• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

May 5, 2020 Instruction & Curriculum

School Closures Are Hitting Preschools Hard

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Mike Dunn

Mike currently serves as the Director of College Counseling and Upper School History teacher at a small independent school outside of Philadelphia. He teaches courses in interest/career exploration, college essay writing, college admissions fundamentals, and World History. He is also the Principal Consultant for Mike Dunn Educational Consulting.
  • School Closures Are Hitting Preschools Hard - May 5, 2020
  • The Boutique Schools Of Our Future - August 1, 2019
  • The Power of the School Visit as PD - April 30, 2019
  • Responding to DeVos’s Negligent #SOTU19 Response - February 7, 2019
  • This HS Senior Was Accepted to 149 Colleges. That’s a Problem. - April 6, 2018
  • As a Teacher and Michigan State University Alum, I'm Embarrassed and Hurt - January 24, 2018
  • The Devaluation of the School Counselor - August 14, 2017
  • Summer Break: An Antiquated Institution That Needs To Go - June 26, 2017
  • The Post's 'America’s Most Challenging High Schools' List Is Deeply Troubling - June 5, 2017
  • I Tutored The Same College Student For 4 Years. Here's What I Learned. - May 15, 2017

“Ugg. I HATE coronavirus! I just want to go to school and places!" proclaimed fellow TER writer Katie Sluiter’s young daughter. For a preschooler who loves seeing her friends, being with her teachers, gymnastics, and swimming, our current situation is quite the challenge. This is a reality that countless parents of preschool kids are facing around the country. They are having conversations with their young people about viruses, social distancing, and how they might be able to visit with their friends (maybe over video conference) but not really see them in person.

About a year and a half ago, a friend approached me to join the board of his preschool in West Philadelphia. The school is called Children’s Community School (CCS). It is an amazing place that is committed to providing a wide range of learning opportunities to its young students. It is driven by a terrific Mission and set of Core Values (Spoiler: I collaborated to rework these over the past year) that pushes the school to be an inclusive, social justice-oriented institution. It is committed to partnering with its families and teachers, resulting in happy students and a happy community.

The school is a tuition-driven institution, so it is already faced with the challenges of providing care within strict state and city guidelines on its very tight budget. But as the COVID-19 pandemic has spread across the world, the ramifications for CCS, Katie’s daughter, and countless preschools around the country have been nearly overwhelming.

Childcare For Working Families

A critical ramification of school closures has been the lack of childcare that many provide families. This is particularly true for preschools that are often caring for children as young as 18 months. But with preschools closed, parents have limited options for childcare. While a high schooler (or maybe even a late middle schooler) may be able to care for themselves while a parent is away at work, what options does a parent have for an 18-month-old? Preschools occupy this important niche.

Budgets & Salaries

Most preschools also often operate on a very tight budget with dedicated staff making meager salaries. At CCS, we have worked tirelessly to offer our staff a legitimate living wage, but our budget has still been tight. As a board, we have had to come together to figure out how to continue to pay our dedicated employees throughout this time. If it were not for a recent federal payroll protection loan/grant, our situation would have been considerably worse. This is, without a doubt, a situation that countless preschools are facing around the country, and a situation that may only get worse as shelter-in-place orders remain.

Fall Instruction

A final critical consideration for all preschools as they look to the fall is what instruction might actually look like. Meeting on a video conference with students seems like a potential option for many schools coming this fall, but this is simply not an option for a 2-year-old. What does consistent instruction look like for these young people? What happens if we can’t come back together in person? How do we support families as they want their students to continue to learn? How does Katie’s daughter get to see her friends again?

How do we support families as they want their students to continue to learn? How does Katie’s daughter get to see her friends again? Click To Tweet

These questions are all ones that we are grappling with as a community. Luckily we have a wealth of intellectual capital on our board to try to figure out solutions. We have teachers who are pushing to plan ahead right now, and leadership that is keeping our future in mind. We are lucky. What happens to those preschools who may not be as lucky?

We would love to hear how you, your preschooler, and your preschool are dealing with the pandemic.

Preschool

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailTackling the Infamous Research Paper: 4 Tips to Help Struggling Students Succeed Part I: See Jane Read--Identifying the Reading Abilities of Your Students Default ThumbnailAfter the Assessments In Defense of Middle School
« Teaching During A Pandemic: Where The Grades Don't Count, And Everything Is Made Up
Assessing with Multiple Choices Instead of Multiple Choice: A Way to Transform Education »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • A Q&A with Baltimore Teachers Union President, Diamonté Brown
  • 6 Reasons to Use Read-Alouds Daily
  • The Secret Ingredients of Lesson Planning
  • The Exhaustion of Black Educators on Another "Day After"

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.