Attention all D11 Families,

Included below is a copy of the letter sent to parents (regarding D11 reopening) by the D-11 superintendent. It states their plan of action for grades K-5 and for the middle schools. This letter is to inform you of SLCC’s plan in regards to D11 reopening. We will provide the following:

For Grades K-5:

1. SLCC will be providing after school transportation and after school care for D-11 grades K-5, provided we have an approved transportation request asap.  Please go to the Transportation Request Form, and fill out the request by close of day Monday 9/14/20.  If you have already filled one out (at the beginning of the school year)  and the transportation information has not changed, you do not need to fill a new one out.  However, you will need to confirm your intent to use SLCC by emailing enrollments@springsoflife.org.  
2. During the staggered transition week (9/21-9/25) we will provide after school care, however no transportation will be provided this week (as we do not have the staff).  
3. We will no longer provide full day/ remote learning care for grades K-5 beginning 9/21/2020.  Elementary kids are required to be in-school or remote (home) learning.
4. We will still offer full day care on days when school is not in session (Snow days/ Breaks).
5. Our “Firewall” policy will still be in place, meaning that your child will stay in their group and with that teacher at all times and therefore limit each child’s possible viral exposure.

For Middle School students:

1. SLCC will provide all day/ remote learning care on days that each student is not in school.  However, CCCAP is requiring that each CCCAP parent individually contacts their case worker to confirm they are approved for full day care.
2. SLCC will be providing after school transportation and after school care for days that they are in school provided we have an approved transportation request asap.  Please go to the Transportation Request Form, and fill out the request by close of day Monday 9/14/20.  If you have already filled one out (at the beginning of the school year)  and the transportation information has not changed, you do not need to fill a new one out.  However, you will need to confirm your intent to use SLCC by emailing enrollments@springsoflife.org.  
3. We will still offer full day care on days when school is not in session (Snow days/ Breaks).
4. Our “Firewall” policy will still be in place, meaning that your child will stay in their group and with that teacher at all times and therefore limit each child’s possible viral exposure.

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** Parents, please remember, that due to the Staggered starts for each grade, SLCC will provide after-school care, but will NOT be providing transportation the week of 9/21-9/25.

Thank  you for your understanding and cooperation. 
The SLCC School Age Program and Transportation team.

Below is the copy of the letter sent to D11 parents by the superintendent on 9/8/2020:

Hello D11 Families,

As we end the second week of this school year, I’d like to share some of the discussions from this week as we move forward with planning to bring students back for in-person learning. It has always been our desire to have students back in our classrooms and schools, but we want to do so in the safest way possible. We continue to monitor the health data across El Paso County and our state and are encouraged by the downward trending transmission of the spread of COVID 19 in our community. You may view the El Paso County data by clicking here. Based on this data, we are moving forward with plans to bring students back in-person. Should this data start to show any discouraging trends of increased positive cases and more spread of the virus, we will revise the plans accordingly.

What are the plans?

We will plan to bring elementary and middle school students back in-person on a staggered timeline (see details below) starting September 21. Elementary and middle schools will maintain regular school hours. For high school students, we will begin bringing students back in-person starting September 29 on a staggered timeline. Details on high school in-person return schedules will follow next week. Families still have the choice to keep students on a remote learning model. Please see the details and survey link below.

What are the next steps?

Elementary Timeline:

9/21/20: Kindergartners return to in- person learning and continue to attend the rest of the week.

9/22/20: First graders return to in-person learning and continue to attend the rest of the week.

9/23/20: Second graders return to in-person learning and continue to attend the rest of the week.

9/24/20: Third graders return to in-person learning and continue to attend the rest of the week.

9/25/20: Fourth and fifth graders return to in-person learning.

