Child care centers in demand as virtual schooling nears

With many local school districts planning no in-person classes or in-person instruction only a few days a week, some local child care centers — which normally serve children ages 5 and younger — are opening their doors to elementary students during the school day.

It’s unclear how widespread the practice is, with school districts and families still finalizing their fall plans, but it is underway, said Cara Ciminillo, executive director of the early childhood learning advocacy group Trying Together.

“We are definitely hearing from families, especially those families who don’t have an option to work from home, that they need a place for their school-age children to go if their schools are physically closed,”

Ms. Ciminillo said.

“We had so many parents that were panicked and frantic and didn’t know what they were going to do,” said Betsie Mozurak, owner of Indiana Township-based Hartwood Learning Center, which is offering space for schoolage children.

“It was basically out of a desperate need from the community, and it kind of ballooned. The need is so great, I’m sure other places are going to do it also,” said Ms. Mozurak, whose center serves many families in the Fox Chapel, Hampton and Shaler school districts.

Amy Hornyak, who owns All About Kidz, said offering space for older kids was a natural fit, as her center already served them with summer and beforeand after-school programs.

“There’s not a lot of child care options in the area for parents who do have to work,” she said.

Her center, on Route 910, is only accepting kids from the Fox Chapel schools because the staff is already familiar with their teaching model, she said.

Advocates say there are still wrinkles to be ironed out, however.

For those families who get subsidized child care before and after school, federal rules limit the subsidy to a particular set of hours and days, since during the school day, kids are supposed to be, well, in school, Ms. Ciminillo said. She is hopeful that these federal rules can be addressed quickly and made more flexible.

For families who don’t receive a child care subsidy, the costs of care can be burdensome, she said.

And providing this additional care to older kids isn’t feasible for every provider.

At Hug Me Tight Childlife Center in the Hill District, where many families have subsidies to cover the cost of care, owner Wanda Franklin said she has had inquiries from parents but wouldn’t be able to make it work without additional financial and material support from foundations or government.

The financial hurdles for parents are tough, too, she said.

“How many people are going to want to pay for their third grader to go to day care? They’re not accustomed to this,” she said.

Furthermore, the child care sector as a whole is still recovering from the impacts of COVID-19driven closures, higher costs from increased sanitizing and smaller class sizes, and lower enrollment from some parents who are still reluctant to return their children to group settings.

When schools closed in March, some child care centers remained open to serve the families of essential workers. Those centers that closed for several months, however, have said the financial hit from the loss of parent tuition payments and continuing underenrollment were so serious that the centers might be forced to close permanently.

A July survey from the National Association for the Education of Young Children found that 18% of child care centers and 9% of home-based centers were still closed.

The survey also found that 2 of 5 respondents believe that their centers will be forced to close without further public investment.

Pennsylvania has distributed $220 million in relief funding to thousands of child care providers statewide to help the sector recover, given child care’s crucial role overall in the economy.

State human service officials have said they are allowing providers to enroll school-age children during hours when schools are not offering “traditional” school.

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is viewing a state code prohibiting child care during school hours as “mean[ing] during hours when the children have scheduled face-to-face instruction,” said Brandon Cwalina, a department spokesman.

State Reps. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, and Sara Innamorato, D-Lawrenceville, have introduced legislation, House Bill 2758, that would allow school-age children to participate in child care programs during “an emergency declaration that eliminates or curtails inperson learning.” The bill has not yet been assigned to a committee.

Elliot Haspel, an author and child care expert, said parents turning to child care centers to serve school-age kids also highlights the important role of such centers and the child care workforce.

Workers in child care programs typically earn low wages, and are disproportionately women of color, and they are being asked to step into the gap created by school closures, said Mr. Haspel, author of “Crawling Behind: America’s Childcare Crisis and How to Fix It.”

“If we’re asking programs to do this,” then local and state governments should be providing them with support such as personal protective equipment for workers, he said.

To search for child care in Allegheny County, go to: https://find.alleghenychildcare.org/families