Stacie
Stacie’s SI Story
Stacie is a director at a preschool and afterschool program that serves infants through school age children. Her organization stayed open throughout the state-wide shut down to serve families of essential workers. Here is part of our conversation about adapting to change and keeping adult-child interactions at the heart of practice.
What happened in your work when you heard everything was closed?
At the YMCA, we operate programs for infants from six weeks old through sixth grade. We were really thrown for a loop in March, of course March 13th; Friday the 13th that will live in infamy. When the governor closed the schools, we were all like, “What do we do with these kids come Monday?” That was a big issue for a lot of parents.
Basically, our site is licensed for 128. Up until then, we had been in the schools for our afterschool program, so we rushed around and got some of the equipment from the schools and set up a school age classroom in our building. Our building here is normally just six weeks to Pre-K so we didn’t have the older toys and equipment set up. We had to bring those in and get them ready.
We’ve been operating on one of the waivers for essential employees while we were in the red zone and of course, opened back up to everybody once we were in yellow and then green.
How was that to be open when everyone was shut?
It was scary. It really was because at that point in time the word COVID was new. We didn’t know what it was other than a really nasty virus and we knew people were dying so how do we stay open? We knew we were open for essential personnel… doctors, nurses… so these people that are definitely coming in contact with it. It was nerve wracking. At that point in time, things were changing so rapidly. You’d come in one day and have to follow one particular rule and then at 3:00, you’d have to change it for the next day. We made adjustments and we’ve been lucky enough that everyone has stayed healthy. I really have to give credit to our teachers for that because they have stepped up. I thought we were cleaning before. The amount of disinfecting and sanitizing we have to do now… it’s lots of credit to our teachers to keep it at bay. The directors all stepped in and helped to make sure everything was done the way the CDC and the governor was promoting.
How is it now that we’re four months into the COVID-19 pandemic?
It has kind of calmed down a little bit. We all were in a nice little groove. We knew what we were doing. We were like ‘hey, we’ve got this’ and then cases started spiking again and now there’s all these new regulations. I’m sure you’ve heard about the new mask policy that’s come down. You know, that’s influencing what we do here. When the mask policy first came out, it was not required for children and teachers can remove the mask if they need to talk to a child. The policy now that just came out this morning, July 17th, is that we can actually be cited if the teachers are not wearing their mask. They’re making all children over the age of two wear masks. So this is all new to these children. We have an app called Class Dojo. I've put out videos of several things I’ve seen on how to encourage children to wear a mask...but it’s different for kids. I don’t really think when they’re making some of these rules, and I understand the reasoning, but I don’t think they’re putting the children’s best interest at heart. You have to understand children are different and they need to be able to see a smile from their caregiver and that means I have to take my mask down to show a child a smile.
I think the mask has definitely been our biggest hurdle. People understand washing of the hands and we’ve been teaching that since the beginning of time. We do temperature checking twice a day. We do a temperature check when they drop off. Everybody gets checked, the parent and the child. Then midday, after lunch, we do another temperature check to note any differences. The mask has been by far the most difficult. I’m not sure how it’s going to affect our children. When the mask order first came out, we encouraged parents to bring a mask, but if they didn’t want their children to wear a mask they had to sign a waiver, but it looks like I’m not going to be able to utilize that here soon. I’ve talked to the teachers, especially in our preschool room and said, “Look, when you do circle time, have them wear a mask.” We’ve done our best to social distance the children, but again you’re dealing with children. It’s hard to tell them no you can’t go near your friend because you have to be six feet apart.
How have you been thinking about and planning ahead for the coming months?
We have several things in place. What do we do if school opens and we go back to an afterschool program? What does that look like because we may not get back into the schools to run these like we did before? So now we have to find a place that will allow us to have all of the children. That’s something we’re in need of now… we need a space. Once we find a space we have to get it licensed and right now, they’re not doing any new licensing. So that’s a difficult thing we have. Let’s say they don’t open schools all the way and do two days on two days off. Those kids aren’t attending a particular day, they need somewhere to go. We’ve got a lot of things in the air right now, a lot of what-ifs, contingency plans. We’re basically waiting for the schools to tell us what they’re doing so we know what we’re doing, but we do have ideas and plans in place. The most important thing, like I said, is that space. Of course, you have parents calling saying, “Hey, what are you doing?” Well, we’ll tell you as soon as we know.
Have you noticed any impact on the kids?
I think they’re very much aware of what’s going on. They may not quite understand it, but they understand that there is something going on. In fact, the other day one of the four year olds asked, “Is the sickness still around?” I think for the younger ones who don’t exactly know what’s going on, I think they feel the pressure. They understand that mommy and daddy are struggling. That struggle is coming from loss of jobs, loss of income… you know, things like that and they just don’t get it. Luckily, thank goodness, the virus seems to not affect the children as much, but still it’s one of our biggest fears: What if my child gets it? I think that’s a lot of concern for parents and kids. They’re not used to not being able to go to a park or go outside. They feel the stress. They may not totally understand it, but they’re aware of it.
