sore throat or trouble swallowing
Stiff neck
Loss of appetite
Unusual spots or rashes
Conjunctivitis (pinkeye)
If your child develops any of these symptoms during the day, we will call you and ask that you take your child home. Please contact your teacher when your child is absent with a contagious illness. We will notify the rest of the class to be on the lookout for symptoms.
We are increasing the frequency of the number of times a day that the surfaces in the school are disinfected. You can help our community by making sure your children wash their hands thoroughly with warm water and soap upon arrival and before they enter their classroom for the day (20 seconds, please!). This is a DOH requirement at all times not just in light of the coronavirus.
In closing, I want to share this article and this video about how to talk with young children about the coronavirus. I hope you find it helpful.
Further References
Interim Guidance for Administrators of US Childcare Programs and K-12 Schools to Plan, Prepare, and Respond to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)Preventing COVID-19 Spread in Communities
In prayer for health for all,
Miken, Alex and the Entire Nourish Staff
