Important Update 5/22/20

Hello Families,

Madison County has officially moved to Stage 3 of the Governor’s Back on Track plan starting today! Here are some guidelines included in stage 3 for all Hoosiers.
• Hoosiers 65 and older and people with known high-risk medical conditions should limit exposure at work and in their communities
• Continue remote work when possible
• Face covering are recommended
• Social gatherings of up to 100 people may take place following the CDC social distancing guidelines.
• No travel restrictions
• Assisted living facilities and nursing homes remain closed to visitors.
• For more information about the Back on Track plan, visit https://backontrack.in.gov/.

Gateway continues to work hard to provide a safe and healthy environment for our children, families and staff. We greatly appreciate all our families that have been able to keep their children home whenever possible, enabling us to maintain smaller group sizes. Now that we are officially in stage 3, Gateway will be open for all our families, not just essential workers. Although it is still recommended that children stay home as much as possible for social distancing, we also understand that being without a normal routine is difficult, families need to run errands which can be challenging with children, and working from home with your child isn’t always easy. We also know that many of our families want to keep their children home as long as possible. We ask that our families respond and let us know if they are going to continue to keep their children home or give us a schedule of days and times that they want care. In order to maintain child to staff ratios and prepare the correct amount of food for meals and snack, we need to know which children will be here and when they will be her. You can email gateassocincdirector@gmail.com or call 765-649-1900.

Private Pay Families: Gateway will continue to apply for temporary funding assistance for private pay children that are absent if the funding is available. Unfortunately, starting April 20th, the temporary funding assistance will no longer cover the entire rate for our children. The extra funding that Gateway had available to help cover the remainder of the fees has dwindled. If a child has a credit on his/her account, the credit will be applied to any fees not covered by the temporary funding assistance for children that are absent. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gateway is temporarily changing one part of our financial responsibility policy. Gateway's financial responsibility policy, which is in our enrollment packet and family handbook states "Fees are not reduced or suspended if your child does not attend for any reason or length of time." The adjusted policy requires families to pay a maximum of $50 per month to hold a child's spot in the classroom while Gateway continues to apply for temporary funding assistance for days/weeks the child is absent.

CCDF Families: Gateway will continue to enter personal days for voucher children that are absent to make sure they reach the 25-hour minimum for CCDF to pay. CCDF gave children additional personal days to use during the pandemic, unfortunately, CCDF is not covering copays for families that have them. Gateway has utilized extra funding that we had available to help cover copays until our funds ran out. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gateway is temporarily changing one part of our financial responsibility policy. Gateway's financial responsibility policy, which is in our enrollment packet and family handbook states "Fees are not reduced or suspended if your child does not attend for any reason or length of time." The adjusted policy requires families to pay a maximum of $50 per month to hold a child's spot in the classroom while Gateway continues to enter personal days into late attendance for the days/weeks the child is absent.

We will continue our COVID-19 procedures.

Drop Off & Pick-Up
• Use the hand sanitizer dispensers mounted on the wall inside each entrance upon arrival at the building. Please supervise children closely when using hand sanitizer.
• Upon entering the building, each person will be screened for a temperature and other signs of illness including but not limited to flushed cheeks, rapid breathing or difficulty breathing, fatigue, or extreme fussiness. Individuals with a temperature of 100 degrees or higher and/or any other symptoms of illness will be sent home. (See our illness policy listed below for additional details)
• Upon entering the building go to the downstairs office to sign your child/children in/out of our care and complete swipes on the CCDF/OMW machine.
• We need to make sure that the office does not become crowded while families are signing and swiping their children in and out. We ask that only one family or a maximum of 6 people be in the office at a time.
• We are trying to limit the number of people in and out of the classrooms. The adult and other children should remain outside of the classroom when dropping a child off or picking a child up from a classroom. For safety and supervision, the adult and classroom teacher must verbally acknowledge the transition in/out of the classroom.

Naptime & Extra Clothing
• Each child will have a designated cot for naptime each day with his/her name on it and we will continue to sanitize the cot daily after naptime.
• Currently, cots are placed a minimum of 2 feet apart for preschool children and 3 feet apart for toddler children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gateway staff members will place the cots as far apart from each other as possible while still being able to easily supervise all children during naptime. Staff members may also use classroom furniture, such as shelves to create a solid barrier between children when possible.
• All blankets, small pillows, and comfort items brought from home for naptime must easily fit in your child’s cubby without falling out or coming in contact with another child’s items.
• All blankets, small pillows, and comfort items brought from home for naptime must be taken home by the family and washed on a weekly basis and more often if possible.
• Gateway has always asked that families provide at least one extra set of clothing that can be kept at school in case of accidents or spills. Please make sure that your child has extra clothing (shirt, pants, underwear, socks, and shoes) in the correct size at Gateway.

