Free child care at Modesto school comes to rescue of front-line health, safety workers
As one of the workers on the front lines during this novel coronavirus pandemic, Stephanie Bowers was in a jam when the Stanislaus Union School District closed its campuses March 19.
The usual day care provider for her twin 10-year-olds, Joshua and Jason, also was closing. Bowers, a staff services technician with the Stanislaus County Health Services Agency, didn’t have the sick time or vacation days to take off what was then expected to be a couple of weeks of school closure. And, of course, she was needed at work.
Bowers is a widow, and her only local family is her 86-year-old dad, not a child care option. She thought she’d have to take the boys to their grandmother in Yuba City, but Bowers then came down with a cold.
To her great relief, she was sent by a friend a flier: Modesto City Schools was offering free child care to health care workers, public safety first responders and its own nutrition services employees who have kept up take-home lunches and breakfasts during this period of home study. Bowers promptly signed up her boys and was told they could attend.
The child care proposal came from MCS Superintendent Sara Noguchi, who “wanted to do something for first responders and our medical professionals who are struggling with child care,” said Steven Hurst, the district’s director of student support services.
“There are a lot of people who are considered essential workers, but this was an area that we thought was a big need,” he added.
Muir Elementary School site of center
The center is at Muir Elementary School because of its proximity to Sutter Health and Memorial Medical Center on Coffee Road, as well as county health offices and downtown police and fire stations. It’s not too far from Doctors Medical Center, either.
To accommodate the 7-to-7 shift common among responders, it’s open weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. The day care — for transitional kindergartners through sixth-graders — began March 23 and will run at least through the end of the Modesto City Schools academic calendar, May 29.
Though everyone is sheltering at home and social distancing for the foreseeable future, Bowers said she didn’t hesitate to take up the child care offer. Working in health care, she knows well what precautions need to be taken to ensure kids’ health, and she was confident MCS would do it right.
Being Stanislaus Union students, Jacob and Joshua were apprehensive that first morning she dropped them off. They likely wouldn’t know any of the other kids. “When I picked them up, they had absolutely loved it. They loved the staff, the youth (volunteers). Not only were they happy, but everybody was so kind and helpful,” Bowers said.
The boys worked on learning materials, both on computers at Muir and on their own school Chromebooks. They played games and were fed lunch, too. “And the boys talk about how they have to wash their hands all the time. I said, ‘Well, duh,’” Bowers said.
Modesto City Schools sets protocols
The first thing MCS did was set protocols, Hurst said. “We brought in additional cleaning staff during the day to help sanitize as we went through, as well as at the end of the day. ... We said that we would have a ratio of no greater than 10-to-1, and we probably have been running actually a little less than that.”
Initially, the center was staffed by district teachers volunteering their time, he said. But with spring break past and new instruction being offered as of April 13, “a lot of those teachers have now had to go back to work. So we’re using some of our certificated staff to help support that.”
As children and staff arrive each day, they have their temperatures taken and are ushered through a checklist of symptoms. Hand washing and sanitizing of materials is done between activities. Gloves and masks are available to staff, and Hurst said probably 90 percent of the staffers wear either a supplied mask or one of their own.
“For the students, that was up to the parents,” he said. “The decision was, ‘You know, this is the recommendation from the CDC. However, we’re not supplying those (masks to children). Should you decide that you feel like you want your child to have a mask, you would supply that and please give them proper instruction on that.’
“I’ve had a few that have worn them, but then they’ll take it off because they don’t like it.”
As for social distancing, “Students are a little more of a challenge than adults in the sense that you’re not always going to get a 6-foot space between them,” Hurst said. “That’s just the reality of the times that we have physical activity where they can go outside. ...
“You do games in a big enough circle that the kids are separated enough, but they can still interact with a ball where it might be rolled or something like that.”
Inside, the kids play a variety of games, but instead of maybe six kids around a table, it’s two, sitting on opposite sides, he said.
“We have art projects that they’re doing. We have some different science and STEM activities utilizing the computers,” Hurst added, saying the day care is modeled on typical after-school programs that offer enrichment activities. “We’ve created some study block times for the students,” he said, “recognizing that they still are doing distance learning.”
More than 100 families asked about participating, he said, but some couldn’t be accommodated because their children were too young. Seventy-five children are registered. “We’re serving probably around 30 a day,” Hurst said. “The limiting factor for us is always volunteer staff. With the volunteers we have — without reaching out and really beating the bushes — I could handle 40 a day, easily.”
Bowers said she’s very appreciative to be among the families aided. “I’m really grateful for Modesto City Schools and the county and the Health Services Agency for putting this out there as an opportunity. County leadership has been good about understanding we have to be able to have care for our children.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 12:39 PM.
