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COVID-19 Update 7/24/2020

DISCLAIMER: This is one of many regular updates that ELCMC is providing. This posting exists to make previous updates more easily accessible, so some information provided may now be outdated.

6M-8.620

ELCMC Staff Directory 7.2020

Good Afternoon Everyone!

Our Early Learning World is BUZZZZZZZZing                 with TONS going on….please find below IMPORTANT UPDATES to help you navigate through all that is happening:

Regarding VPK –

  • FY19-20 END CLASS RECONCILIATION: Your reconciliation reports and accompanying letters are uploaded to BLUEJEAN. Please review, sign and email the letter to finance@elc-marion.org  NO LATER THAN JULY 31, 2020. ß This will allow us to release your final VPK payment for FY 19-20!

 

  • START DATES FOR VPK FALL 2020: At this time, we are not changing start dates for VPK UNLESS YOU CHOOSE TO DO SO. If you have chosen August 10, 2020 as your start date, you should keep this date unless you receive further instruction. We anticipate learning more about this topic tomorrow and will send a follow up email about VPK at that time.  If you are choosing to change your start date, please log into your VPK Application, update your calendar and submit it so our team can approve it.

 

  • CONTRACT ORIENTATION: As you may recall from the Provider Webinar last week, we are NOT conducting a VPK Orientation this year as the contract has not changed. We originally had planned two sessions this week to cover the VPK contract, these are not occurring. We will continue to offer 1:1 technical assistance as needed for our new providers. We are planning to do a virtual open house in August for our providers to share up coming plans and programs ELCMC has to offer than can support you and the families we serve as a community.

  • CONTRACT EXECUTION: As VPK Applications are being approved by our Quality Team, Scott Stevenson, Quality Initiatives Director is initiating your contract for VPK. This is an electronic signature as you have completed in the past. As Scott is initiating your contract, you will receive an automated email notification asking you to review and sign the contract.

IMPORTANT things to remember:

  1. Ensure your legal business name (as listed on your W-9) is the name in the contract.
  2. Ensure you write your title (Director, Owner, CEO, Etc.)  where it is asks for this information NOT your site name. 😊

  • QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLANS: ELCMC will continue to work with our providers who have a plan in place to support you in successfully reaching your objectives outlined in the plan.

  • VPK ASSESSMENT: As VPK Classrooms open back up this fall, please keep in mind that you will need to complete the VPK Assessment. Below is the link to Bright Beginnings where you will order your new kits and input your VPK Assessment information. Attached is F.A.C. Rule 6M-8.620 that outlines kit ordering information and deadlines for VPK Assessments. You will want to ensure you mark you calendars to have AP1 (Assessment Period 1) COMPLETED within the first 30 calendar days of VPK. Assessment results must be entered for each VPK child no later than 45 days calendar days of the first day of each VPK Class.

I know some of you have had some issue logging into bright beginnings – remember you do have to register for the current program year. Below is a screen shot of the log in page and links to Bright Beginnings and additional assessment info:

 

Regarding COVID-19 –

  • First Responders – program will be continued for new enrollments through July 31, 2020

  • First Responder Bonuses – We will continue to pay bonuses for enrolled BG1-ESS children until you reach your $12,000 bonus – as funding is available.

  • Parent Co-Payments – ELCMC will continue to pay parent co-pays through August 31, 2020

  • Provider Attendance Payment based on Enrollment – ELCMC will continue to pay providers based on your current enrollment for SR and for VPK (as applicable) through August 31, 2020.
    • This means you follow the same attendance completion instructions as you have been doing since April 2020. We will send these instructions out with our meeting agenda for next weeks Provider Webinar.

  • IMPORTANT HAND SANITIZER INFORMATION Issued by the Office of Child Care Administration for Children and Families: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a recent urgent warning to consumers and health care providers about hand sanitizer products that are labeled as containing ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but that have tested positive for methanol contamination. Methanol (i.e., methyl alcohol or wood alcohol) is a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested and can be life-threatening when ingested. As per the FDA news update hyperlinked below, “Methanol is not an acceptable active ingredient for hand sanitizers and must not be used due to its toxic effects. FDA’s investigation of methanol in certain hand sanitizers is ongoing. The agency will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

FDA updated the original list of more than 24 hand sanitizer products to avoid, now listing 75 such products to avoid on this FDA webpage; those products can be viewed either by clicking on the “Methanol Contaminated Products List” button at the top of the webpage or by scrolling

down to the bottom of the page and then by clicking on any or all eight pages listing the 75 hand sanitizer products.

        See the entire article here: FDA Updates on Hand Sanitizers with Methanol

 

We are looking at the potential of ordering latex gloves and antibacterial cleaning supplies as we have heard from numerous providers that you are having difficulty in locating these items. More to come on that.

 

  • Sickness Policy for Child Care Providers – We are getting a few providers who are in need of updated sickness policies. If you have a good one that you have updated to include how you respond to positive COVID exposure, please forward it to me and we will distribute it to everyone.

 

  • Commercial Cleaning/Disinfecting Services: Please note, ELC does not endorse or recommend any specific companies or services over another, however, we wanted to share a few service providers who our local child care community is using when they need to deeply disinfect their sites:

 

 

Regarding School Readiness –

  • Scott Stevenson is working initiating FY 20-21 School Readiness Contracts for those of you who have already receive your CLASS Observation this past Spring. Please watch your email for the contract initiation alert. Follow the same instructions as above for VPK contracts regarding entering the accurate information. 😊
  • ELCMC will be scheduling CLASS Observations for those of you who have not had it completed at a later date – we are not sending staff out to your sites while COVID-19 cases are rising.
  • Contract Extensions – Next Steps: We will need to complete a Contract Amendment with those of you remaining on the SR Contract Extension. We will be in touch when this is available to execute in EFS Mod (provider portal)

 

General ELCMC Update –

  • Starting the week of July 26, 2020, ELCMC Lobby will go back to being temporarily closed to the public. We will keep our office hours Monday through Thursday, 7am to 5pm, Fridays, 7am to 3:30pm.
  • Our team will continue to conduct business via email, telephone, and through web access including webinars and Zoom.
  • Our next Provider Meeting will be on Tuesday, July 28, 2020 @ 1pm – we will send the Agenda before the meeting.

Thank you,

Elizabeth Deola

Chief Program Officer

2300 SW 17th Rd

Ocala, FL 34471

Telephone: (352) 369-2315 ext. 234  Fax: (352) 369-2308

Email|Web: edeola@elc-marion.org | www.elc-marion.org

ELCMC hours of operation are: Monday-Thursday 7:00 AM- 5:00 PM and Friday 7:00 AM – 3:30 PM.

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