From the Superintendent's Desk
Mark Tucker, M.A. - Caledonia Central Supervisory Union
Childcare Needs for Essential Persons - March 23, 2020
What is New
This is an update to yesterday's newsletter. It will be brief.
We are in the process of soliciting staff volunteers to work shifts at possibly one or two schools, running a childcare facility in the selected school for children of Essential Persons who are being called on to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Until we know that we have staff available to perform this important work, we cannot simply "open the schools for daycare," as one correspondent urged me to do. If and when we do open any childcare centers in our schools, attendance will be restricted to qualifying children of Essential Persons. I do not think it is possible to staff a facility at all seven schools in CCSU, so we will be strategic in selecting an appropriate site.
I have received a number of thoughtful suggestions on how to accomplish this mission - I do appreciate hearing back from the community. One thing I cannot do is to allow persons who have not been subject to a background check to work in a school, even on a volunteer basis, and we are being somewhat hamstrung by local law enforcement agencies closing or limiting the hours of the fingerprinting services, a critical step in the background check process.
We hope to be ready if and when the demand pushes us to open a site. Staff volunteers are agreeing to go work in any school that we open, not just the one they usually work at.
Please refer back to my previous newsletter for information on how to report a need for childcare. If you deleted it, you can read it again at https://www.smore.com/ne4kb
Sincerely,
Mark Tucker, M.A.
Superintendent, Caledonia Central SU
Note: This is the seventh in a series of newsletters as we learn about the the impact of Coronavirus in our schools and communities.
Disclaimer: Nothing in this newsletter is meant to substitute for medical advice from your family practitioner