Preschool should be almost as usual in the fall

The littlest children in the Left Hand Valley will get to have a relatively normal school experience this fall.

Childcare was deemed as an essential service in March and some preschool facilities, especially those providing care to children of essential workers, never closed in the coronavirus pandemic. Others have started reopening under smaller classroom restrictions during the "safer-at-home" period.

For schools that provide both K-12 education and also preschool, it has taken some time to sort out on an individual school basis how to respond to the coronavirus. Most schools with both early childhood education and grades, including private schools Flagstaff Academy in South Longmont and Boulder Valley Waldorf School (BVWS) in Niwot, closed their preschools In March along with the grades and offered only distance learning through the spring.

Both public and private mixed-age schools started reopening on a limited basis in June. The St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) offered "successful summer camps and face-to-face childcare sites," according to a statement provided by the district, without any outbreaks.

BVWS also made the decision to reopen in-person preschool summer camp under the limited "safer-at-home" restrictions in June, and the school enrolled a full summer class of 10 preschool students. Camp will be finishing up next week without a single case of illness, coronavirus or otherwise.

For those familiar with preschool sniffles and sneezes, this is an unprecedented situation, presumably brought about because of stringent and regular coronavirus safety restrictions, including required daily wellness checks.

"Other than the fact that their teachers are wearing masks, I don't think there's a whole lot [the children] are experiencing as being very different or restricting," said Rachel Nielsen, the BVWS lead preschool/kindergarten teacher and the acting co-licensing director for early childhood. Preschool children at BVWS already "spend a lot of time outside," and they are planning for even more outdoor time this fall.

Nielsen's role as co-licensing director is new, due to the coronavirus pandemic, and she is now responsible for keeping abreast of the latest county restrictions and information. "I've been so in it with two calls a week with the Health Department and all of this, just figuring it out," she said.

One of the keys to reopening schools, and keeping them open, is the concept of "cohorting," or "keeping the groups really self-contained ... so that if there is a case in one class it doesn't affect multiple groups of children and it's a lot easier to contain the spread," said Nielsen.

"They have finally clarified that we can run the early childhood program even if the grades program has to close," said Nielsen, which has implications for all preschool programs licensed under the Colorado Office of Early Childhood at the Department of Human Services. With rare exceptions, this covers all public and private preschools in the state.

The difference between licensed early childcare facilities and K-12 education means that most preschool programs, public and private, are opening as usual, with normal class sizes, and on schedule.

Even if the state has to move back to the strictest "stay-at-home" restrictions some time in the fall, and the school districts elect to return to distance learning, preschool programs will have the choice to continue in-person instruction.

Flagstaff Academy in South Longmont will also reopen normally on Aug. 24. Patty Quinn, the director of the Flagstaff Academy Preschool, said, "At this time anything can change. We plan on in-person instruction for all the people that have already signed up on the regular time schedule."

Following a board meeting on July 23, the SVVSD announced its reopening plans. In a statement provided by the district, Diane Lauer, Assistant Superintendent of Priority Programs and Academic Support, said, "Due to smaller class sizes, St. Vrain Valley Schools preschool students will attend school in-person this fall according to the schedule offered at their school."

Lauer went on to say, "The hybrid instruction model for K-12 St. Vrain students aims to create smaller classroom environments, which already exist in our preschools."

The curriculum at district preschools will remain the same, and the district will be "instituting a number of health and safety measures for the return to school" consistent with those now common in public spaces: extra cleaning and sanitation, optional face coverings, social distancing, hand washing, and spending more time outdoors. All schools mentioned in this article are instituting the same strict measures.

The Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) will be delaying its start by one week, to Aug. 26, in order to "provide us an extra week to train our staff regarding all of the new protocols, as well as giving them extra time to plan and improve their practices around Home Learning" according to the BVSD website.

Heatherwood Early Childhood Education Community Liaison Terri Allred said, "The district just decided what will happen when school reopens and the Early Childhood Department will be telling us soon how the district's decision will affect preschool."

At press time, the Boulder Valley School District had not yet announced its reopening plan to the public.

The evolving understanding of whether the littlest students in the county should return to school, and how, weighs heavily on the minds of educators and administrators responsible for their care.

Flagstaff Academy Preschool's Patty Quinn said, [the] "reason you send your child to preschool is so they can grow socially and emotionally, and be able to talk about their feelings and make new friends. Without being in person that's tough to do."

Nielsen, from BVWS, sees the heart of her job as providing a "sense of the world is good, the world is safe, I am cared for," which is hard when adults aren't feeling safe due to the pandemic.

Neilsen said, "I go back and forth between being okay [going back to school,] and then being overwhelmed by it all and sometimes scared and anxious about it."

She returns to the importance of "that balance of being safe but also continuing to move forward and to provide this education and opportunity for children to be children, and learn and grow in a place they feel safe and held and seen. Because that's what they really need right now."

(Full disclosure: this reporter's four-year-old daughter is enrolled to attend her second year of BVWS preschool in the fall.)