Middle School Timeline:

•         Mondays will be used for asynchronous learning for all students; Staff will have PLC time.
•         Tuesdays-Fridays will be a hybrid learning schedule, with approximately half of the students in attendance each day, and the other half remote.  Schools will communicate their specific schedules with families.
•         Normal school day start and finish times will be implemented, with normal transportation and meal schedules.
•         Returning to in-person learning the week of September 21:

o    9/21 (Monday): asynchronous learning for all students;

o    9/22 and 23: 6th grade only on hybrid schedule, 7th and 8th grades remotely learning;

•   9/24 and 25: 6th, 7th, and 8th on hybrid learning schedules, specifics will be communicated by each school.

We need to hear from you! Please complete the survey located at this link to indicate if your child(ren) will return to in-person learning, or if they will remain in the Inspire Online remote learning option (Note: preschool families do not have to take this survey). Families are asked to complete their decision form by September 9. Students in the Inspire Online learning option will still be tied to their school, however depending on enrollment numbers, they may or may not maintain their current teacher(s).

Thank you for your continued patience as we develop the best plans possible for in-person and remote learning. Through our strong relationships with our families, we will adapt and provide exemplary instruction to Inspire Every Mind! I hope you and your family have a nice, relaxing Labor Day Weekend.

Yours in Partnership,

Dr. Michael J. Thomas, Superintendent

Colorado Springs School District 11

Dear Parents,

 As you know, District 11 is starting school on August 24, 2020 by Remote Learning.  This has caused concern by parents who need to work, and are not able to keep their kids at home full time for schooling.  We have been in communication with the State and with CCAP to see what options are available. 

We have great news!  It has been determined that, for kids in online learning situations, we ARE able to keep your kids for full time hours (7:30am – 5:30pm).   As usual, we will continue to accept in-person school children in our center when their schools have scheduled breaks, holidays and snow days. In addition, we will be adhering to all our usual/full COVID precautions.  

We have also addressed and solved a financing problem for CCCAP parents who need full-time care, but whose current authorization is only for part-time care.  We have been in contact with CCCAP, and they are considering  granting full-time authorization, but the final decision has not yet been made.  In the meantime, SLCC will scholarship the part-time authorized families for full-time care, and will consider this payment in full.  If full-time payment is not authorized, SLCC will continue this scholarship policy.  We know it’s tough out there right now, and we want to help where possible.  

To assist children with online learning, we will be providing WIFI access, and have scheduled time within the program for the children to connect to their school.  You will need to provide the laptop/tablet that the school will give your child, and a backpack labeled with your child’s name so that we can safely store them.  Please remember to provide us and your child with their online class schedule, and any written information on how to connect.  Please make sure your child tests the online system before their first day of classes here.  We do not have IT staff to oversee this system, so your child needs to be ready to go on their own.  If needed, you can/should be here for their first class to make sure they can connect.  

Our Enrollment department will be calling to confirm if your child will need the full time care in our center.  Thank you for your patience during this challenging time of returning back to school and the many changes that have been occurring.  We love your children and are committed to providing a COVID-safe and learning-friendly environment.

Sincerely,

The SLCC Staff

Important SLCC School Age Program Changes

As we approach a new school year with the COVID Virus, schools and daycare facilities are facing complicated decisions.  Our Board has been meeting daily for the past two weeks to design a program that meets parent’s needs, but also protects children and teachers.  Adding transportation dynamics have further muddied the waters.  Unfortunately, like most schools, we are going to have to  limit and/or adjust some of the services we can provide.

We understand that these changes will bring challenges for you as parents.  For that reason, we want to share a little more about the dilemma that transportation presents for all of us.  As you know, each of your children’s schools will be working hard to separate the children by classroom.  The purpose of this, of course, is to limit the viral exposure to the smallest group possible. If Children’s Centers are not careful, they can undo this important work if they do not understand the risks involved in transporting kids.   Imagine for a moment that one of our 15 passenger vans picks up 5 kids each from 3 different schools (the normal pre-COVID pattern).  Potentially all 15 kids would have come from 15 different classrooms (viral groupings).  Our board has determined that this just isn’t safe.  We considered cancelling our transportation program entirely, but have opted for a  carefully planned, limited program.  For the duration of the pandemic, our SAP/Transport program will be adjusted  in the following ways:

