A peek into Yakima School District's child care for front-line workers

Apr. 2--Just before 8 a.m., cars begin lining up in the parking lot of Yakima School District'sDiscovery Lab, where parents are asked a series of questions.

Has anyone in the family been sick? Have the kids had a cough? A fever? Have they taken any medicine?

If all is well, kids in grades kindergarten through fifth grade jump out of their family car and make their way inside one by one, where they then wash their hands for 20 seconds, have their temperature taken and their throat inspected before making their way to their classroom.

These are the first steps each day at the district-led child care for the children of first responders and health care workers, which launched Monday.

Staff go through the same procedures as they arrive in the morning to ensure safety for both students and staff against COVID-19.

When Gov. Jay Inslee ordered the closure of public and private schools statewide for six weeks, expected to end April 24, he asked that districts provide care for those on the front line fighting the respiratory virus. Alternatively, districts were asked to help connect these families with existing resources.

Yakima School District is the second local district to launch district-led child care, following Selah last week. Others throughout the valley will offer child care services based on need or will provide support in finding care. Families can visit district websites to learn more.

These efforts are part of a network of groups and individuals working to ensure health care workers and first responders can be on the job where they're needed.

In Yakima, more than 40 families qualified for the service as of last week. The number has grown since then, said Amanda Jewell, the district's executive director of student services. A total of 29 children were enrolled as of Wednesday. But she said the number of students is expected to fluctuate each day, since first responders' work schedules vary.

Given the climate -- a pandemic that is expected to continue growing in the community -- child care centers are following strict safety guidelines outlined by the state Department of Health. Child check-in is staggered. Classrooms are capped at 10, including adults, and they are to be kept separate throughout the day, including meal and play times.

Yakima's program has four separate classrooms, Jewell said. One each for kindergarten, first and second grade, and the last for third, fourth and fifth graders combined.

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In addition to staff sanitizing surfaces as they go about the day, a janitorial staff is thoroughly cleaning behind them, "around and around and around," Jewell said.

Classes alternate playtime in a field outside. Older students have computer time to work on continued learning the district recently launched.

For Monique Mendoza, the new program has been a huge help. As a nursing assistant at Cottage in The Meadow, a Yakima hospice facility, Mendoza said she and her husband were in a pinch when the school closures were announced.

"We went (on a) day-by-day basis finding someone to watch them," she said of her kids David and Mia, who are 6 and 9 years old. When that became too much, the kids stayed with Mendoza's mom a half-hour away for a full week, she said, separating the kids from their parents overnight.

Now, with the district-led care in place, the family's routine is closer to normal. The kids are able to get interaction outside of the house, and then the family is back together at the end of the day.

"I'm really grateful for it," said Mendoza.

While new, the program is not entirely out of the district's wheelhouse. The district is the only one in the state to have licensed child care for kids birth-to-3 in each of its high schools to support teen parents in graduating, said Jewell.

But it has been a transition to launch care for school-aged kids outside of the regular school context, as well as ensure safe social distancing in the classroom, she said.

The whole operation was launched in just two weeks. On the ground, it takes 20 people to run it -- from the paraprofessionals running the classrooms to health services, custodial and administrative staff. Behind the scenes, she said the number doubles when tech services, food services, teaching and learning, and early learning staff are added.

"Seeing people step up and really want to serve in this way has been amazing," said Jewell. "We're just really excited to be able to do this for our community."

Reach Janelle Retka at jretka@yakimaherald.com or on Twitter: @janelleretka

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