After-school Program Guidance Documents

Checklist for After-school Programs

OpenTexas-Checklist-Child-Care-Centers (2).pdf

Require sick children and staff to stay home.

Communicate to parents the importance of keeping children ome when they are sick.
Communicate to staff the importance of being vigilant for symptoms and staying in touch with center management if or when they start to feel sick.
Establish procedures to ensure children and staff who come to the child care center sick or become sick while at your facility are sent home as soon as possible.
Keep sick children and staff separate from well children and staff until they can be sent home.
Sick staff members should not return to work until they have met the criteria to discontinue home isolation.
Consider ways to provide this guidance to your child care center families.

Have a plan if someone is or becomes sick.

Plan to have an isolation room that can be used to isolate a sick child.
Be ready to follow CDC guidance on how to disinfect your building or center if someone is sick.
If a sick child has been isolated in your facility, clean and disinfect surfaces in your isolation room or area after the sick child has gone home.

If COVID-19 is confirmed in a child or staff member:

Contact your local health authority to report the presence of COVID-19 in your facility. Your local health authority will advise you on re-opening procedures.
Contact Child Care Licensing to report the presence of COVID-19 in your facility.
Close off areas used by the person who is sick.
Open outside doors and windows to increase air circulation in the areas.
Wait up to 24 hours or as long as possible before you clean or disinfect to allow respiratory droplets to settle before cleaning and disinfecting.
Clean and disinfect all areas used by the person who is sick, such as offices, bathrooms, and common areas.
If more than 7 days have passed since the person who is sick visited or used the facility, additional cleaning and disinfection is not necessary.
Continue routine cleaning and disinfection.

Review plans for implementing social distancing strategies.

Social distancing focuses on remaining out of congregate settings, avoiding mass gatherings, and maintaining distance from others when possible. Detailed guidance for implementing social distancing strategies in child care centers and schools is found here.

Social distancing strategies: Use preparedness strategies and consider the following social distancing strategies:

Have employees maintain at least 6 feet of separation from other individuals. If such distancing is not feasible, other measures such as hand hygiene, cough etiquette, cleanliness, and sanitation should be rigorously practiced.
If possible, child care classes should include the same group each day, and the same child care providers should remain with the same group each day.
Cancel or postpone special events such as festivals, holiday events, and special performances.
Consider whether to alter or halt daily group activities that may promote transmission.
Keep each group of children in a separate room to the extent possible.
Limit the mixing of children, such as staggering playground times and keeping groups separate for special activities such as art, music, and exercising.
Outdoor areas, like playgrounds in schools and parks generally require normal routine cleaning, but do not require disinfection.

Do not spray disinfectant on outdoor playgrounds- it is not an efficient use of supplies and is not proven to reduce risk of COVID-19 to the public. High touch surfaces made of plastic or metal, such as grab bars and railings should be cleaned routinely. Cleaning and disinfection of wooden surfaces (play structures, benches, tables) or groundcovers (mulch, sand) is not recommended.

Minimize time standing in lines, keeping children at safe distances apart from each other. Six feet of separation between children is preferred.
Increase the distance between children during table work.
Incorporate more outside activities, where feasible.

Healthy hand hygiene:

All children, staff, and volunteers should engage in hand hygiene at the following times:
- Arrival to the facility and after breaks Before and after preparing food or drinks
- Before and after eating or handling food, or feeding children
- Before and after administering medication or medical ointment
- After using the toilet or helping a child use the bathroom
- After coming in contact with bodily fluid
- After handling animals or cleaning up animal waste
- After playing outdoors or in sand
- After handling garbage
Wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If hands are not visibly dirty, alcohol-based hand sanitizers with at least 60% alcohol can be used if soap and water are not readily available.
Supervise children when they use hand sanitizer to prevent ingestion.
Assist children with hand-washing.
After assisting children with hand-washing, staff should also wash their hands.
Place posters describing hand-washing steps near sinks. Developmentally appropriate posters in multiple languages are available from CDC

Limit access to your center.

Prohibit any but the following individuals from accessing your facility:

- Operation staff; - Persons with legal authority to enter, including law enforcement officers, Texas Rising Star staff, Licensing staff, and Department of Family and Protective Services staff; - Professionals providing services to children; - Children enrolled at the operation; and - Parents who have children enrolled and present at the operation. Parents should only enter the child care center when necessary.

Limit the use of parent or other volunteers in your facilities to an absolute minimum.

Class size and ratio requirements:

Size limit modified to 20, but children should be put into two groups and separated with one caregiver per group (Existing standard is 35).

Square Footage Requirements:

45 square feet space per child (Indoor) 120 square feet per child (Outdoor)

Parent drop-off and pick-up:

The pick-up and drop-off of children should be completed outside of the operation, unless the operation determines that there is a legitimate need for the parent to enter. Should the parent have a legitimate need to enter the operation, the parent must be screened by the operation as outlined in this document.
- NOTE: For families participating in the subsidized child care program, efforts should be made to allow them to check in via the state’s card swipe system. Consider moving the card swipe station outdoors in the morning or swiping the parent’s card for them. Sanitize card swipe stations after use.
Consider staggering arrival and drop off times and have child care providers go outside the facility to pick up the children as caretakers arrive. A plan for curbside drop-off and pick-up should limit direct contact between parents and staff members and adhere to social distancing recommendations.
Hand hygiene stations should be set up at the entrance of the facility, so that children can clean their hands before they enter. If a sink with soap and water is not available, provide hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol next to parent sign-in sheets. Keep hand sanitizer out of children’s reach and supervise use. If possible, place sign-in stations outside, and provide sanitary wipes for cleaning pens between each use

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