See the March 14th Updated Notice to Caregivers and Families Regarding COVID-19
March 13, 2020
Dear Families and Caregivers,
We know many of you are following news of the COVID-19 situation and we wanted to provide an update to our Matthew John community. As many of you are aware, the provincial government has recently taken the measure to close all public schools for the two-week period following March break. We understand this decision was based on a recommendation from Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health as a precaution to keep people safe following the March break travel season. Similarly, Matthew John Early Learning Centre will be closed for the same period, beginning March 23rd through April 3rd, 2020. This decision was made with consideration of the risks following March break travel as well as our ability to provide safe and adequate staffing numbers in light of the school closure. At this time, we are anticipating that the centre will re-open on April 6th, subject to any further developments.
The Centre will remain open from March 16th, through March 20th. However, we are taking additional measures in an effort keep our community safe and minimize the risk of transmission. We continue to work with children to remind them of good hygiene practices, hand washing, and use of hand sanitizer. Cleaning staff have also increased nightly cleaning practices throughout the Centre. A hand sanitizing station will be made available at both entrances and we ask that anyone entering the Centre make use of this upon each entry.
At this time, excursions with children involving travel by TTC or large gatherings will be cancelled. This applies to the school-age trip to Loblaw’s Cooking School as well as Extreme Fun which were scheduled to take place next week.
As a reminder, children or caregivers who have symptoms of illness including fever, cough, difficulty breathing, or diarrhea are reminded to stay home and not come to daycare. We also ask that anyone who has recently traveled to destinations affected by COVID-19, as outlined by Travel Canada, take self- isolation measures. This applies to parents and caregivers as well as children. Please take note of the information provided in the links below.
The health and safety of all our staff and children is our top priority. We are continuing to monitor the situation and are consulting with public health, City, and Ministry officials. We will continue to provide updates as required pending further developments. We would like to remind all our families that COVID- 19 presents exceptional circumstances which are rapidly changing and we are doing our best to stay up to date and keep families safe. We ask for your patience as we navigate through this and request that you raise any questions or concerns with Jola or Kim directly rather than other staff members.
https://www.toronto.ca/coronavirus/
https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus
https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories
Sincerely,
MJELC Board of Directors