I will say I am very proud of our preschool and our Pre-K teachers. They’ve taught children that it’s okay to ask questions and it’s alright to talk about it. This isn’t a secret. We all know what’s going on so ask your questions and we’ll deal with it the best way possible. I told my teachers I know you’re scared, but I don’t want you to hide it from the children either. You’re scared and know what’s going on; they’re scared and don’t know what’s going on. Embrace it. Talk to the kids. I’m not telling you I want you to cry every five seconds in front of a child, but say, “Hey, I’m nervous today. I’m a little scared.” Talk about those feelings because if you talk about the feelings, they can talk about their feelings.
How have you been thinking about interactions with children?
I think because you are just trying to get through the day especially when this first started and with the new regulation today coming out the 17th about wearing masks. It changes frequently so you kind of just have to get on autopilot and go with things as quickly as possible. But, you also have to look at those interactions and I think that’s where the ‘don’t be afraid to talk with your children’, ‘don’t be afraid to laugh with them’. Change a little bit about how you’re handling things. Can we go to the playground and handle the equipment right now? No. But you know what we can do? We can go and check out a tree and do tree rubbings and we can talk about how bark feels in our hands. It’s not always about the latest and greatest toys in our room. It’s about our interactions with children.
I just think it’s different. As we learn to interact with the children with new regulations in regard to social distancing and masks, we have to rely on things like our expressions. I may not be able to give that child a hug, but I can look at him smile and wink. It’s just a little bit different than maybe I would have approached that child five months ago. It’s still reaching a child on a level where their needs are.
Where do you see the most need for educators and caregivers right now?
You know, I think we’re forgotten a lot. I really think that the only reason people were able to go to work in March, those essential workers, were because we were open.
There was not recognition... it’s not a ‘toot your own horn’, but hey, we were here. You get to work and make $60,000 a year because we’re here making $20,000. We’re taking care of your most prized possessions and there’s nothing for it. I think that’s the biggest problem with our field.
It’s been tough, but you do what you got to do. We started a program... It’s been in effect now for almost a month. It was right after school officially ended and it’s the dinner program. So we give food to children under the age of eighteen and it’s free dinner, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The funding for that is… we have some but it’s still low and we’re feeding a lot of kids on those evenings. Again, that’s another time resource. Figuring out how we’re trying to make that work.
We’re just still trying to get through the things and keep everybody healthy and keep things as normal as possible for the children. It is [challenging], but we’re doing a pretty good job of it so far. We are the epitome of essential!
What happened in your work when you heard everything was closed?
At the YMCA, we operate programs for infants from six weeks old through sixth grade. We were really thrown for a loop in March, of course March 13th; Friday the 13th that will live in infamy. When the governor closed the schools, we were all like, “What do we do with these kids come Monday?” That was a big issue for a lot of parents.
Basically, our site is licensed for 128. Up until then, we had been in the schools for our afterschool program, so we rushed around and got some of the equipment from the schools and set up a school age classroom in our building. Our building here is normally just six weeks to Pre-K so we didn’t have the older toys and equipment set up. We had to bring those in and get them ready.
We’ve been operating on one of the waivers for essential employees while we were in the red zone and of course, opened back up to everybody once we were in yellow and then green.
How was that to be open when everyone was shut?
It was scary. It really was because at that point in time the word COVID was new. We didn’t know what it was other than a really nasty virus and we knew people were dying so how do we stay open? We knew we were open for essential personnel… doctors, nurses… so these people that are definitely coming in contact with it. It was nerve wracking. At that point in time, things were changing so rapidly. You’d come in one day and have to follow one particular rule and then at 3:00, you’d have to change it for the next day. We made adjustments and we’ve been lucky enough that everyone has stayed healthy. I really have to give credit to our teachers for that because they have stepped up. I thought we were cleaning before. The amount of disinfecting and sanitizing we have to do now… it’s lots of credit to our teachers to keep it at bay. The directors all stepped in and helped to make sure everything was done the way the CDC and the governor was promoting.
How is it now that we’re four months into the COVID-19 pandemic?
It has kind of calmed down a little bit. We all were in a nice little groove. We knew what we were doing. We were like ‘hey, we’ve got this’ and then cases started spiking again and now there’s all these new regulations. I’m sure you’ve heard about the new mask policy that’s come down. You know, that’s influencing what we do here. When the mask policy first came out, it was not required for children and teachers can remove the mask if they need to talk to a child. The policy now that just came out this morning, July 17th, is that we can actually be cited if the teachers are not wearing their mask. They’re making all children over the age of two wear masks. So this is all new to these children. We have an app called Class Dojo. I've put out videos of several things I’ve seen on how to encourage children to wear a mask...but it’s different for kids. I don’t really think when they’re making some of these rules, and I understand the reasoning, but I don’t think they’re putting the children’s best interest at heart. You have to understand children are different and they need to be able to see a smile from their caregiver and that means I have to take my mask down to show a child a smile.
