Kindercare closing centers: We’re sorry, this center is closed

As schools, businesses close in Minnesota, most child-care centers stay open

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Gov. Tim Walz urged child-care providers to stay open even as he ordered the closure of public schools across the state, and most day care centers and preschools did so Monday.

New Horizon Academy, the largest day care provider in the state, remains open. KinderCare, which has dozens of locations in the metro area, has closed centers in California, Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia and New Jersey, but not in Minnesota.

“This is a fluid and changing situation, but in keeping with our governor’s request, it is our plan at this point to fully operate our early childhood centers,” said Michelle Basham, CEO of the YWCA, which operates five centers in the Twin Cities.

As the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Minnesota continued to rise Monday, with multiple instances of the virus passing between people locally, day cares and preschools have emerged as one of the few places in the state where significant public gatherings are permitted, and even encouraged, by state officials.

On Sunday, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended an end to gatherings of 50 or more people, the Department of Human Services sent a note to providers urging that they stay open to allow Minnesota’s workforce, especially health care and emergency workers, to perform their day-to-day jobs.

“We need you and your staff to stay well and stay open to provide a safe and nurturing space for our children,” the note said.

The DHS also launched a hotline for child-care providers with questions. The number is (888) 234-1268.

As Walz pointed out Sunday, children are less likely to get sick from COVID-19 and if they do, “their cases are typically mild,” but they could be carriers of the virus. The White House on Monday advised Americans not to gather in groups of 10 or more.

Some child-care providers have decided the risk is not worth staying open.

Aleph Preschool at the Beth El Synagogue in St. Louis Park, which has 180 prekindergarten students, closed Friday and said it will not reopen until April 20.

The preschool is housed in the same building where the congregation meets for Shabbat, so the synagogue decided to close to protect older members, said Matt Walzer, managing director of Beth El.

“To be consistent with taking care of our community as a whole, we can’t have 180 kids coming in and out of the building at any point in time, because that puts the rest of our community at risk,” Walzer said. “We all agreed this is not a matter of if we’re closing, it’s a matter of when we’re closing. And if we feel like this is a ‘when’ not an ‘if’, why are we waiting?”

At Aleph Preschool, all staff will be paid during the closure, Walzer said, and parents can be refunded for their children’s fees, or reclassify the money as a tax-deductible donation to the synagogue.

Child-care centers that are staying open are establishing new procedures to limit the spread of the virus.

New Horizon made a rush order for extra thermometers to more frequently take temperatures of children, staff and parents, said Chad Dunkley, CEO of New Horizon in Minnesota. Its leaders are considering not allowing parents to enter classrooms. Staffers are more often cleaning and sanitizing toys, equipment and door handles.

“We’re evaluating constantly improved best practices to reduce the possible spread,” Dunkley said. “We’ll continue to monitor this on a daily basis and hopefully it doesn’t get worse.”

Dunkley said New Horizon locations can abide by the CDC’s recommendation that not more than 50 people gather in one place by only allowing one class at a time to use the playground, and by shutting down indoor playrooms and other common areas. No class is larger than 30 students, he said.

One child-care provider, Tierra Encantada, sent a letter to parents at four Twin Cities locations on Friday saying that staff will start checking the temperature of each person who enters the building, starting next Monday, March 23. Anybody with a reading above 99.9 degrees will be turned away and not allowed into the building for 48 hours.

The YWCA will close its Hubbs Center for Lifelong Learning because it is connected to Minneapolis Public Schools. Attendance at the organization’s early childhood centers, which serve about 500 children in the Twin Cities, was down on Monday, The Y’s Basham said, but nobody is being discouraged from dropping off their kids at day care.

“We are encouraging families to make the best decision for their family,” Basham said. “We are all sort of working through this. The situation is changing as we talk.”

Parents fume over day care closure –

A nasty battle between a large corporation and Clayton residents came to a head in, of all places, a preschool play lot recently, as parents of the Marsh Creek KinderCare facility fought to keep their beloved preschool and after-care program open.