• • Seeing that many parents have chosen a remote learning option, we have decided to offer an All-Day SAP program.  This group will be available to students who have opted out of attending a district school in person.  These students will be isolated to a single 15 student-max classroom and each class will have a “firewall” built around  it consisting of a “one teacher/one class/all day” environment, so that parents can be assured that their children will have minimal exposure.  In addition, we will have all of the normal social distancing (temperature checks, face masks, 3-6’ spacing, hand washing, disinfecting, etc.) in place. We believe that it is possible (maybe even likely) that schools will be forced to close at least temporarily this fall.  The best way SLCC can serve is to let our parent community know that we can accommodate over 200 kids in full-time daycare, if needed.  Of course, this program will provide no transportation as the kids will not be in district schools.

The  hours for this program  will be limited to 7:30am – 5:30pm.  As we have discussed in previous communications, this is the longest day possible while keeping the one teacher/1 class firewall in place… we simply cannot ask teachers to work longer days.  If you have an opportunity, please thank a teacher for their willingness to work 10 hour days to serve/protect your family.

Like all daycares, we are not set-up to teach like a normal school.  Parents will be expected to carry the load of their child’s school work in the evenings, weekends, etc.  However, as the opportunity presents itself, at the minimum we will provide WIFI access and designated times for the kids to study during the day.  We also may provide some level of homework assistance.

• • State regulations regarding disinfecting vehicles makes using our vans multiple times a day extremely difficult.  We have tried to find a work-around for this dilemma, without success.  For this reason, it is necessary for us to not offer both a before and after school transportation program this fall.  Unfortunately, this means that we will not have any before school care/transportation available.   Only an after school transport/care program will be offered.  This is a significant change to our program, and we know this will be difficult for many families.  Along with you, we are still waiting for the school districts to communicate what their programs and requirements will be, and each change affects us.  We want you to know if there was any way to provide before-school care  and keep kids/teachers safe, we would have done it.

• • We have set a goal (a “soft limit”) of no more than 2/3 a vehicle’s normal capacity for the after school transportation program (for instance a 15 passenger van will have a target 10 capacity).  This will allow students to socially distance appropriately in vans or buses, and matches the transportation policies just announced by D-2.   Children in the after-school transportation program will be required to wear a mask and sit one body width apart at the minimum.  Each classroom will follow the same “firewall” policies (15 max classrooms, one teacher, and follow the safety precautions mentioned above).   Anyone enrolled and attending our after-school program will be given priority in the Full-Day program if your school closes.

Regarding exposure to COVID, and potential quarantines/school closures: 

Every child enrolling or entering our program will be required to fill out a questionnaire stating that they have not been exposed to COVID from schools, families or other social environments.  Depending on their level of exposure, they will be required to observe a 10 to 14-day quarantine.  Every parent should consider this possibility (as well as school closures) and plan accordingly.

As with schools, the temperature of every child will be checked as they enter our vehicles, and again as they enter the program.  The child will not be allowed in the vehicle, or into the program, with a temperature above 100.4.   Masks will be required at all times while indoors (parents should provide these, but SLCC will provide masks if needed).  SLCC has spacious outdoor play areas and we will attempt to spend as much time outdoors as possible.  At this point, per state law,  masks are optional while outdoors.

I want to conclude by saying that we really have tried to provide every service we can and still keep kids safe.  You are our heroes!  We see the sacrifices you make for your kids every day, and we have tried to design a program that meets the needs of the greatest amount of families.  We are aware and saddened that we cannot meet every family’s needs.  Please feel free to email back any comments or suggestions.   Like every school and family, we are doing the best we can in this difficult  season.

Hang In There!

Dan Finnegan
SLCC Board President

Board Input – dfinnegan@springsoflife.org
Enrollments – 719-287-1500, ext. 1, enrollments@springsoflife.org
Executive Director/Preschool Program Questions – Charlene McQueen – cmqueen@springsoflife.org
School Age Director – Jessica Moebs – jmoebs@springsoflife.org
Transportation Department – John Salinas – jsalinas@springsoflife.org

Dear SLCC Parents,

As you know, DHS has implemented new COVID requirements in all daycares.  The most important (and inconvenient) new reg is the “one teacher, one class, whenever possible” rule.   In order to comply with this, our hours changed to 8:00am – 5:00pm.  This has strained many family’s work situations, and we have been trying ever since to figure out how to lengthen our day.  We have some good news for the Fall.

