SAN ANTONIO – Early learning centers across our area are getting ready to welcome back young children amid growing concerns stemming from a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Last year, Pre-K 4 SA had limited enrollment of only 1,000 children in person, but it will be welcoming all 2,000 children back later this month.
“We are doing extra sanitation in our classrooms and making sure that we clean twice a day. We’re encouraging children and employees to wear masks,” said Sarah Baray, CEO of Pre-K 4 SA.
Baray said they would also be working with Community Labs to test staff and children for COVID-19.
When children are dropped off at the centers, the staff members will also be conducting health screenings.
“If a child starts to show illness during the day, the child is taken to our clinic where we have a nurse, a full-time nurse on staff who will assess the child,” Baray said.
Children will be isolated until their parents can pick them up.
“We help parents get connected to, again, testing to find out if it is COVID. And if so, then we notify the families who may have been in close proximity to that child,” Barray said.
With school starting on Aug. 16, Baray wants to remind parents about the importance of early education.
“There’s decades of research that show when children have access to high quality early learning starting at age three and four, they are better prepared for school, but they also do better in college and career. They have better health outcomes,” Baray said.
Baray understands that parents are worried and that students in this age group can’t yet get vaccinated, but she says Pre-K 4 SA will safely open centers.
“It’s important to get your children enrolled in early learning because., even if there’s a pandemic, young children’s brains are still developing very rapidly,” Baray said.
