Department of Education

 

GDForum ID: 291

Description of Proposed Guidance Document Changes

On Monday March 23, Governor Ralph Northam extended his order that all public and private K-12 schools in Virginia close in response to the continued spread of COVID-19 for the remainder of the school year. This builds on the Governor’s previous school closure order and previously issued guidance asking child care providers to prioritize services for children of essential personnel, while asking all families keep their children home if they can. Recognizing the significant impact of this school closure on families around the Commonwealth, the Governor simultaneously called on communities to provide emergency child care to young and school-aged children of essential personnel during this unprecedented pandemic. Within the healthcare industry alone, this includes approximately 80,000 children under age 12 in Virginia. This potential child care crisis necessitates an urgent public-private response. This guidance outlines a variety of options and waivers which different public and private entities and communities should consider in order to provide safe child care alternatives for essential personnel while maintaining stringent health protocols to minimize the risk of additional COVID19 spread. For purposes of this guidance only, essential personnel are defined at the bottom of this guidance. Due to the declared state of emergency, this guidance is effective immediately, March 31, 2020.

 

Guidance Document(s) for this Comment Forum

Document ID	Document Title	Document in Effect	Proposed Document
COVID19	Joint Guidance for Emergency Child Care during Statewide School Closure	n/a	Proposed Document

 

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