Providing Safe & Equitable Childcare for Richmond Families

Letter to RPS Administration and board colleagues

To the administration and my board colleagues,

I look forward to our conversation on the emergency childcare services plan tomorrow.

As a body, we collectively decided that it was our responsibility to keep schools closed to keep the community safe, knowing that the decision would create a massive challenge for working parents absent state intervention. Providing childcare is a critical service with complex logistics. I believe we have a continued responsibility to ensure that services provided in our school buildings are delivered both safely and equitably.

Given the reality of both health concerns and the short timeline, it is important that we’ve done our due diligence to ensure a clear plan is in place. I hope that my colleagues will support my request to have the mayor or a member of his team attend our meeting tomorrow to discuss these plans.

Many of my constituents have reached out to me with questions, and I have questions as a parent myself. Below is an overview, which I would like to discuss more in our meeting.

• Can we use the new schools built this year rather than MLK Middle School and Huguenot High School which are less suitable for younger children?
• How will the essential employee qualification be determined?
• What will the application process look like? When will the application process begin? Will it be first come first serve? Who will determine who can attend? What criteria will be used?
• How many providers will provide services at each location? What will be the cost of the program for those students who don’t qualify for free services?
• How can we ensure the ratio of free to paid services, especially given the lack of transportation?
• How many seats does the administration recommend for each location? Given the provider staff availability, what is the maximum capacity anticipated at each location?
• What technology will be available for students at these locations?
• What will be the expectations of staff at the childcare sites to support virtual learning?
• Will families who are paying for services be paying the city or directly to the providers?
• How can we ensure the city is held accountable for the cleaning?
• Will the providers or the city be paying to use the facilities? If so, how much? Will this cover utilities? Will the district receive those funds? What is the estimated amount?

Yours respectfully,

Kenya Gibson