March 15, 2020

Dear JCC Families,

As you know, we are deeply committed to keeping everyone who walks through our doors safe and healthy.  Until now, we have been operating as close to normal as possible, while also adhering to CDC guidelines and ensuring the health and safety of our entire community. There have been NO confirmed cases of Coronavirus associated at our sites.  As you have heard from today’s government announcements, there will be a closure of the NY City school system effective tomorrow. Does it apply to us?  Yes and no.

What happens next?

Our pre-school and nursery programs are licensed by the Department of Health that has recommended for private programs to close their operations tomorrow, but to keep Monday open if we can provide a safe environment for our children. We felt it was prudent to give you an option of keeping your children in our child care that extra day, in case you are unable to make some last minute plans.  Tomorrow, you will be able to bring your children to your pre-school.  After care will be cancelled tomorrow so we will be open from 8am – 3pm tomorrow only.

Starting Tuesday, we have made the very difficult decision to close until Monday, March 30th and to re-assess our situation at that time.  All other programs, events,  enrichment programs  will be postponed until April 12th.  

Our educators will be working together to find ways in which we can engage with you and your children during this period. Please stay tuned for these opportunities as they become available.  Please also continue to offer us the gift of patience and grace as we navigate through the unknown. Your suggestions are greatly appreciated as this digital content and Zoom operations are new to us.

What happens to my teachers?

We love them and during our two week closure, we are continuing to pay all of our staff (including our part-timers) their salaries and benefits. Although it is an enormous financial commitment on our part, it was very important to our Board of Directors that our staff continues to be compensated during this unprecedented time.

What happens after 2 weeks?

We honestly don’t know. Anyone who does, should consider making a great career as a full time prophet. What we do know is that we are committed to you, to your children and to our teachers. We will re-evaluate our options at that time and we’ ll be in touch with any updates. We will continue with deep cleaning and sanitizing every room in the school including hallways and bathrooms as a precaution while the school is closed.