I think the mask has definitely been our biggest hurdle. People understand washing of the hands and we’ve been teaching that since the beginning of time. We do temperature checking twice a day. We do a temperature check when they drop off. Everybody gets checked, the parent and the child. Then midday, after lunch, we do another temperature check to note any differences. The mask has been by far the most difficult. I’m not sure how it’s going to affect our children. When the mask order first came out, we encouraged parents to bring a mask, but if they didn’t want their children to wear a mask they had to sign a waiver, but it looks like I’m not going to be able to utilize that here soon. I’ve talked to the teachers, especially in our preschool room and said, “Look, when you do circle time, have them wear a mask.” We’ve done our best to social distance the children, but again you’re dealing with children. It’s hard to tell them no you can’t go near your friend because you have to be six feet apart.
How have you been thinking about and planning ahead for the coming months?
We have several things in place. What do we do if school opens and we go back to an afterschool program? What does that look like because we may not get back into the schools to run these like we did before? So now we have to find a place that will allow us to have all of the children. That’s something we’re in need of now… we need a space. Once we find a space we have to get it licensed and right now, they’re not doing any new licensing. So that’s a difficult thing we have. Let’s say they don’t open schools all the way and do two days on two days off. Those kids aren’t attending a particular day, they need somewhere to go. We’ve got a lot of things in the air right now, a lot of what-ifs, contingency plans. We’re basically waiting for the schools to tell us what they’re doing so we know what we’re doing, but we do have ideas and plans in place. The most important thing, like I said, is that space. Of course, you have parents calling saying, “Hey, what are you doing?” Well, we’ll tell you as soon as we know.
Have you noticed any impact on the kids?
I think they’re very much aware of what’s going on. They may not quite understand it, but they understand that there is something going on. In fact, the other day one of the four year olds asked, “Is the sickness still around?” I think for the younger ones who don’t exactly know what’s going on, I think they feel the pressure. They understand that mommy and daddy are struggling. That struggle is coming from loss of jobs, loss of income… you know, things like that and they just don’t get it. Luckily, thank goodness, the virus seems to not affect the children as much, but still it’s one of our biggest fears: What if my child gets it? I think that’s a lot of concern for parents and kids. They’re not used to not being able to go to a park or go outside. They feel the stress. They may not totally understand it, but they’re aware of it.
I will say I am very proud of our preschool and our Pre-K teachers. They’ve taught children that it’s okay to ask questions and it’s alright to talk about it. This isn’t a secret. We all know what’s going on so ask your questions and we’ll deal with it the best way possible. I told my teachers I know you’re scared, but I don’t want you to hide it from the children either. You’re scared and know what’s going on; they’re scared and don’t know what’s going on. Embrace it. Talk to the kids. I’m not telling you I want you to cry every five seconds in front of a child, but say, “Hey, I’m nervous today. I’m a little scared.” Talk about those feelings because if you talk about the feelings, they can talk about their feelings.
How have you been thinking about interactions with children?
I think because you are just trying to get through the day especially when this first started and with the new regulation today coming out the 17th about wearing masks. It changes frequently so you kind of just have to get on autopilot and go with things as quickly as possible. But, you also have to look at those interactions and I think that’s where the ‘don’t be afraid to talk with your children’, ‘don’t be afraid to laugh with them’. Change a little bit about how you’re handling things. Can we go to the playground and handle the equipment right now? No. But you know what we can do? We can go and check out a tree and do tree rubbings and we can talk about how bark feels in our hands. It’s not always about the latest and greatest toys in our room. It’s about our interactions with children.
I just think it’s different. As we learn to interact with the children with new regulations in regard to social distancing and masks, we have to rely on things like our expressions. I may not be able to give that child a hug, but I can look at him smile and wink. It’s just a little bit different than maybe I would have approached that child five months ago. It’s still reaching a child on a level where their needs are.
Where do you see the most need for educators and caregivers right now?
You know, I think we’re forgotten a lot. I really think that the only reason people were able to go to work in March, those essential workers, were because we were open.
There was not recognition... it’s not a ‘toot your own horn’, but hey, we were here. You get to work and make $60,000 a year because we’re here making $20,000. We’re taking care of your most prized possessions and there’s nothing for it. I think that’s the biggest problem with our field.
It’s been tough, but you do what you got to do. We started a program... It’s been in effect now for almost a month. It was right after school officially ended and it’s the dinner program. So we give food to children under the age of eighteen and it’s free dinner, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The funding for that is… we have some but it’s still low and we’re feeding a lot of kids on those evenings. Again, that’s another time resource. Figuring out how we’re trying to make that work.
We’re just still trying to get through the things and keep everybody healthy and keep things as normal as possible for the children. It is [challenging], but we’re doing a pretty good job of it so far. We are the epitome of essential!