August 18, 2020
Dear Preschool Families,
Ever since March 13, 2020, the last day we held in-person classes in Manhattan Beach Preschool, we have all been looking forward to finding out when we can get the Preschool back open and working to be prepared for that day. Led by Ms. Kim Johnson, a team of parents and employees met several times to examine how the Preschool could open during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the guidelines available at the time. Since July 22 the MBUSD Board of Trustees has been discussing the same topic, basing its discussion on the foundation laid by the Preschool steering committee. Although the Board has declared all elementary, middle and high schools to be in distance learning (Phase 1) for the foreseeable future, the Board has also declared its intent to open MB Preschool as soon as possible.
The District is working with county and state officials to check all guidelines and make sure that the Preschool can indeed open to serve all students. In addition, the District is in ongoing discussions with both the certificated and classified unions discussing safety protocols and other contractual issues. While neither the County nor the employee union discussion is completely resolved, we are continuing to work on both. For a variety of reasons, I believe that our child care program will open before our preschool program. Parents of three, four, and five year-olds will be sent information about our child care program, which could be a nice transition program until the preschool is reopened. To see information about child care for 3-5 year olds, click here.
We know that when we open the Preschool, there will be additional costs due to mandated safety requirements. Class sizes will have to be much smaller, with fewer students per employee. There will be added custodial and sanitization requirements and costs. Finally, there will be additional personal protective equipment (PPE) costs for staff and students. We anticipate that the tuition for 5 day/week full-day Preschool will be approximately $1620, and the tuition for 5 day/week half-day Preschool will be approximately $1170. In addition, the day will be structured differently, with students remaining with the small cohort of their classroom group and providing activities that allow for appropriate social distancing at all times (i.e., keeping students at least 6’ apart from each other and from their teachers, ensuring that students and staff wear face coverings while on campus, and structuring classroom breaks and restroom use to accommodate cleaning and disinfecting routines).
Until we are able to open the preschool, we are also considering a distance learning program for 3-5 year-old students, taught by our preschool staff, that will include the following:
- A combination of live (synchronous) and assigned (asynchronous) instruction, all included in a distance learning format, with no in-person instruction
- Three hours of instruction each day, from 8:30 to 11:30
- Class sizes of up to 16 students
- Distance learning tuition would be approximately $955/month
- Curriculum taught by a certified preschool teacher
- Director Kim Johnson will send a description of the MBPS Distance Learning Program next week
We are not asking for a firm commitment at this time, but for planning purposes, we need to know if, according to what you know now, your preschool-aged children who are already enrolled in our Preschool will attend when we open. We also need to know whether you would enroll in the distance learning program until the preschool is able to open for in-person instruction. We know there are many more questions, and we will address those as we get nearer the opening. For our planning purposes right now, I am asking you to please fill out the brief survey below. If you have more than one child enrolled in the Preschool this year, please fill out one survey for each child.
