COVID-19 Update: March 20, 2020
Dear Eugene CDC families,
Thank you for your patience as we work to process the available information regarding Coronavirus in our community. On behalf of both the Board and ECDC staff, we sincerely appreciate the support we have received from parents during this confusing time. We know you have many questions, and we will do our best to answer them here, and in subsequent communications.
The Board and management team met yesterday, March 19th to discuss our immediate concerns regarding closure, staff retention, and state and federal government measures being made available to support families and employees in Oregon. With the Governor’s recent decision to close all Oregon schools through April 28th, much of our discussion was focused on the Center’s timeline and the needs of the staff, kids, and families throughout April and beyond. As you are aware, the Center typically follows 4J school closures for things like holidays and inclement weather. In keeping with that tradition, and in order to provide our valued staff with the ability to abide by the CDC recommendations for social distancing, we are also choosing to follow 4J’s scheduled closure for the time being. Based on the available information, we are currently planning to reopen on April 29th.
We also want to recognize that without our dedicated educators, ECDC would not be the Center we are. During this past week (March 16-20), staff came in to clean and disinfect the Center, organize supplies, and prepare classrooms for reopening. For the next week (March 23-27), the Center will remain closed, and we are encouraging staff to use sick leave in order to practice the CDC recommended guidelines for social distancing. In order to enable access to unemployment benefits for the remainder of the planned closure, we will be performing a temporary layoff of all staff, effective March 30th, with a planned rehire date of April 27th. This will help ensure that our amazing educators will be there waiting for your children to return when our doors reopen.
We have received a number of questions about April tuition, and next steps if we are unable to reopen April 29th for any reason. For April, we will not be charging tuition as we normally refer to it. We will, however, provide a variety of options to our families for supporting the Center financially, as fixed costs such as rent and utilities will continue to accrue, and we all want to make sure we have a Center to return to when the time comes. Please look for another email regarding April tuition, and the plan going forward, within the next week.
Additionally, we are aware that there have been issues with some parents not receiving emails. We believe it is essential that we all keep open lines of communication during this difficult time, and have worked to update our contact information with the best information we have available. That said, if you know of an ECDC parent who isn’t receiving these messages, please take a moment to forward this email to be sure they receive it.
Finally, please be aware that we are in the process of streamlining our communication strategies; in addition to an e-mail blast, we also plan to send all updates via text message, and will post all updated information on several platforms, including: our homepage, here on our blog, and our Facebook page.
On behalf of the ECDC Board of Directors and staff, we sincerely appreciate your patience and support as we work through this very complicated and sensitive situation. The Board will be meeting again next Thursday, March 26th, and we are in constant communication with each other as new information arises. As always, please feel free to send any questions or concerns you may have my way.
Be safe, and be well.
Hannah Bulkley
President of the Board
Board of Directors
Eugene Child Development Center