On May 17, KinderCare, which operates two childcare centers in Clayton, announced it was closing the Marsh Creek site, formerly the Clayton Children’s Center, on June 14.

The news was greeted with a storm of protests from many of the 45 student’s parents, angry over the short time allowed for transition, as well as the fact that the company should zero-in on “their” center.

“It makes no sense,” said parent Dave Moss at a May 22 meeting held at the school which was attended by more than 30 parents as well as Regional Vice President for KinderCare, Brian Cuda. Moss stated, “They’re closing the wrong center.”

Despite being hammered by parents – some irate, some just puzzled – for more than hour, Cuda stood firm in his resolve that closing the center made financial sense, and the four-week notice was the usual amount of time parents had at any site closure.

“This is a transition, and transitions are very hard, especially when they involve your children,” he said.

Clayton

Children’s Center

This particular center has seen its share of transitions over the years, going from the family-owned Clayton Children’s Center to corporate ownership, with KinderCare finally taking over two years ago. Through all the changes, a strong core group of parents and teachers has remained and kept the center thriving, said Holly Tillman, who organized the meeting.

However, enrollment began dropping off, and KinderCare felt that many of the students could transfer to their other facility, located on Main Street downtown.

“Since the Marsh Creek center’s lease expires in July, we decided to reduce the disruption to our families that moving centers can cause by closing the center only after the school year had ended,” said KinderCare spokesperson Colleen Moran. “Our general practice is to give families four weeks’ notice prior to a center closure, and we maintained that timeline with our Marsh Creek center. This allows families time to adjust to the news and to look into the options we are providing for their children.”

Most parents, however, balked at that idea, citing safety concerns, as well as the fact that many of the teachers at the Marsh Creek site would not be transferring to the other one.

As of last week, despite offering positions to all five of the teachers at the Marsh Creek site, only two have agreed to go, Cuda said.

‘Forcing my hand’

Clayton resident Cory Brady, whose two children, ages 7 and 4, attend the Marsh Creek center, was one of the many parents who did not see eye-to-eye with Cuda. “This isn’t a transition; you’re forcing my hand,” he said, by only having a few weeks to find adequate care if he chose not to send his children to the other facility.

Cuda did not know if the Main Street facility could accommodate all of the transfers from the Marsh Creek site, as he was waiting on a firm number of Marsh Creek families to make up their minds.

It may not be many, as some parents are already in talks with the landlord of the Marsh Creek facility, Julie Gilcrest, about the possibility of opening their own independent center.

“We think at some point KinderCare will regret this decision to close the center,” says Stephanie Cademartori, a longtime parent at the center whose children don’t even attend anymore, yet who was on-hand to organize opposition to the closing.

“I think if they had allowed more hands-on advertising the center would have continued to thrive. But, instead management said ‘no’ to different marketing ideas.”

In the past, the center used to have booths at many civic affairs, but has not been able to under KinderCare, she said.

She also thinks that KinderCare is wrong to assume all families would move down the road to the center downtown. “With two centers so close to each other it was obvious that each center met a specific need.”

All of the parents who spoke at the Wednesday meeting touted the center’s sense of family, its physical lot, and especially the teachers. Cademartori said that most of the teachers have been there for more than 10 years. “It is very unusual to have preschool teachers remain in the same location for over 10 years. In most centers, teaching staff remains constantly revolving.”

Parent Larry Shulman, who has been actively fighting the closure, wrote several letters to KinderCare management. He is one of the parents who isn’t planning to send his daughter to the Main Street facility. “Let’s remember our relationship with KinderCare is a customer-supplier one and they are completely doing the wrong things to keep that relationship strong,” he said.

