May 10, 2020

To Our ABC LAND Families,

First and foremost, Happy Mothers Day to all our Moms who are raising families and moving mountains during this time of isolation. Today, more than ever, we celebrate the effort you make caring for children amid homemaking, virtual work meetings, and global pandemic. For a lot of us, Mother’s Day this year will be limited to phone calls, flowers dropped off on the porch, or waving through the window. We’ll have to forego the big family gatherings this year, and it’s sad, but necessary, and we hope for better things next year.

We have continued communication with the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) during our closure and have stayed up to date on the guidance from The Center for Disease Control (CDC) regarding child care centers as well as guidance put out by The Department of Human Services and The Pa. Department of Health. As we work to lay out our reopening plan, there will be changes to our practice which may take some adjustment. This will include wearing of personal protective equipment by faculty and parents and presumably by children over 3 years old (masks). Likely, there will be a change to our pick up and drop off procedure among other daily changes (like not combining classrooms, for example). As the plan is finalized in the coming weeks, it will be shared with families as soon as it has been reviewed by OCDEL and DHS. We ask for your understanding as we all adjust to this new normal and for any shift in the plan if guidance from the CDC changes.

The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) continues to support and monitor the Pennsylvania counties that transitioned to the yellow phase and opened on Friday, 5/8/20. We have been notified that Delaware County will be among the last to transition to the yellow phase because of our proximity to Philadelphia and our denser population. We will notify you of our opening date immediately after being informed by the Governor of PA. Even as OCDEL prepares to restart certain operations in the 24 counties, we must remember this is not a return to normal life. This is just the beginning, and the dangers of the pandemic are still very real. We must still do all we can to prevent spread of COVID-19 to avoid going back under a stay at home order.

We also encourage you to visit www.sharedsourcepa.org for helpful resources that can be used for families and staff to reduce the level of anxiety, communicate what is known to be most appropriate health, hygiene and safety practices, as well as interim guidance for child care facilities.

In closing, we would like to thank all our ABC LAND families for the patience and understanding you have demonstrated during this health crisis. We miss all of our students greatly and look forward to their return.

Respectfully,

Frank, Janice, and The Staff of ABC LAND