Beginning on July 27, 2020, our hours of operation for our 2 pre-school programs will increase from 7:30am – 5:30pm (a 10-hour day, up from 9).  Teachers have agreed to work longer hours (be sure to thank them), to better serve families, so this schedule will still keep your child’s classroom isolated from other classrooms.  The safety of your children and our staff is our highest priority, and we can/will only make changes that continue to keep everyone safe.  So we don’t think we’ll be increasing hours further until the COVID crisis has passed.  Our strategy is to “build a firewall” around each classroom so that our children/teachers are only exposed to a single-classroom’s sized viral load, instead of the entire school population.  We have essentially become 16 smaller, independent daycares (classrooms) to protect against this virus.

For parents with children in our School Age Program (SAP) there are a few additional changes:     Beginning Monday 8/10, we will re-open our normal Before-School Care and Transportation Program, with its normal hours of 6am – 8am.   The after-school transportation and care program will resume then as well, with hours of 2:30pm – 5:30pm.     Important note:   There is a dilemma we were not able to solve that affects families with both pre-school and school-age children.  Drop offs before 7:30 am WILL NOT include preschoolers (as there will not be preschool staff available until 7:30).  It’s just not possible to do this and keep the firewall up.

Also, to minimize risk on transportation routes, we are temporarily combining the North & Main SAP programs, (closing the north SAP program) effective August 10, 2020.   This provides significantly reduced times in vehicles, and far less exposure.  North SAP kids will need to transfer to our Main location prior to August 10^th.  If parents of these affected school age children also have preschool children, and would like all children to be at one location, you will need to contact Enrollment ASAP.   Our spaces are limited, and we will try to accommodate.  But we are unable to guarantee that every child can be transferred.

We will continue our “School Day-Off Program.”  (We provide full-day care on any day the school district is closed for weather or other reasons).  Additionally, the Health Department has warned that this fall may have a large COVID spike, and that re-closing of schools (as we saw in the Spring) remains a possibility.  If, at any point, your child’s school closes due to this reason, we will be able to expand the Day-Out Program into a “Full-Time SAP” Program with hours that match our pre-school program (7:30am – 5:30pm).   We will provide structured study time, and Wi-Fi access, and we will try to offer some direct tutoring/study help.  It is possible/likely that we will limit this program only to families already in care at time of closing.  So don’t wait to register. To access this online, click here (Notice of Intention to Enroll).

To register for Transportation for the Before and After School Program, you MUST fill out a Transportation Request Form by going to our website (childcare.springsoflife.org, School Age Programs, Transportation and click on the Transportation Request Form button). To access this form online, click here. If you have any questions, feel free to contact any of the following SLCC Program Directors or departments:

North Center Pre-School        Charlene McQueen   (719.550.1700, ext 3)     cmcqueen@springsoflife.org
Main Center Pre-School         Diana Miller               (719.550-1700, ext 2)     dmiller@springsoflife.org
Enrollment                              Sandy Wheeler          (719.287.1500, ext 1)     swheeler@springsoflife.org

Thanks again for the incredible devotion you show to your kids!  Crazy times, and you’re all still making it work!

Pastor Dan
SLCC Board President

Here at Springs of Life Children’s Center, our top priority is for the health and safety of the staff and kids. Therefore, we are asking all parents and guardians to wear a mask/face covering while in our facilities. This includes while checking in/out your kids and walking them to/from the classrooms.

At SLCC, we are taking every precaution to prevent the spread of germs. Currently groups have no more than 10 kids, social distancing (3ft-6ft apart), and face masks are being worn by kids over the age of three and staff.