Kindergarten for 40 children may be under threat of closure — Realnoe Vremya

Society

00:00, 03.12.2020

How to notice problems in the development of a child in time and what the future holds for the oldest kindergarten in Kazan for children with mental disorders

MBDU “Kindergarten No. 149 of a compensating type” in a quiet place in the village of Levchenko near a pine forest – the oldest institution in Kazan for children with developmental disabilities (intellectual disabilities). Until now, the presentation of such a diagnosis to a child is perceived by parents as a terrible sentence. One way to instill social and communication skills in a child is to start attending a kindergarten working on correctional programs as early as possible. However, recently there have been rumors about the demolition of the building 1938 years of construction for the development of commercial housing. The head of the kindergarten, Olga Kuznetsova, strongly denied this possibility, although she admitted that the activity of the institution could be suspended due to a major overhaul. In an interview with Realnoe Vremya, she spoke about how special kids come, how long they have to wait in line, and why it is dangerous for families to hide such children from society.

Queue for kindergarten for children with mental disorders

— Unfortunately, the number of children with various disabilities is growing every year. According to Rosstat for 2019, mental and behavioral disorders are in the first place. They account for a quarter of children with disabilities. Do you feel an influx of children with mental disabilities? Is there a waiting list for admission to your kindergarten?

— Yes, the number of children with special needs is increasing every year. Only those children who have been officially diagnosed and given a referral from the Psychological-Medical-Pedagogical Commission (PMPC) can get to us. There is a line, but it’s short. Today it has 5 children.

In recent years, medicine has made significant strides forward in diagnosing children at the stage of early development, in identifying disorders. The range of mental disorders in the development of the child according to ICD-10 has expanded. It is extremely rare for children to be diagnosed with oligophrenia, mostly children have complex diagnoses: violations of behavior, speech, understanding, perception of the world around them and other disorders.

Despite the fact that our institution is attended by children with the same diagnosis, we apply an individual approach to each child. Hence the wide differentiation of diagnostics

Most often, these children are physically absolutely healthy: they have a normal physique, normal vision, hearing and motor functions.

Intellectual disability is an irreversible process, there are children with mental retardation who have a chance to catch up with their peers while attending kindergarten.

Despite the fact that our institution is visited by children with the same diagnosis, we apply an individual approach to each child. Hence the wide differentiation of diagnostics.

Children enter our institution on the basis of the conclusion of the Psychological-Medical-Pedagogical Commission (PMPC). We have an electronic queue. Today it has 5 children.

We are ready to spend 2-3 hours with your family and explain what to do this year so you don’t waste precious time while waiting in line. The sooner corrective measures are started, the greater the chance of success. And they choose the most prepared, calm of them, and children with severe pathologies stay at home …

– PMPK does not issue vouchers, but only gives an opinion and recommends a correctional training program. Further, parents themselves decide on the educational route of their child.

But parents can come to us for a consultation. We are ready to spend 2-3 hours with your family and explain what to do this year so that you do not lose precious time while waiting in line. The sooner corrective action is started, the greater the chance of success. In our practice, children most often continue their education in a correctional institution, but there are children who study in general education schools.

In parallel with our kindergarten, children attend rehabilitation centers. Of course, such children must attend kindergarten, because here they are under the constant supervision of teachers, speech pathologists, and psychologists. In our kindergarten, there are special conditions for working with children: 2 teachers work with each group, 1 defectologist teacher is attached to each group. There is a teacher-speech therapist, teacher-psychologist, music director. Several specialists of different profiles at once, and some classes smoothly flow into others. We accept children from 3 years old and let them out at 7-8 years old, depending on the child’s progress. In total, 16 teachers work for 40 children. For disabled children, attendance at the kindergarten is free of charge.

There are children at the age of 7 who do not distinguish colors and pronounce words as onomatopoeia. There is no reversed speech, there is no dialogic speech. But there are children who were able to learn to read at the age of 7, although the diagnoses and starting conditions were the same

If the first child with a pathology, run to genetics

– You run a kindergarten for special children , which is one of the oldest in Kazan. Why do you think we have so many children with mental disorders?

– Our kindergarten has been working in this direction since 1984. Over the years of work, a lot of experience has been gained in working with children with disabilities.

A large group of scientists around the world are investigating this issue and cannot come to a consensus. Of course, there are a number of factors: ecology, hereditary-genetic factor, style and way of life. Many groups of genes have been found whose mutations directly lead to mental illness. Now children are being born in whose families there were no mental abnormalities until the seventh generation.

