Lake child care center beats the odds: No COVID cases

(Above) Lake Town Charlie Brown On-Site Director Laura Lester takes Arya Hennigar’s temperature as she prepares to enter the center. Hand sanitizing is also required for entry and no parents or visitors are allowed past the front desk. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.

No COVID cases

by Marianne Gasaway

A Clear Lake child care center has done the seemingly impossible — managed to stay open continuously during the pandemic with no COVID-19 cases.

“With school starting back, I want to let people know how very proud I am of my families and staff at Lake Town Charlie Brown.  We have made several alterations to the center to get through this changing time, but with everyone working together we have survived,” said Laura Lester, on-site director.

Listening to children laughing and playing outside, or reading together in a classroom, activity at Lake Town Charlie Brown doesn’t seem any different than it did before the pandemic, but Lester says it is the safety protocols which have been put in place that are keeping the center open and children safe.

“We have worked with the kids on hand washing, not just before meals or when using the restroom.  When they come in there is hand sanitizer and their temperature is taken.  It must be under 100.4 to come in.  And parents are no longer allowed past the front desk,” explained Lester.

Only two students have been turned away since March and their higher than normal temperature quickly dropped

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and they were able to return,” said Lester, calling the readings “a fluke.”

Folders for each student are located in a communication center at the entrance and parents may collect any messages regarding their child there.  See-Saw is also used for video conferencing with parents.

Staff are using a bleach solution to spray rooms each hour and toys in rooms are rotated so they can be deep cleaned once a week.   Tables in rooms have been spread out to facilitate social distancing and staff now serve meals to students rather than to use family-style dining.  Outdoor play equipment is also sprayed with the bleach solution regularly.

Lester said keeping good records to document illness and staff interaction is also very important.  For example, staff sign in and out when they travel between rooms to keep track of who they interact with.

“I have to commend the staff and parents for all being a-tune to the situation and working with us.  It has taken everybody to keep things going without interruption,” said Lester.

Capacity at Lake Town Charlie Brown has dropped slightly as school has started and some parents are now regularly working from home.  However, the center typically cares for about 150 children, according to Lester.

Lake Town Charlie Brown staff are in close contact with school officials, especially those at the preschool located at Clear Creek Elementary, as well as CG Public Health.  A consortium of child care center operators met three times weekly at the onset of the pandemic.  That eventually dropped to once weekly, but now with school in session, they videoconference twice weekly.

Lester hopes the success at Lake Town Charlie Brown will be experienced at all Clear Lake schools.

“Our biggest goal is to keep things as normal as we can for the kids,” said Lester.  “Masks are recommended, but not mandatory. We have limited our sensory activities and do extra hand washing, but largely they seem to be handling things very well.  They do talk about it sometimes and we talk to them about why we are doing things in a special way.   It’s our new normal.”

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