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Date: March 19, 2020
To: Superintendents and Principals
From: Miriam Calderon, Early Learning System Director and
Colt Gill, Director of the Oregon Department of Education and
Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction
RE: Emergency Child Care in Response to COVID-19
As stated in Governor Brown’s Executive Order 20-08, to ensure the state’s health care system is able to operate at maximum capacity, child care is essential to our response to the COVID-19 outbreak. The order includes a call for schools to provide emergency child care to frontline staff, such as health care workers and emergency responders. We have developed a toolkit to guide school districts in this process.
The state is currently working with healthcare providers to utilize 211 and other supports to enroll families in your programs. Frontline healthcare staff will be the first priority for school district care. More information on the enrollment process will follow before the end of the week.
Below are key considerations for districts to initiate this process:
Partner Support: Families will likely need care for children ages 0-5. If schools intend to offer infant and toddler care they must partner with an experienced partner or employ someone with expertise in infant and toddler care to manage these efforts.
Registration: In order for the state to refer essential personnel to you for child care, the state needs to know your site is operational and ready to accept children. Please submit this application to the state and submit information via this form so 211 can refer families to your program.
Staffing: Staff must be at least 18 years old and have passed a background check pursuant with temporary guidance. In addition, all new staff should be provided with a site-specific training, orientation, and meet the safety and health checklist requirements outlined in the toolkit.
Find more information, go to the Early Learning Division's COVID-19 web page. If you have questions about emergency child care, please contact ELD's Brett Walker at brett.walker@state.or.us or 971-273-8239.
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