— How do special babies come to you?

— Most of them do not know how to speak, understand speech, although the child sees and hears, there are also inappropriate behavior (bites, fights), undeveloped self-service skills, eating disorders.

Children come with different diagnoses, but the primary disorder is intellectual disability. Previously, children with mental retardation and a mild degree of mental retardation were more common, and now children with a more complex structure of the defect. In a child with a mild degree of mental retardation, logical thinking (it is formed by the age of 5-6 years) and mathematical abilities are the first to suffer. There are children at the age of 7 who do not distinguish colors and pronounce words as onomatopoeia. There is no reversed speech, there is no dialogic speech. But there are children who were able to learn to read at the age of 7, although the diagnoses and starting conditions were the same. That is why such families need a kindergarten. But without the support of parents, it is impossible to change the future of a child.

Unfortunately, it takes a lot of precious time before the parents accept the diagnosis. And the sooner this happens, the higher the chance of success

— Many parents are alarmed by talk that the kindergarten could be demolished, since the building is over 80 years old. This is true?

— I don’t have such information, but a major overhaul is being discussed. We plan to expand the range of services to help families. The kindergarten already has a consultation and diagnostic center where we help children who do not attend kindergartens. To do this, we need additional space and resources.

Parents do not believe in a terrible diagnosis

— You are in close contact with the parents of special children. It is often the hardest thing for them to accept a terrible diagnosis of a child. Recently, the owner of the title “Mrs. Tatarstan – 2020” frankly admitted that, being the mother of a special child, she experienced “a difficult internal psychological process due to the collapse of her own hopes.” But there are egregious cases: in St. Petersburg, a disabled child was simply thrown out of a window. How do your parents react to their children’s diagnosis?

— Of course, it is difficult for parents to accept the child’s peculiarities, they hope that as the child grows, the problems will disappear and one fine day the child will wake up healthy, like his peers. This is understandable: happy parents bring a baby from the hospital, and suddenly, like a lightning bolt, you have a child with special needs. It’s a shock. Unfortunately, a lot of precious time passes before parents accept the diagnosis. And the sooner this happens, the higher the chance of success. Before our eyes, two boys grew up with equal starting conditions: the parents of the first one threw all their efforts and funds into his rehabilitation, and he went to study at a regular school, the other did not believe until the last, upon reaching 8 years old he could not stay in a correctional school and switched to home schooling.

— What methods do you use to work with special children?

— There are classic corrective techniques with proven effectiveness that we use. In addition to them, we use our own developments accumulated over many years. Our main task is to instill in the child communication skills, help to socialize, and make the most of compensatory opportunities. It is at preschool age that children learn to play with each other, interact and communicate. The learning process is through games and activities.

— Parents often take special children to rehabilitation centers and pay big money. What effect do you see?

— We respect the work of our colleagues, however, daily routine corrective work is carried out by our specialists throughout the entire period of the child’s visit to kindergarten. And the work of rehabilitation centers implies correction courses.

– As far as I understand, mental disorders in a child cannot be determined at an early age. Someone at 2 years old cannot start talking, and someone at 4 years old begins to read. How to recognize the features of the baby in time?

– Most parents make the same mistake – they waste time when it was possible to correct the child’s behavior in the early stages of his life. The sooner parents notice the features of their child and turn to specialists (doctors and teachers), as well as begin a series of corrective measures, the higher the chances of success. There are generally accepted norms for the development of a child: cooing, babbling, eye contact, physical, speech, sensory development. Any deviation is the first bells! In general, everything is noticeable up to a year, only parents need to carefully observe.

Luiza Ignatieva

SocietyEducationMedicine Tatarstan

In Satka, parents oppose the closure of one of the kindergartens: details

07/23/2023

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04/06/2023 14:09

Author Satka worker

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Photo: Alina VILKOVA.

Why kindergarten No. 10 is being prepared for closure in Satka and what parents are not satisfied with in this situation – let’s figure it out together.

