Amid Coronavirus Shutdown, Day Cares Face Permanent Closures
NEWTON (CBS) - Sitting in an empty classroom, Reed Donahue spent her Wednesday morning hosting a virtual preschool class. The experience immortalizes how Donahue, who owns a day care, tries to operate during a pandemic.
During this morning's virtual round-up, 4-year-old Cate Spence had big news to share.
"I'm going to Carolina," she said. The toddler then rambled off how she'll pack for the family's upcoming road trip from Newton to North Carolina. Cate's mom starts a new job in two weeks. And with day cares in Massachusetts shut down until the end of June, traveling to grandma's and working remotely is the family's best option.
"The downstream impacts of these closures are going to put economic pressure on parents," said Tyler Spence. "We can't work or leave our home if there's no one to watch our children."
For now, the Spences make due by keeping their young children busy on Donahue's daily Zoom calls. Donahue is the owner and director of Little Red Wagon PlaySchool. The family also started a GoFundMe page hoping to save their beloved preschool.
"Our motto is to lead with love and not fear," Donahue said.
Since the shutdown, Donahue is trying to encourage her community to stay connected. But between organizing Zoom bingo games and distributing weekly activity bags for the kids, she's feeling the pressure. Right now, money from the Paycheck Protection Program will let Donahue pay 11 employees for the next six weeks. After that, the preschool's future is unclear.
"What I've been hearing is that you're going to need to have more staff on to cover staff that might be sick. That's going to be taking a huge hit for us; we couldn't survive," said Donahue.
And Donahue is not alone. A recent survey conducted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children found only 11% of child care providers could survive an indefinite shutdown without government support.
Senator Elizabeth Warren is among a group of lawmakers calling for a $50 billion child care bailout as the country remains at risk of losing millions of child care slots.
"What are parents going to do if day care classes are cut in half in a state that already has a child care crisis?" asked Angela Spence.
Providing some framework for what the future holds is the MetroWest YMCA in Framingham. The center provides emergency child care for essential employees. Children are screened for temperatures at the door, and parents are not allowed inside.
"There are some real questions that I think we're gonna need to work through as both an organization but also a field," said Heidi Kaufman, the center's director of education.
The providers are now hoping state leaders loop them in on a plan of action. Currently, the shutdown is in place until June 29. When asked if day cares should open before businesses go back to work, Governor Baker said, "It's going to depend a lot on the conversation with the day care community generally. And what we get from the business community and how phased the opening actually is."
