Daycare’s Still Operating at Half Capacity As School Year Nears
ST. CLOUD — Despite more kids returning to daycare in recent months, many child care providers are still operating at about half capacity.
Recent relief packages form the state legislature has help many daycare organizations keep the lights on, but that funding will soon run out.
Chad Dunkley is the CEO at New Horizon Academy and the President of the Minnesota Child Care Association.
He says they’ve had a number of calls from worried parents wondering what child care providers are doing this fall.
“I know we’ve also had a number of call in the last few weeks with nervous families because they don’t have a clear picture as to what public schools are doing to do and seeing what capacity we have for accommodating children.”
He says their facilities are constantly making changes to help protect the kids and staff, including soon asking all school age kids to wear masks.
“Beginning August 17th we are going to ask our school age children to wear masks in our buildings, so they have time to get use to it for when they return to public school. We want to make sure we are following all safety protocols to reduce any risk of spread.”
Dunkley says they are also looking at adjusting their curriculum in order to help students keep up with with their studies should distance learning continue.
He says while the child care industry is slowing trending back in a positive direction, many daycare facilities are not out of the water just yet.
New Horizon Academy has 70 facilities, including in St. Cloud and Sartell.