Face Masks & Social Distancing
• The CDC recommends wearing cloth, non-medical face masks in public settings where social distancing is difficult.
• Wearing a face mask is not a replacement for other preventative practices.
• Gateway staff members are not required but highly encouraged to wear face masks while at work, especially when maintaining 6 feet of social distancing is not possible.
• When feasible, staff members and older children should wear face coverings. We ask that the child’s name be written on the outside of his/her mask with permanent marker. This will help us ensure that a child is not wearing a mask that belongs to someone else.
• Face coverings should NOT be put on children under age two because of the danger of suffocation. Since our toddler room (Monkey) includes children that are one to two years of age, we ask that children under 3 years of age not wear face masks at Gateway.
• If children are not able/willing to leave their face covering on or it presents an issue with children not using it appropriately, we will place it in a plastic bag to be sent home at pick up. We encourage our families to talk to their children about face coverings and explain why people are wearing them, why we need to leave them on and not touch them all the time.
• Gateway is actively working to find ways to implement social distancing and limit person to person contact as much as possible. For as long as possible, Gateway will open the Monkey room for 1-2-year-olds, open the Bear room for 3-5-year-olds, and open one school age room (Dinosaurs or Mammoths) with the same children and staff in them each day.
• We will open additional rooms as need.
• Gateway’s school age classroom will be open all day.
• Classrooms will not be going on fieldtrips or inviting guest into the classroom unless it can be done virtually for the foreseeable future.
• Center wide events are not being planned at this time.

Gateway’s Exclusion of Ill Children Policy
If your child becomes ill during the school day, we will do all that we can to make him/her comfortable until a caregiver can arrive. For the health of all children and staff members, ill children will be excluded from the classroom if they display any 2 of the following symptoms or repeating symptoms:
o Fever of 100 degrees or higher
o Diarrhea (more than 2 diarrheas in a short amount of time counts as 2 symptoms)
o Lethargy
o Vomiting (more than 2 vomiting episodes counts as 2 symptoms)
o Inability to participate in classroom activities
o Rash that is spreading

When a child becomes sick, we will use one of the following options to isolate the child to the best of our ability. If we have an extra staff member available, s/he will take the child to an unused classroom and stay there with the child until someone is able to pick the child up. Taking the child to the office to remove them from the rest of the children is a second option. Our third option is to create a separated space for the child in the classroom and work with the other children to give the sick child their space.

If a parent/guardian is called because of a child’s illness, s/he must make arrangements to have his/her child picked up as soon as possible by anyone on the approved pick-up list. Amendments to this list must be made in person, in the main office. If a child is sent home due to illness, s/he must be symptom free and medication free for 24 hours before returning to daycare or have a doctor’s note stating that s/he are not contagious and can return to school. If we sent your child home, s/he will not be able to return to Gateway the next day unless they have been seen by a doctor and the doctor has written a note stating that s/he can return to daycare.

If, because of your child’s symptoms, we have any reason to believe s/he may have a communicable disease, rash, or other contagious illness or a doctor diagnoses your child with a communicable disease, rash, or other contagious illness– including but not limited to hand-foot-mouth disease, ringworm, chicken pox, croup, strep or conjunctivitis – we will require written verification from a doctor that the child is not contagious before s/he returns to the center.

If your child is displaying any of these symptoms at home, do not bring her/him to school. Children MUST be symptom free for 24 hours without medication before returning to school. Communicable diseases/contagious illnesses can spread very quickly in childcare settings. You will be protecting your child’s health and the health of your family by keeping ill children out of the center.

If your child is seen by a doctor, please call Gateway at 765-649-1900 and let us know what s/he has been diagnosed with, so that we can take proper precautions and notify the rest of our families that their child has been in contact with someone that is ill.

Please stop by the office and check to make sure that everyone you may need to assist in dropping off or picking up your child/children are on their authorized pick-up list and that we have the correct contact information for everyone on the list. Changes to the authorized pick-up list must be made in person by the enrolling parent/guarding.

If your child should need to take medication while at Gateway, especially asthma medication, please check with your child’s classroom teacher to make sure that we have your child’s medication on hand.

During the COVID-19 pandemic Gateway will send children home when they begin to show one sign/symptom of illness.

Gateway’s Courtesy Calling Policy
If your child will not be attending due to an illness, is having a day at home, or will be coming in later than their normal schedule please give the center a courtesy call by 9 am at (765) 649-1900. Knowing your child’s schedule helps us better prepare staff schedules to comply with state licensing child/staff ratios, know how much food to prepare for meals without having large amounts of wasted food or not enough food prepared, and helps the classrooms daily routine flow more smoothly. If we do not hear from you regarding your child’s attendance by 9:30 am at the latest, we may call to see if they are attending for the day. If we do not hear from you, we will assume your child will not be attending. We greatly appreciate your prompt communication when your child’s schedule changes.

Donations
We want to do everything we can to help our families through this challenging time. If you would like to help a Gateway family, you can donate to the “Gateway Family Fund”. All money received and designated to the “Gateway Family Fund” will be used to help families that are struggling to pay their copays and fees.
• Donations can be made in the form of cash and checks (made out to Gateway and “Gateway Family Fund” on the memo line). These donations can be made in person during hours we are open or can be sent to Gateway Association, Inc. PO Box 1182, Anderson, IN 46015
• Donations can be made using a credit card on our inhouse machine by phone or in person.
• We are also accepting donations of food and/or clothing that can be placed on the table in the downstairs hallway. All items placed on the table are free to anyone that needs them (families and staff).

We know that our families depend on us to be open and able to care for your children. We greatly appreciate your assistance in maintaining a safe and healthy environment for our children, families, and staff by keeping your children home if they are not feeling well, making sure that the individuals dropping off and picking up children are not ill themselves, and communicating with Gateway if your children become sick or will be absent for other reasons.

We continue to monitor the updates and orders from both the Family Social Services Administration and the Madison County Health Department. We apologize for any inconveniences that our families experience during this time, but we hope you understand that we are doing our very best to do everything we can to protect all of us and be here to care for your children. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,
Sara Krumme
Executive Director
gateassocincdirector@gmail.com

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