Having heard rumors that a move to phase 3 might occur after Spring Break and that it might just be K-2nd initially, it was a great surprise to receive the announcement from the School District that all elementary grades would be returning to in-person half days in less than a week. But if the past 12 months have taught us anything, it is how to [...]
It is strange to think that a year ago we were just getting the first suggestions that COVID-19 was a serious threat. When LTUSD shut the schools on March 13th, the Club admin team were naive hoping that we would be back in action for Spring Break. How little did we understand how this was going to negatively affect all our lives. Looking back over the past 12 months it is hard to recall everything that has happened, or all the different stages/policies/practices that we have been through. Many of those policies are still in place, social distancing, masking etc but with over 90% of our staff now vaccinated and all schools now reopened, there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
It is crazy to think that next month it will be a whole year since the pandemic impacted the Club and our community. So much has changed in that time but we also have a long way to go before life is normal again. However, the Club is trying to do everything we can to get to normal as quickly as possible. One major step was getting our staff vaccinated. We were delighted when the State and El Dorado County put childcare and education in category 1B, ensuring that we were some of the first after healthcare providers to be vaccinated. We were also very lucky to have the ability to contact our County Health Department and to work with them to ensure that the Club was on their list to contact.
Normally at this time of the year we are busy making plans for the summer and getting paperwork ready to sign up over 300 children for our summer program. But this year, with summer just 4 months away, we are not yet in a position to know what the summer is going to look like. Back in the early summer of 2020, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) issued guidance regarding youth programs/summer camps and it has not changed since then. The guidance still restricts us to smaller group sizes, social distancing and no interaction between groups. Following the guidance and having strict mask and cleaning protocols has served us well. We have not escaped COVID, but we have managed to limit the impact on our operations.