State wants to hear what you think about revised child care, early learning guidance

Gov. Kate Brown is seeking Oregonians' opinions on newly proposed changes to COVID-19 guidance for child care and early learning programs.

Brown announced the new draft guidance in a news release Thursday. The newest version builds on the guidance last updated in May and expands requirements on children's mask use, family engagement and group sizes.

The guidance was reviewed by the Healthy Early Learners Council this week, and the governor's office is taking public input on the changes online until Sunday, in both English and Spanish.

One of the most notable changes is the section on mask use. Before, children were not required to wear face coverings, but now any child in kindergarten or older must wear a face covering. Children younger than 2 are explicitly prohibited from wearing masks, as the safety risks for these children outweigh the possible gains of preventing COVID-19 spread.

It also requires providers to have students wash their hands any time a face covering is about to be put on, removed or touched. The guidance allows hand sanitizer with 60% to 95% alcohol content as an alternative to hand washing when the mask is taken off.

Sharing toys is still discouraged: "Severely limit sharing materials and toys between children during an activity," the proposed guidance states. "If sharing has occurred, children must wash their hands with soap and water or use sanitizer after shared use of materials and toys."

Group sizes also would be increased under the new guidance, to realign with licensing requirements. Before, group sizes were restricted to no more than 10 per classroom. Under the new guidance, classrooms would be as follows:

– Children 6 weeks to 23 months old would increase from eight maximum to 10 maximum;

– Children 24 months to 35 months old would stay at 10 maximum;

– Children 36 months to attending kindergarten would increase from 10 maximum to 20 maximum;

– Children attending kindergarten and older would increase from 10 maximum to 30 maximum.

Guidance documents state that many families and providers contacted the Early Learning Division with concerns about the smaller group sizes. Providers expressed that the smaller sizes put serious financial strain on their programs, and parents feared they would see higher costs for child care to make up for it. The increased sizes also provide child care for more families.

This plan also includes a new section on family engagement, which includes requirements on providing information on the program's operating plan in the families' languages, holding conferences or other informational meetings and allowing nursing mothers to have a separate space to feed their infants that would be disinfected between each use.

People can share their input on the new proposed guidance at www.surveymonkey.com/r/EngKN8P2RP (English) or https://es.surveymonkey.com/r/SpanS86QCVCn (Spanish).

Contact reporter Jordyn Brown at jbrown@registerguard.com or 541-338-2203, and follow her on Twitter @thejordynbrown and Instagram @registerguard. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.

___

(c)2020 The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.)

Visit The Register-Guard (Eugene, Ore.) at www.registerguard.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.