Pandemic

I don’t have to tell you that running a quality early childhood center with high standards is a feat in and of itself, but doing so in the middle of a pandemic takes a Herculean effort.

This past spring, directors, and teachers scrambled to make sense of their new realities and needed to learn how to connect with their children and families in a new way, whether via Zoom or another platform. Fortunately, our closures occurred after the teachers had already established strong relationships with the children and their parents.

With summer quickly approaching, conversations centered around camp. In early May when all the local day camps were still deciding if they should open onsite programs, TSTI’s Iris Family Center leadership decided that it was not safe to do so.

We committed to offering something online that would be engaging, active, and interactive. We planned, attended zoom workshops, looked at other platforms, learned new techniques, gathered staff, created a Camp at Home logo and mascot, advertised, and launched an online camp for children ages preschool through 2nd grade.…on the very same day that New Jersey’s s Governor Murphy announced that childcare centers and day camps could open in July. Timing is everything!

Do we rethink our decision? Do we change the course? For many reasons, we moved forward as planned as a virtual camp, two-and-a-half-hours a day, five days a week for 10 weeks. And it worked. It was magical.

After a few tweaks to the timing of our schedule and finding activities that needed minimal supervision from parents, the children and their counselors sang, played, chatted, danced, learned yoga moves, explored ASL, and celebrated Shabbat. Sometimes we were in an all-camp zoom room and at other times ‘bunks’ were in small breakout rooms. No matter the activity or group size, administrators captured screenshots for a weekly slideshow for all to enjoy.

Did all the children stay onscreen with the group all day, every day? No. But, more often than not, when a counselor called a child’s name, the child popped up from the side of the computer. They were there all the time: coloring, building with blocks, snuggling with a lovey, etc.

Was camp successful? It depends on how you measure success. We didn’t make as much money as we have in the past, and we decided to close camp after 4 weeks when families opted to send their children to local on-site camps that had opened. However, if you measure success by seeing happy children, employed staff, and grateful parents, then we were rock stars!!

Carol Paster
Early Childhood Director
Iris Family Center for Early Childhood Education
South Orange, NJ

With COVID-19, how was I going to safely open and run my summer camp that allowed children to play, supported parents, and cared for my staff, and myself, all while being nurturing? How This was the driving force that kept me up at night and busy seven days a week. Here is a small sample of what I did.

Pivoting in response to parent behavior
Our plan for drop-off was for families to pull up to the curb, sign in, and drive away without getting out of the car.

However, instead, parents arrived 15 minutes early, parked, got out of their car and brought their children up to the school. Realizing almost immediately that it was turning into a chaotic situation, I adjusted quickly.

I immediately moved my safety/sign-in cart from where we wanted the parents to drop off the students to down the walkway to where parents and their students were entering the campus. We put down new tape and moved the cones to direct the families in a way that created social distancing. While these adjustments changed what we originally planned, it still allowed us to accomplish what we wanted—a calm and orderly drop-off like we have always had— and did so in a way that was nurturing to parents. 

Dealing with personal items
Our policy is now to limit the personal items that children bring into school from home. However, some children need something to hold after letting go of a parent’s hand. My solution was to place a small container of cars and finger puppets on my check-in cart. For those children who brought an item from home, I could easily make a trade, their home item for a school item.

It worked so well that I found myself, each morning before camp started, adding more items to the cart than they day before. Students who did not need to bring a comfort item, started to bring something anyway just so they could take part in a trade.

Bagels Aren’t Going To Do It Anymore
Before COVID, those delicious, round, and doughy morning treats worked to  demonstrate my appreciation, and brought joy to my staff.  With the extra work, stress, and anxiety caused by COVID-19, I needed to do something more substantial.  Something that said, “I see you working hard”, and “How can I help you?”  I decided to give each teacher a new smock to go with their already provided PPE. It was my way of saying thank you for providing safe, clean, enriching, nurturing classrooms for our children. Of course, I still provided bagels.

Nurturing myself with compassion
 I permitted myself to make changes when needed. I stayed honest with myself about this being new territory and that no one, including myself, have been here before. It allowed me to know that any decision I made was just a starting point and not the answer. This mindset was critical. It was the driving force in helping me create:

• a safe preschool where children play, learn, and grow
• a place where parents feel secure to leave their children
• a workplace where teachers feel supported

Cathy Goldberg
Director of Early Childhood Education
Congregation Beth Israel, San Diego, CA

July 2020