Parents of pupils of MKDOU “Kindergarten No. 10” turned to the editorial office of “Satka Rabochy”. They said that the preschool they take their children to is closing. But the parents do not agree with this decision and are going to “defend their kindergarten. ”

The administration of the Satkinsky municipal district explained to us that the consequences of the decision to liquidate kindergarten No. 10 are currently being assessed. This assessment is a commission, the commission includes, among other things, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Chelyabinsk Region. The main reasons for considering the issue of liquidating the kindergarten are the decrease in the contingent and the lack of prospects for its growth, and the condition of the building. Currently, a specialized organization is conducting an inspection of the building, the results of which will be taken by a commission decision.

However, the parents of the kids are sure that both commissions are a mere formality, and the decision has already been made. It remains only to recognize the building as dilapidated and emergency.

– There are rumors that a hostel or a hotel will be built in the kindergarten for athletes who will come to the FOC for competitions, – parents of kindergarteners say. – Well, that’s why no one thought about the kindergarten before the construction of the sports complex? And now we have become objectionable. We are told that our kindergarten is dilapidated, it was built back in 1938 year. Although in fact the building looks great, the networks and electrical wiring have been changed. The only problem is the facade, but it just needs to be repaired. The houses nearby were built in the same years, but they are suitable for habitation – they have repaired and you can continue to live. And our kindergarten – why not?

Parents don’t want to hear the words that the kindergarten building may be dilapidated and dangerous and may pose a threat to the lives of their children. They are much more concerned that if the kindergarten is closed, they will have to transfer their children to another preschool institution and take them there by minibus.

– Okay, in summer, but in winter? – they ask. – For residents of Tsyganka, Finnish, 1 quarter – this is the only kindergarten located nearby. We are told that we have a small kindergarten, but it is profiled, with a speech therapy bias and for children with disabilities, with delayed speech development, speech therapists and psychologists work with children. The nearest kindergartens are No. 33, on Teatralnaya Square, and No. 35, which is in a deplorable state. But in all groups from 25 children and more. There is a speech therapy group in kindergarten No. 40 on Bakalskaya Street, but there are already 32 children, and where are our children? Who needs them there? And how to drive them there, to such a distance? We have attendance of more than 50%, this is the norm.

However, the parents agree to leave the building of the kindergarten on the condition that they are provided with another, nearby, so that it would be convenient for them to take the children, and they leave the former team of employees, which is highly praised. Otherwise, they intend to defend “their garden” – an appeal has already been written to the governor of the Chelyabinsk region, a petition to the public, a group has been delegated to receive the deputies of the Satka Assembly and the Legislative Assembly.

The department of education of the Satka district notes that the decrease in the number of pupils of preschool educational organizations is a problem that is relevant for the Satka district. Every year the number of kindergarten students decreases and, as a result, there is a need for optimization in order to effectively spend budget funds.

Kindergarten No. 10 has been operating since 1940. There are four groups in kindergarten. While the standard number of pupils is 80 people, the actual number in the last three years has averaged 58 people. And during March 2023, groups were attended by 30 to 36 people. From September 1, a decrease in attendance will be recorded, the planned number of pupils is 43 people.

– Compliance with the rights and guarantees for kindergarten students will be ensured, – says the head of the education department Elena Baranova. – Parents of pupils will be offered places in other kindergartens that are geographically located near their residence and meet the regulatory requirements for preschool educational organizations. The rights and guarantees of kindergarten employees, provided for by the norms of the current labor legislation, will be observed, work will be carried out on the employment of kindergarten employees in other educational organizations.

Added at 15.25:

After the publication of this material, Olga Yanakova, head of kindergarten No. 40, contacted the editorial office of Satka Rabochy. She asked to note that in the MKDOU “Child Development Center – Kindergarten No. 40” all the current standards for the occupancy of groups are observed, and the words that there are already 32 children in the speech therapy group of kindergarten No. 40 are just a personal opinion of worried parents of kindergarten No. 10 pupils, which is not supported by anything and does not correspond to reality.

We draw the attention of readers to the fact that direct speech in texts is always a quotation of the opinion of the respondent, which is not confirmed information, with the exception of the comments of an official.