Preschool Closures
Parent Q&A
Archived Q&A and Reviews
Pre-School in danger of closing - seeking options
Jan 2012
My four year-old son is in a pre-school that is in danger of closing, but the parents all want our kids to stay together. We love the teachers. If the school closes, is there any way to ''retain'' the teachers and keep the kids together? I can't imagine what this might involve but am hoping someone has advice for the legal and practical implications (licensing? finding a space? taxes?) Thank you for any advice - love our teachers
There are numerous options for your group of parents and teachers. The most important question is why the school might be closing. Is the reason that the facility site is no longer available? If this is the case, then you all just need to find a new location. Usually, notice is given about when the location is no longer available; so, you know what the deadline is for finding a new site. Once you find a new site, then you just need to have a new site application submitted to licensing. Of course, you need to make sure all of the prerequisites are met such as having a qualified director, having the new site meet safety requirements, proper facility size for the anticipated capacity, etc.
If the reason for the closure is more legal (e.g. serious licensing violations at the site, no qualified director, etc), then this is a more difficult question to answer. I would highly recommend you give a call to Community Care Licensing in Oakland. If the case is in Licensing's Legal office, then you can ask to speak to the attorney assigned to the case to get more info on what is going on with the case, and to get an idea of timelines for possible closure, and options available to parents and teachers.
For background on the facility's problems, I would highly recommend you look at the archives of your child's pre-school in two places: here on BPN - if there are violations that are possibly shutting down the facility now, I am willing to bet other parents complained about those problems in the past; and in Licensing's facility file for the pre-school - same bet for these files.
The Licensing office at 1515 Clay Street in Oakland is your best place to start to get answers to your questions. A second option is to call up Bananas to see what other options may be available to you. They are a great resource for child care questions. hopes this helps point you in the right direction
For a small number of children, say fewer than 5, you could do a nanny share at one of the children's homes and hire the teacher to be a nanny. For more children, you will need a facility license from the state, either a daycare license (if children are going to someone's home) or a preschool license (if children are going to a site that is not someone's home.) This would take some effort, and probably isn't worth it for just a year or two. You could wait to see if the teachers are hired by a new preschool and then enroll there. Or you could just resolve to get together regularly with the kids - say every Friday afternoon, or something like that.
Our preschool has air purifiers in each classroom and is not closing due to poor air quality. However, the preschool is not having the kids go outside on bad air quality days.
Our daycare has remained open during the bad air quality days and is just keeping the kids indoors. We have chosen to keep our son home on bad air quality days since we are working from home anyway and it is safer for him to be home with our air purifiers working on max, but I retained the option to drop him off when I feel comfortable doing so. We check air quality in mornings and if it is red or worse keep him home. On yellow or green days he goes to daycare. On orange days we do the smell test and it depends on how busy of a work day it is for us.
Our son's preschool closed last Friday and this Monday, due to poor air quality. The criteria to close campus depends on if the air quality forecast is at or above unhealthy (red) level at the start of the school day and unlikely to improve during the day. Families are notified by 7:30 AM if school is closed. My little guy had three half days and two full days before school closed. We are grateful the air quality has improved, as school reopened yesterday!
Our preschool had a few days where they did early dismissal when it was smokey and hot, so that they didn't have to keep the kids in a closed room all afternoon. They haven't been closed all day for any of the days but now we're sorta in a generally understood, could be a 1/2 day on any given day depending on any number of factors holding spot. Our school uses arinow.gov and will keep the kids inside/windows closed if it is near/over 100.
Yes, our preschool closed last week on Thursday 9/10 at noon, when the AQI climbed close to 200. They remained closed Friday 9/11 and Monday 9/14, and reopened yesterday. Their criteria for closing is an AQI of 200 (or close to it). The classrooms have air filters in them, so when inside they're probably breathing better air than we are at home, but it sounds like the guidelines are set by the Alameda County DPH. It's been so hard! One more hard thing.
Our preschool in El Cerrito has not closed down for poor air quality, just removed the outdoor play time. I'm embarrassed to admit I don't know exactly what criteria they are using to make that decision.
When my daughter was in preschool, and the Air Quality Index was as it was last week, over 200 (very unhealthy), I would have been relieved that the school closed. Schools will definitely close at over 200. Erring on the side of caution, many will close at above 100 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) or 150 (unhealthy). Schools are also obligated to protect their teachers and employees, so more than just kids are being considered in the decision to close. Here is an interesting article on this topic: https://www.kqed.org/news/11706988/to-close-or-not-to-close-for-bad-air….
Hi! Yes, our daycare/preschool closed when the AQI was over 200 for a sustained period of time. This resulted in a school closure last Friday, but none of the other days. On the days it was in the range of 101-150, the children remained indoors with air purifiers, with periodic window opening to let air circulate to help mitigate COVID-19 exposure. I'm posting the more detailed plan below in case it's helpful!
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Resources
During times of compromised air quality, we monitor changes hourly to ensure we are making the right decisions for our students, Prek through 8th grade.
We rely on several reputable resources to check the current status and forecast:
Air Now from the EPA to monitor AQI (Air Quality Index). The EPA calculates the AQI for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act: ground-level ozone, particulate matter (10 and 2.5), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. Of these, we are particularly watching PM2.5. For more information regarding air pollutants please go here https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants
The San Francisco specific data on Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI) and Purple Air which gives us a neighborhood by neighborhood representation and can offer a local perspective for our community.
Air Matters app on a smartphone
AlertSF from the City of SF air quality today. Administrative staff must sign up for their notification system https://sfdem.org/get-city-alerts.
School Policy Guidelines
Below is an outline of the actions --- will take based on Air Quality Index guidelines developed by the EPA found on Airnow. The team will continue to assess and use our best judgment when In addition, the school uses air filters in each classroom setting and keep all windows and doors closed throughout the school day, whenever possible.
Good
Moderate
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups
Very Unhealthy
Air Pollution Warning
AQI
0-50
51-100
101-150
151-200
200+
PM 2.5 (µg/m3)
~24
25~50
51~100
101~180
181~
O3 (ppm)
0~-0.09
0.090~0.119
0.120~0.150
0.151~0.499
0.50~
K - 8
Recess
No limitations
No limitations
Move Indoors
Move Indoors
All outdoor activities shall be heavily restricted.
School closure considered.
Extended Care
(Early Care as applicable)
No limitations
Limit activities for sensitive groups
Move indoors, cancel outdoor activities
Move indoors, cancel outdoor activities
Outdoor PE
No limitations
No limitations
Move Indoors
Indoor / Low Impact Only
PreK
Early Childhood Program
No limitations
Limit intense activities
Indoors Only
Indoors Only - School closure considered depending on the timing
Notifications
Our number one goal is the safety and health of our students, faculty, and staff. We will communicate with you as fast and efficiently as possible so you can plan and prepare accordingly.
We will consider closing for classes if the AQI reaches above 200 for a sustained period, as well as if the prediction remains above 200. We will aim to communicate by 8p the night prior, the school will send a message (text/email) informing everyone if we will close the following day.