COVID-19 (coronavirus) guidance for OECOSL stakeholders

The Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning continues to issue news and update guidance to partners and stakeholders in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Listed below is the guidance released to date by OECOSL. All FSSA COVID-19 announcements can be found here.

Grants

• Child Care Closure Assistance Grant provides assistance to a program if a program has closed due to a confirmed COVID-19 case that requires closure of a classroom or facility.

  • Grants will be awarded to programs for the purpose of continuing to regularly pay child care staff and maintain operations for the time period of the required COVID-19 closure.

  • This grant should cover the cost of lost revenue during closure from children who are funded through private pay/cash pay.

  • Providers must have been temporarily closed during the time period of this grant because of a confirmed COVID-19 case of a person affiliated with the facility.

  • Providers must be eligible to receive CCDF and be a licensed center, family child care home, unlicensed registered ministry, or legally licensed-exempt providers that are not schools (public or private) or Head Start/Early Head Start grantees in the state of Indiana.

  • Documentation Required for Temporary Closure Assistance Grant Approval:
    • If closure is due to positive staff, documentation must be provided of confirmed positive test with name, date, and results on the form
    • All staff must have approved consent form/background check to work on a file with the OECOSL
    • If closure is due to a positive child, the name of the child must be provided and attendance sheets must be submitted showing the last date of attendance

  • For the purposes of this grant, total grant awards will be capped at $40,000 per closure period.

• Note: The grant will be evaluated every two weeks to see if funding is still available to continue. Please check the website regularly!

• The Child Care Closure Assistance Grant application for the weeks June 14, 2021 – June 27, 2021 is now available and the application can be found by clicking here.
• Child Care Closure Assistance Grant application guidance
• Guidance for child cares - What to do when you have a COVID positive (December 11, 2020)
• Note: If a Child Care Closure Assistance Grant period has closed please contact Rene Withers at rene.withers@fssa.in.gov to request a review for an exception to apply.
• Please note: Temporary Assistance Grants have ended! The final grant period was for the weeks of July 13, 2020 – July 25, 2020.
  • Reminders:
    • All applicants can check the status of applications by logging back into Submittable and following the instructions/tutorial posted!
    • Please check your junk/spam emails for communications and approvals from Submittable
    • Child Care Closure Assistance Grant applications cover a two-week time period. Applications will be posted one grant period at a time, new grants will post once the prior grant closes. The grant period that is currently posted and subsequent grant periods will close on the dates listed on the chart below:
      
      

      Grant period Child Care Closure Assistance Grant	Grant closes at 6 p.m. EDT	Payment
      July 27, 2020 - August 8, 2020	August 11, 2020	August 19, 2020
      August 10, 2020 - August 22, 2020	August 26, 2020	September 2, 2020
      August 24, 2020 - September 5, 2020	September 8, 2020	September 16, 2020
      September 7, 2020 - September 19, 2020	September 23, 2020	September 30, 2020
      September 21, 2020 - October 3, 2020	October 7, 2020	October 14, 2020
      October 5, 2020 - October 17, 2020	October 21, 2020	October 28, 2020
      October 19, 2020 - November 1, 2020	November 4, 2020	November 11, 2020
      November 2, 2020 - November 15, 2020	November 18, 2020	November 25, 2020
      November 16, 2020 - November 29, 2020	December 2, 2020	December 9, 2020
      November 30, 2020 - December 13, 2020	December 16, 2020	December 23, 2020
      December 14, 2020 - December 27, 2020	December 30, 2020	January 6, 2021
      December 28, 2020 - January 10, 2021	January 13, 2021	January 20, 2021
      January 11, 2021 - January 24, 2021	January 27, 2021	February 3, 2021
      January 25, 2021 - February 7, 2021	February 10, 2021	February 17, 2021
      February 8, 2021 - February 21, 2021	February 24, 2021	March 3, 2021
      February 22, 2021 - March 7, 2021	March 10, 2021	March 17, 2021
      March 8, 2021 - March 21, 2021	March 24, 2021	March 31, 2021
      March  22, 2021 -  April 4, 2021	April 7, 2021	April 14, 2021
      April 5, 2021 - April 18, 2021	April 21, 2021	April 28, 2021
      April 19, 2021 - May 2, 2021	May  5, 2021	May 12, 2021
      May 3, 2021 - May 16, 2021	May 19, 2021	May 26, 2021
      May 17, 2021 - May 30, 2021	June 2, 2021	June 9, 2021
      May 31, 2021 - June 13, 2021	June 16, 2021	June 23, 2021
      June 14, 2021 - June 27, 2021	June 30, 2021	July 7, 2021
      June 28, 2021 -  July 11, 2021	July 14, 2021	July 21, 2021
      July 12, 2021 - July  25, 2021	July 28, 2021	August 4, 2021
      July 26, 2021 -  August 8, 2021	August 11, 2021	August 18, 2021

