Dear Colleagues:

As Dr. Haas noted in his message to you earlier this month, our school division is looking into the possibility of providing child care for our teachers and essential classified staff when schools reopen on September 8. This one-time program would operate only as long as the primary form of instruction provided to students is virtual. At their meeting yesterday, the School Board approved this method of instruction for the first nine weeks of the new school year.

Our initial planning is to offer this support for children ages 4-12 for the length of the school day, just over seven hours per day. The program would closely follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Virginia Department of Social Services.

We would utilize selected school sites in each feeder pattern. We are currently surveying our Extended Day Enrichment Program (EDEP) and Special Education employees about their availability to staff the program. The program would provide enrichment services of age-appropriate educational value; however, it is not intended to support the synchronous virtual lessons.

We will follow-up with program specifics once we have completed our survey of EDEP and Special Education employees. Also in a future communication, we will ask you whether you intend to participate and the number of your children you would like to enroll.

Thank you and please stay safe.

Dr. Bernard Hairston
Assistant Superintendent for School Community Empowerment