When wearing a mask/face covering while in our facilities, it will be helping us keep your kids safe! Our staff thanks you for your continuing support as we adjust to the new guidelines to prevent the spread COVID-19.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We hope everything is going well for you and your family during this time. We continue to take the necessary steps to ensure we can remain open and provide the safest and most quality care possible for your children.

To ensure the ongoing safety our children and staff at our facility we are asking that children (3 and older) wear a cloth mask. SLCC will provide each child with a clean cloth mask each day starting Monday, April 13. Below are some tips we can remind our children here at the center and the parents at home when they ask why they are wearing a mask.

If children ask about people wearing masks or other face coverings, parents and caregivers can explain:

• Sometimes people wear masks to stay safe and teachers are wearing masks to stay safe.
• Sometimes people wear masks to be a germ buster.
• Sometimes people wear masks when they are sick.
• When they are all better, they stop wearing the mask.
• Children need to know they are safe, remind them you are here to keep them safe.
• Allow children to role play with masks. Be creative and use art materials to design masks that are for the individual child.
• If you have questions or need assistance with children experiencing anxiety, please reach out to 1.800.799.5876 to connect with an Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) Specialist in your area. ECMH Specialists can help you more effectively support children who have difficulty adjusting to changes at home or in child care and education programs.

Our staff thanks you for your continuing support as we adjust to the new guidelines to prevent the spread COVID-19.

As you likely know, the government restrictions for social distancing and the Colorado Stay at Home order have significantly limited the number of children that can be in a child care center – pretty much by half in ALL centers. But, these government orders have also significantly limited the number of people that are working and in need of child care. Fortunately, the number of families needing care during this time has well matched the number of children we are permitted to have in care.

If your child has attended since Friday, 3/27, we are considering them “actively attending” and your child may continue attending without contacting us. However, if your childcare needs change, please let us know immediately, so we are able to ensure that families that most need care are able to access it during this time.

On the other hand, we are considering children that have not attended since Friday, 3/27 as “not actively attending”. If your child is in this category, please note that you will need to speak to us before your child returns to care. 

We are doing everything we can to accommodate everyone who needs childcare services during this time. We will be reaching out to you regularly over the next few weeks in order to understand your needs and most effectively serve the community during this time, but feel free to reach out to our parent hotline by calling or texting 719.203.1044 with any urgent questions or concerns you have.

Please let us know if there is anything else that we may be able to do to assist you during this time, including praying for you and your family.

We look forward to celebrating with you and your family once this crisis is over!

On 3/26/20, we announced that pursuant to Colorado State Health Department and Child Care Licensing recommendations, Springs of Life Children’s Center will remain open and providing child care services only to parents/guardians who are working in Critical Businesses.  However, we received an email from the El Paso County Public Health Department that has retracted the following interpretation of the Public Health Order:

“Child care centers can only care for children whose parents/guardians work for a critical business.

“This means that childcare centers are able to care for any child, whether their parents/guardians work for a critical business or not.  Child care has always been considered a critical service, available to those that need it.”

What this means, is that Springs of Life Children’s Center is open and available to all parents who need childcare!  We are continuing to adhere to the practical steps of social distancing and cleaning/sanitization practices in order to provide a safe environment for your children and our staff.

A reminder:  A critical measure is required of all parents and staff: no child or staff who is exhibiting any cold/flu symptoms can be in our center during this time.  If your child is exhibiting and cold/flu symptoms, do NOT bring them into the center.  The staff will not allow them to be dropped off.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our parent hotline via call/text @719-203-1044, or via email @ parents@springsoflife.org.

Pursuant to Colorado State Health Department and Child Care Licensing recommendations, Springs of Life Children’s Center will remain open and providing child care services! However, at this time, per Colorado State Public Health Order (PHO) 20-24 (the “Stay at Home Order that was issued Wednesday, 3/26/20), we are only authorized to provide child care services to parents/guardians who are working in “Critical Businesses” (please see the PHO document for further information about what is considered “critical” / essential). Because of this, we ask that you only bring your child(ren) to care if you are working in one of these roles. For everyone who is working in a non-critical role, we look forward to having your child back in care as soon as this order is lifted.