Guidance

• Summer camp guidance (June 3, 2021)
• School-age program guidance (June 3, 2021)
• Updated child care guidance (June 3, 2021)
• Background check guidance (March 18, 2021)
• Background check guidance - Spanish (March 18, 2021)
• Guidance for child cares - What to do when you have a COVID positive (December 11, 2020)
  • COVID-19 revised update - Recorded PowerPoint presentation (December 11, 2020)
    • PowerPoint
• Updated guidance regarding Paths to QUALITY™ ratings (June 4, 2021)
• School Age Exemption Guidance (August 21, 2020)
  • School Corporation and Entity Agreement Guidance
  • MOU Template
• COVID-19 nebulizer guidance (August 4, 2020)
  • COVID-19 nebulizer guidance - Spanish
• TB testing guidelines (May 15, 2020)
• CPR certification and renewal (April 30, 2020)
• Extra clothing policy notification template (April 23, 2020)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with the federal Offices of Child Care and Head Start, has released new guidance for Child Care settings during COVID-19. Check the link for specific guidance for child care on issues such as:
  • This guidance can be found on the CDC website or at this link.
  • This information is intended for child care programs that remain open and should be used in conjunction with CDC’s guidance for administrators of child care programs and K-12 schools.
  • This guidance does not supersede federal, state, and local laws and policies for child care programs. (April 14, 2020)
  • Social distancing;
  • Child pick up and drop off procedures;
  • Cleaning and disinfecting of toys and bedding;
  • Safely caring for infants and toddlers; and
  • Food preparation and meal service
• Updated guidance for child care providers (March 20, 2020)
• Cleaning and sanitizing guidance (March 20, 2020)

Resources/Supplies

• Community resources (October 5, 2020)
• Resources for reopening or communicating changes (July 14, 2020 - Resources for programs as they reopen or need to communicate changes with families as well as resources for families as they return back to child care.
• Other local resources for providers (June 8, 2020) - Local resources including funding or other local supports offered at the county level.
• General supplies (May 1, 2020) - OECOSL will provide updates to general suppliers who have indicated they are able to provide various supplies.
• PPE supplies (April 30, 2020) - OECOSL has collected a list of supplier who have been able to provide specific supplies, such as sanitizers, thermometers and cleaning supplies. OECOSL will update this list as it continues to expand.
• Indy Chamber Rapid Response Hub (April 30, 2020 )- The Indy Chamber has created the Rapid Response Hub in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Rapid Response Hub houses a plethora of resources, information, and supports for small businesses and is applicable to small businesses across the state.
• COVID-19 multi-language resource available from Luna (April 1, 2020)
• Talking to children about coronavirus (March 20, 2020)

Webinars

• CRRSA update for early childhood and out-of-school programs Recorded webinar (May 25, 2021)
  • Presentation
• Indiana’s CRRSA plan - Recorded webinar (March 25, 2021)
  • Presentation
• COVID-19 revised update - Recorded PowerPoint presentation (December 11, 2020)
  • PowerPoint
• COVID-19 updates - Recorded webinar (December 2, 2020)
  • Webinar presentation / PowerPoint
• COVID-19 updates - Recorded webinar (October 2, 2020)
  • Webinar presentation / PowerPoint
• COVID-19 updates - Recorded webinar (June 27, 2020)
  • Webinar presentation / PowerPoint