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COVID-19 Update 10.31.20

Holiday Absence Credit

November and December are big months for families to travel, vacation and spend cozy stay-at-home days with loved ones; our teachers included! While we realize travel won’t look the same as in previous years, we recognize the holiday months are still likely to result in reduced attendance.

This year, as part of our ongoing work to continually improve the climate and culture for our staff and students, we’d like to grant as many teachers time off as possible in November and December and are therefore piloting a holiday vacation credit option! For the months of November and December, families that notify us at least two weeks in advance of their child’s planned absence will receive a credit on their next month’s account for the prorated amount of the missed day(s). Absences with less than two weeks notice follow our standard absence policy, and no credit will be issued.

If you know your child will be absent on a regularly scheduled day in the month of November or December 2020, please notify the school via BrightWheel or by email at Director(at)CobbSchool.org. We hope this pilot offering will be of great benefit to our families AND our hard working staff!

COBB CHILDREN’S LEARNING CENTER RECEIVES $16,566 EMERGENCY CHILDCARE GRANT FOR COVID-19 SUPPORT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Jessica Gaul

Executive Director

541-957-1008

Jessicag@cobbschool.org

COBB CHILDREN’S LEARNING CENTER RECEIVES $16,566 EMERGENCY CHILDCARE GRANT FOR COVID-19 SUPPORT

Roseburg, Oregon (09.23.20) — Cobb Children’s Learning Center has received a $16,566 grant from the Oregon Department of Early Learning  to support its operations at Cobb Childcare and Preschool while operating under an emergency license. 

Jessica Gaul, executive director of Cobb Children’s Learning Center, said the funds will go directly towards staff salaries. “While our classroom sizes have stabilized since our last emergency grant award, our staff are continuing to work extended hours in order to provide consistent and stable care for the children of our community. Proper compensation is a critical component of our commitment to hiring the brightest and best early educators, and we are pleased to be able to pay our teaching staff above market rate, even during times such as these.” executive director Gaul said. “Across the country, it is estimated that as many as half of all child care centers will close permanently due to COVID, according to a recent report by the Center for American Progress (Malik, et. al, 2020). Rural communities will perhaps be hit hardest, most especially in terms of recruiting and retaining staff; we are pleased to be in a position where we can continue to provide high-quality care and early education for families for the foreseeable future, thanks in part to grants such as this.” 

About Cobb Children’s Learning Center

Cobb Children’s Learning Center was started as Cobb Street Children’s Learning Center on Cobb Street, in 1994 by Sister Jeanita Richter to meet the growing demand for secular childcare services in Roseburg, Oregon. Today, the organization is known as Cobb Children’s Learning Center, and is a non-profit organization, operating the Cobb Childcare & Preschool located on Walnut Street in Roseburg, serving Douglas County children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. For more information about Cobb Children’s Learning Center, or the Cobb Childcare and Preschool, call 541-957-1008 or visit www.cobbschool.org.

About the Oregon Department of Early Learning 

The mission of the Oregon Early Learning Division is to support all of Oregon’s young children and families to learn and thrive. They value equity, making a positive impact for children and families, dedication, integrity and collective wisdom to benefit Oregon children and families. 

They work as an integrated team focused on: Child Care, Early Learning Programs and Cross Systems Integration, Policy and Research, and Equity.

Malik R.,  Hamm, K., Lee, W., Davis, E., and Sojourner, A. (2020, June 22). The Coronavirus Will Make Child Care Deserts Worse and Exacerbate Inequality. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2020/06/22/486433/coronavirus-will-make-child-care-deserts-worse-exacerbate-inequality/

Back to School Night

Get ready to kick off the new school year with our Back to School Night! This adult-only event is an opportunity to meet your child’s teachers, tour the classroom & connect (while physical distancing) with other parents! No need to RSVP, but please try to show up on time.

Tuesday September 8th 5:45-6:45PM: Sapling, Birch, Alder

Wednesday September 9th 5:45-6:45PM: Aspen, Elm, Cedar

All attendees will need to wear a mask and sanitize upon entering. Due to space restrictions, only two adults per family may attend; thank you for helping us hold this event in a COVID-19 compliant manner. We are excited to welcome you back into our school!!

COVID-19 Update 8.17.2020

August 14th 2020, the Oregon Department of Early Learning released what is anticipated to be the final health and safety guidelines for child care centers operating during Covid-19. The full update can be found HERE. The 62 page document details final health and safety guidelines in addition to the 80 page Child Care Center Rules which must be followed during typical operations; that’s a lot of rules, and we thank you in advance for helping us to adhere to them completely.

For Cobb Childcare and Preschool, the following changes which affect families will be implemented effective September 1st 2020:

• All people kindergarten and older at drop off must wear a face mask or face shield which cover the nose and mouth. We still ask that you remove sunglasses and hats during pickup as well to assist us in seeing your face before we collect children for pickup. If you forget, please do not be surprised if we ask you to remove them if we cannot identify you immediately.
• Parents who are breastfeeding may now enter the facility after sanitizing & masking up for the purpose of feeding their child. A location away from other children will be provided and sanitized after use. Because we do not have staff available at all times to answer the door, we ask that you notify us in advance.
• We will resume taking temperatures of children at the door prior to entry as part of our health check.
• All pillows, stuffed animals and items other than a blanket for nap must stay at home. Our cubbies are small, and many are exploding from the many “accouterments” children bring with them, making it difficult to keep children’s items from touching other items and contaminating them. Best practices recommend against bringing additional items from home, and we are inclined to agree.
• We will be enforcing our existing 9:00 am drop off policy. We are not a day care and children who arrive after 9:00 miss critical learning opportunities, and late arrivals can disrupt the learning activities of other children. During COVID-19, we schedule a staff member to be available to answer the door until 9:00. We understand there may be rare and intermittent days where an appointment or “just one of those days” makes a pre-9:00 drop off impossible, and we thank you in advance for notifying us when this does happen.

Other notable changes in the new guidelines are the increase in classroom size. The new guidelines allow us to resume our typical classroom sizes, and we will do so as soon as possible. As you remember from prior updates, hiring is at a standstill right now do to the lack of applicants. It is important to us (and your child) that we hire high-quality and qualified staff to care for and educate your children. We will continue to increase our enrollment as we stabilize our staffing team. If your family is one who has been impacted by the reduction in classroom size, we will notify you as your child’s spot becomes available.

Recognizing there will be questions regarding the lunch program and the resumption of normal hours, once we are fully enrolled and fully staffed, it is our intention to bring back the lunch program. To do so, we will need to secure a part time qualified and culinary trained individual (who loves children), so our guess is as good as yours when this will happen but hopefully soon!

For safety reasons, the new guidelines do not allow us to resume combining classrooms at any part of the day, which is an important step in halting any potential outbreaks that may occur is a child or staff member becomes infected. To extend our operating hours without combining classrooms in the morning and the evening would require staff to work more than 50 hours weekly, which is not an option if we want to retain the staff we have (and we do!).

Working at Cobb is incredibly demanding and non-stop. Our teaching staff develops lesson plans, records and documents daily activities, and ensures your children are provided opportunity to meet developmental milestones, are learning in an environment that is relevant and meaningful to them and honestly, making magical things happen for your children daily. Can you imagine sending home the amazing documentation you see daily in BrightWheel for 8 or 10 children every day in addition to planning and learning alongside our little citizens?!? We asked a lot of them before COVID, and their dedication to showing up each and every day during a pandemic and potentially exposing themselves to virus’ and germs is outstanding, and quite honestly deserves applause. I believe strongly that the very least we can do is to provide our staff an environment where they can practice self care and be the best versions of themselves each day when they arrive for duty; this requires the opportunity to rest. Once we are fully staffed, we will examine our ability to extend our hours.

We know that you have choices when it comes to the care of your child(ren) and we thank you for choosing us! By choosing Cobb, your child is part of the only emergent child care and preschool community in Douglas County. Our approach is research-based and developmentally appropriate, preparing our young learners to become authentic and outstanding citizens of our community. If you’d like to learn more about our approach and what to expect in your child’s classroom next year, please visit our website: https://cobbschool.org/our-approach/

With Thanks,

Cobb Children’s Learning Center Receives $13,000 Grant for Subsidized Care Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Jessica Gaul

Executive Director

541-957-1008

Jessicag@cobbschool.org

COBB CHILDREN’S LEARNING CENTER RECEIVES $13,000 GRANT TO SUBSIDIZE CARE FOR DOUGLAS COUNTY FAMILIES

Roseburg, Oregon (07.21.20) — Cobb Children’s Learning Center has received a $13,000 grant from the Sisters of Mercy to support its subsidized care program at Cobb Childcare and Preschool. 

Jessica Gaul, executive director of Cobb Children’s Learning Center, said the funds would be used to offset the $35,000 annual deficit to run the subsidized program, allowing all Douglas County families equitable to access high quality care and education through its high-quality preschool and childcare programs.

“Childcare is a large expense for most families, often exceeding 30% of a families income. Grants such as these allow us to assist families who would otherwise be unable to afford childcare,” executive director Gaul said.

About Cobb Children’s Learning Center

Cobb Children’s Learning Center was started as Cobb Street Children’s Learning Center on Cobb Street, in 1994 by Sister Jeanita Richter to meet the growing demand for childcare services in Roseburg, Oregon. Today, the Organization is known as Cobb Children’s Learning Center, and operates the Cobb Childcare & Preschool located on Walnut Street in Roseburg, serving Douglas County children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. For more information about Cobb Children’s Learning Center, or the Cobb Childcare and Preschool, call 541-957-1008 or visit www.cobbschool.org.

About the Sisters of Mercy

All Sisters of Mercy in America trace their roots to their founder, Catherine McAuley, an Irish Catholic laywoman. Catherine recognized the many needs of people who were economically poor in early nineteenth century Ireland and determined that she and women like her could make a difference.

Spending her inheritance, she opened the first House of Mercy on Lower Baggot Street in Dublin, Ireland on September 24, 1827, a place to shelter and educate women and girls. Catherine’s original intention was to assemble a lay corps of Catholic social workers. Impressed by her good works and the importance of continuity in the ministry, the Archbishop of Dublin advised her to establish a religious congregation. Three years later on December 12, 1831, Catherine and two companions became the first Sisters of Mercy. In the 10 years between the founding and her death, she established 14 independent foundations in Ireland and England.

Sisters of Mercy in America

The first Sisters of Mercy arrived in the United States from Ireland in 1843 at the invitation of the Bishop of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Their energy in ministering to the sick and economically poor attracted so many new members that by 1854, sisters had come from Ireland to settle in New York City; Chicago, Illinois; Little Rock, Arkansas; and San Francisco, California, spreading across the country and establishing schools and hospitals. Since then, the works of Mercy have expanded to embrace education, health care and pastoral and social services in hundreds of sites today. 

COBB CHILDREN’S LEARNING CENTER RECEIVES $14,040 EMERGENCY CHILDCARE GRANT FOR COVID-19 SUPPORT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more information, contact:

Jessica Gaul

Executive Director

541-957-1008

Jessicag@cobbschool.org

COBB CHILDREN’S LEARNING CENTER RECEIVES $14,040 EMERGENCY CHILDCARE GRANT FOR COVID-19 SUPPORT

Roseburg, Oregon (07.20.20) — Cobb Children’s Learning Center has received a $14.040.00 grant from the Oregon Department of Early Learning  to support its operations at Cobb Childcare and Preschool while operating under an emergency license. 

Jessica Gaul, executive director of Cobb Children’s Learning Center, said the funds will go directly towards staff salaries. “While operating under emergency license, our classroom sizes have been drastically reduced. While we agree this is an important step in ensuring the continued health and safety of the children we care for, it has also resulted in a significant operating deficit each month. Without grants such as these, it would be difficult to continue operating” executive director Gaul said. “Across the country, it is estimated that as many as half of all child care centers will close permanently due to COVID, according to a recent report by the Center for American Progress (Malik, et. al, 2020). Rural communities will perhaps be hit hardest, and we are pleased to be in a position where we can continue to provide care for families for the foreseeable future, thanks in part to grants such as this.” 

About Cobb Children’s Learning Center

Cobb Children’s Learning Center was started as Cobb Street Children’s Learning Center on Cobb Street, in 1994 by Sister Jeanita Richter to meet the growing demand for secular childcare services in Roseburg, Oregon. Today, the organization is known as Cobb Children’s Learning Center, and is a non-profit organization, operating Cobb Childcare & Preschool located on Walnut Street in Roseburg, serving Douglas County children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. For more information about Cobb Children’s Learning Center, or the Cobb Childcare and Preschool, call 541-957-1008 or visit www.cobbschool.org.

About the Oregon Department of Early Learning 

The mission of the Oregon Early Learning Division is to support all of Oregon’s young children and families to learn and thrive. They value equity, making a positive impact for children and families, dedication, integrity and collective wisdom to benefit Oregon children and families. 

They work as an integrated team focused on: Child Care, Early Learning Programs and Cross Systems Integration, Policy and Research, and Equity.

Malik R.,  Hamm, K., Lee, W., Davis, E., and Sojourner, A. (2020, June 22). The Coronavirus Will Make Child Care Deserts Worse and Exacerbate Inequality. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2020/06/22/486433/coronavirus-will-make-child-care-deserts-worse-exacerbate-inequality/