Dear Toddler Program and Children's House Families,
We are optimistic about offering SummerFun for our youngest students for six weeks this summer! We will need to comply with state regulations to be protective of the safety of staff and students. We strongly encourage each family to take the time to read the
Health Guidance for Childcare Programs, Summer Programs and Afterschool Programs (Revised May 13, 2020)
that was put out by the Vermont Department of Health, in compliance with the Agency of Education and DCF, in order to get a full and greater understanding of what opening for SummerFun will really mean for both families and for Hilltop. There are numerous cleaning, hygiene, and physical distancing requirements that we will be implementing, many of which are things we had been doing before the shutdown, and have become routine for staff. We have highlighted a handful of these requirements below that would most directly impact families:
- All staff wear cloth facial coverings
- Children 2 and over wear cloth facial coverings, as much as they are able
- Staggered drop-off/pick-up, parents wear cloth facial coverings (recommended, we plan to require)
- Same caregiver (not in a risk group) drops-off and picks-up consistently, when possible
- Daily student (and staff) health checks, including taking temperature with a touchless thermometer
- People with a temperature greater than 100.4 F must be sent home until they have had no fever for 72 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications (e.g., Advil, Tylenol)
- Exclude children, staff, parents, and guardians from campus if they are showing symptoms of COVID-19, have been in contact with someone with COVID-19 in the last 14 days, have been tested and are awaiting results, or are at high risk due to underlying health conditions
- All children (and staff) required to wash hands immediately upon arrival to campus, before and after eating, and before returning home
- Families with children who nap must bring home nap bags each week to wash/sanitize. Individual nap mats will be assigned to each child, and sanitized before and after use
Group size is currently permitted to be up to 25 (including adults). It would be more protective to have a smaller group size. We aren’t sure what we can work out with staffing, families’ needs, and facilities considerations, but our families’ preferences will be a significant factor in how we develop our plan.
Additional restrictions that we will need to have in place to make SummerFun sufficiently protective and appropriately staffed include:
- We will only be able to offer care from 8:30-2:45 (Before Care and After Care will not be feasible)
- Siblings will be placed in the same class grouping if possible
- Sprinklers will be the only available form of water play
- Families supply both lunch and snack for their child from home, no food preparation takes place on campus
- Families must supply individual water bottles for their child(ren), to be taken home each day to be washed/sanitized
- Required ZOOM meeting for caregivers prior to the start of SummerFun to go over the health and safety requirements that will be in place to mitigate risk
We have created a short survey to gage the needs and interest of our families. If you would like your child to participate in SummerFun, please fill out the survey by clicking the yellow link below. Know also that this is simply an initial take on what you need, and more information and instruction will be to come.
