Houston-area day cares' plan to help parents as kids go back to school during COVID-19
PEARLAND, Texas (KTRK) -- As students get ready to head back to school, a couple of day care owners are hoping to help parents juggling work and child care.
"We have been open the whole time, since we're essential," Amy Bowman with Tottenberry's Private School & Daycare in Pearland said.
Bowman told ABC13 that since the start of the pandemic, a lot of parents took their children out of day care.
"Normally, we have about 120 kids a day. Today we have 47," she said.
Now that schools are getting ready to start and districts are releasing their plans and options, day cares and private schools are pivoting in hopes of helping.
SEE ALSO: Houston-area school districts' fall 2020 plans
"Parents don't know what to do as far as re-enrolling their kids," she said.
Amanda Maisonneuve, owner of School in the Pines in Spring, is launching a new program at her private child care facility, making it available to parents even outside of Klein ISD.
"We are trying to be as accommodating as possible," she said.
Maisonneuve is offering a certified teacher to assist small groups of children with their district assigned school work.
"They could come for the learning hour, basically same as elementary school. They would bring their school assigned laptops with them," she said. "We would open this program from K to 6th graders."
She's also offering "social hours" for parents who just want to get their children outside of the house for fun.
"So they are having interaction with peers and playing outside. They are doing things in a more normal way," she said.
Both of these business owners know that every parent will need something different, whether it's a full day care or just a classroom to make sure their kids get their work done. As essential workers, they're adjusting just like everyone else.
