Tender Years’ COVID-19 Response
While the COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable confusion and disruption to our daily lives, we at Tender Years have compiled this page to help our parents stay up-to-date on our centers and programs. Please check back regularly for new and revised information. As always, if you have questions or concerns, please contact your center director.
Center Operations
Due to the large amount of medical staff and other essential workers whose families we provide childcare for, OCDEL of the Central Region has issued a waiver to Tender Years, Inc. Child Development Centers.
ALL centers are open 7:00am to 5:30pm.
Safety Procedures
All Tender Years centers are following the recommendations of the PA Department of Human Services (DHS) and The Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL). You can review the current guidance here. On Monday, March 16, we implemented new policies in order to drastically limit the amount of people coming in and out of the center on a daily basis…
1) ALL staff coming into the center will be checked for symptoms (including fever, cough, shortness of breath, chills or repeated shaking with chills, new loss of taste or smell). Staff must report through front doors only. Staff who are unwell or who have a fever or other symptoms will not be allowed to work. All back doors will be inaccessible.
2) All children should be brought to the front door of the center for a health check before being allowed to stay for care. Front doors will remain locked and key pads or pin code pads will not allow access to parents. A designated staff person will take your child to their classroom. We ask that you please wait until a health check has been completed. Please note, it is up to the discretion of Tender Years staff to determine whether your child is healthy, based on our current policies.
3) Health checks will be administered and will include a visual inspection for signs of illness and a temperature screening with a thermometer. Touchless thermometers will be used.
4) Parents shall limit bringing items from home into the center. *Breastfeeding mothers will be asked to please sign their children out.
5) At the end of the day, please come to the front door, and a designated staff person will bring your child to the front for pick up.
6) Prior to children going to their classrooms, a designated staff person will check them for illness symptoms (including cough, shortness of breath, chills or repeated shaking with chills, new loss of taste or smell) and fever (100°F or higher). If a child has cold or flu symptoms or fever of 100°F or higher, they will not be allowed to attend childcare.
7) If you traveled recently, we ask that you please comply with the World Health Organization guidelines and NO ONE IN THE HOUSEHOLD SHOULD VISIT THE CENTER. Furthermore, if you have traveled to an area where there are high amounts of COVID-19 cases, it is recommended that you quarantine for 14 days upon returning home. For a list of states recognized by the PA Department of Health as having high cases, CLICK HERE.
8) We recommend that parents designate a single person to drop off and pick up a child. We also recommend that the designated person is not a “vulnerable” person (older person such as a grandparent or a person with serious underlying medical condition) or a person at high risk of contracting COVID-19 (such as a healthcare worker exposed to ill patients).
9) We will continue intensive cleaning with Clorox Hydrogen Peroxide (a hospital grade sanitizer) and Clorox Total 360 machines. We will continue to disinfect toys that are handled or mouthed. And our professional cleaning service will continue to clean the centers as scheduled.
10) We will continue to practice frequent and meticulous hand washing (both staff and children).
Face Mask Policy
Following orders from PA Secretary of Health, Rachel Levine, Tender Years, Inc. is complying with the Universal Face Coverings Order: “to protect the public from the spread of COVID-19, all customers are required to wear masks while on premises, and deny entry to individuals not wearing masks.”
This applies to all children age 2 years or older, as well to all Parents dropping off and picking up children.
Children 2 years of age and older are required to wear a face covering as described in the Order of the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Order for Universal Face Coverings, unless they fit one of the exceptions included in Section 3 of the Order. If a child is outdoors and able to consistently maintain a social distance of at least 6 feet from individuals who are not part of their household, they do not need to wear a mask.
Childcare staff are also required to wear cloth face coverings.
Cloth face coverings will be washed daily at our centers.
Notifications of Potential Exposure to COVID-19 & Case Reporting
We will inform our staff and families of possible exposure to a positive COVID-19 case. Parents and staff will be notified through the emergency alert system on Tadpoles. The alert will specify possible exposure, exposure or a positive case, as well as guidance for center closures, quarantine and exclusion (per the PA Department of Health, DHS and OCDEL).
Tender Years, Inc. will report COVID-19 cases to the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Human Services (DHS) within 24 hours of notification. We will inform parents of enrolled children and staff when there is a suspected or positive case of COVID-19 in our childcare center. Notification will include the appropriate guidance from the Department of Health and Department of Human Services. For your reference, please download the PA DOH Covid-19 Patient Instructions for Self Isolation below.
Additional Resources
Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) have released an FAQ for Families considering child care. You can access the document here: Child Care FAQs for Families in Need of Care
Traveling out of state? Pennsylvania’s Department of Health provides a list states with high case counts. To see the latest information, CLICK HERE.
COVID-19 Illness & Tuition Payment Policies
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tender Years, Inc. will continue to refer to our existing policies regarding illness and tuition. These policies are supplemented by our COVID-19 policies and procedures, detailed above. For your convenience, we have compiled the relevant policies from the Tender Years Parent Handbook and our COVID-19 response, along with some additional notes for clarification. Please take a moment to review this information in the document listed below. If you have questions, please reach out to your center’s director.
COVID-19 Policies Acknowledgment Forms
COVID-19 Policies Acknowledgment – PARENT
COVID-19 Policies Acknowledgment – ALL
