COVID-19 Information

EDSE has remained open during the coronavirus pandemic, tasked with providing early childhood care for essential workers in our community. Working closely with the State and County Health Departments, we developed a rigorous cleaning protocol and formulated new procedures for students, staff and parents in order to keep everyone safe. The school was disinfected top to bottom over spring break and that level of sanitization is maintained daily. One of the benefits of having a full-time school nurse is that we have someone who understands these issues well to guide us and track the ever-changing directives. We are committed to serving our community by allowing critical workers with young children to work as they need to, while providing a safe, nurturing, and consistent environment for our students. Posted below are detailed descriptions of our classroom and cleaning procedures during the pandemic. If you have any questions about our safety procedures, please contact Nurse Jerri at jerri@edse.org.

MENTAL HEALTH: There have been growing concerns about the effects of the pandemic, stress, and the lack of socialization on young children. We have compiled a short list of mental health resources in case any families ever feel like their child is in need of support. There are two local Evergreen therapists who specialize in young children, as well as information about an online course that offers proactive pandemic parenting techniques. This document can be downloaded below.

On 8/16/23021, the Jeffco Public Health Department issued an order for all of Jefferson County childcare facilities and schools due to the increased spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant and the amount of residents who still remain unvaccinated. It was subsequently updated the following week. Currently the requirements from JCPH as applied to us are as follows:

1) all individuals aged 3 and older must wear a face covering while indoors at any school or childcare setting...students are not required to wear a mask when outside, during meal or snack times, or when napping/resting;

2) all individuals experiencing symptoms of illness, regardless of vaccination status, must leave school and childcare settings and take a molecular/PCR COVID-19 test and present a negative test result before being allowed to return;

3) all unvaccinated individuals (which obviously include our students at this time) quarantined due to exposure (i.e. identification as a close contact of a confirmed case) must take a molecular/PCR COVID-19 test and present a negative test result before being allowed to return if choosing the shortened 7-day quarantine period over the preferred 10 or 14-day quarantine periods;

4) unvaccinated individuals who were unmasked at the time of their exposure are required to quarantine if identified as a close contact of a COVID-19 case in both outbreak settings and in exposures involving one 1 case...asymptomatic individuals may quarantine for 10 days, or 7 days if they test negative for COVID-19 after day 5 of the quarantine period....symptomatic individuals must quarantine for 14 days;

5) failure to comply with this order is subject to penalties including suspension or revocation of our license, a fine of up to $5000, and imprisonment in the county jail for up to 1 year.

To read the order, please click the link below: