[OBSOLETE] ELRC-20-03 REVISED: Reporting Early Learning Program Closings Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

[OBSOLETE] ELRC-20-03 REVISED

Reporting Early Learning Programs Closings Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

To:

Child Care Centers
OCDEL Staff
Early Learning Resource Centers
Children’s Trust Fund Grantees
Early Intervention Coordinators
Early Intervention Providers
Early Intervention Technical Assistance
Executive Directors for Preschool
Head Start Supplemental Assistance Grantees
MH/MR Administrators
MR Coordinators
Nurse Family Partnership Grantees
PA Head Start and Early Head Start Grantees
PA Key and Regional Keys
PA Pre-K Counts Grantees
Parent-Child Home Program Grantees
Preschool Program Specialists
Preschool Supervisors
Special Education Director

From:

Tracey Campanini,
Deputy Secretary, Office of Child Development & Early Learning

Issue Date: March 24, 2020
Effective Date: Immediately
End Date: March 23, 2020

Purpose

This announcement specifies the method for reporting to the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) closure of early learning programs, including child care, Early Intervention, PA Pre- K Counts, Head Start and Home Visiting programs due to Coronavirus (COVID-19). Updates and corrections are provided in red text below.

Background

The Department of Health may require an early learning program to close to prevent the spread of COVID- 19.

Child care centers and other early learning programs may experience a high number of child or staff absences due to COVID-19. As a result, some programs may choose to close based on the inability to sustain operation.

OCDEL needs information about program closures in order to gain information about the impact of COVID-19 and to assess areas of COVID-19 spread.

Information will continue to be shared and disseminated going forward to address questions and concerns that have been brought to our attention. We continue to monitor information from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guidance developed by DHS will be centrally located on this page, which will be updated as additional guidance becomes available. We encourage you to continue to consult these resources for updates on COVID-19, information on staying healthy, and updates on the situation in Pennsylvania.

Discussion

General

Early learning programs that choose to or are directed to close due to COVID-19 must do the following:

Email OCDEL at RA-PWOCDELFacilclose@pa.gov to report that the program is closing due to COVID-19.
Use one of the following subject line, as appropriate for the program: Child Care Closure – < Insert Name of County>

PKC Closure – < Insert Name of County> HSSAP – < Insert Name of County>

EI Closure – < Insert Name of County> HV Closure – <Insert Name of County>

Include the following information in the email to OCDEL:
Program name
Program address
Program telephone number
Number of children enrolled at the program
Date of closing
Anticipated date of reopening, if known
Reason for closure (child/family illness, staff illness, general mitigation efforts)

NOTE: If programs have multiple locations or funding streams that are affected by a closure, please list all programs within the body of one email.

NOTE: Programs that were operating with an approved waiver but have decided to close should report the closure using the process above. If you report a closure and later you decide to extend the closure beyond your originally anticipated date of reopening, you do not need to send a second notification regarding your closure. To ensure timely processing of this information, please submit only one email with the above information. Do not use this email to submit questions or comments. If you have questions, please contact your certification representative.

Next Steps

Follow the steps listed above to report
Direct comments and questions regarding this announcement to OCDEL at (717) 346-

View full Announcement as PDF.