The Chilkat Valley Preschool closed this week in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Board President Kari Johnson said safety and finances are the biggest concerns.
“It was a hard decision. But it wasn’t too hard of a decision, if that makes sense. Like, we knew what we needed to do,” she said.
The non-profit childcare center is technically an essential service according to the state. It doesn’t have to close until May 1st, like schools do. But Johnson said the state’s safety recommendations to stay open aren’t realistic for the preschool.
“The regulations of less than ten kids and making sure kids are six feet apart… You know, keeping preschoolers apart from each other is pretty impossible,” said Johnson.
There are usually about fifteen kids at the preschool. Since the organization pays its bills—and employee salary—from tuition, reducing the number of students by a third would put them in the red. Right now, they have enough cash to pay the utilities and be ready to re-open in May if health conditions improve.
Chilkat Valley Preschool is not the only childcare service to make the call. By the end of this week, all major childcare centers and preschools in the Haines Borough will be closed.
HeadStart is a state and federally funded preschool. It did not reopen after Spring Break.
Kids R Fun, Kim Larsen’s licensed, in-home daycare will close until further notice on Friday, March 27th. Larsen said she will watch the children of essential workers like medical staff if the need arises.
Chilkat Valley parents said available and affordable childcare were top concerns in a Haines Economic Development Corporation study last fall. Now, there’s essentially none.
“I think more people are probably more people are concerned about employment at this point,” said HEDC Director Margaret Friedenauer. She said lack of childcare could be an issue as people cobble together employment in the wake of coronavirus layoffs.
“If you’re a family, a lot of times the kind of employment you can take, and the kind of jobs that you can take, depend on if you have available and affordable childcare to go with that.”
But Friedenauer said there’s a silver lining. As families hunker down and many parents begin to work from home, they may discover work and kids can mix.
For parents, this is a new challenge. It affects Johnson, too. She’s working from home as a result of the borough’s shelter in place order. One of her two children attends Chilkat Valley Preschool—the one she had to help decide to close.
But she says she’s not the one making the biggest adjustment.
“I think the biggest piece, honestly, that I think has been hard for me as a mom and seeing this, is the kids miss other kids. They, you know, my daughter keeps asking me about her friends and wanting to go over to someone’s house and play. And I think that’s been the hardest thing,” she said.
Chilkat Valley Preschool teachers plan to organize a meetup for the kids–so they can at least see each other, even if they can’t touch.
