As schools prepare to restart in September, Vermont plans to expand child care capacity, including opening regional hubs to serve school-aged children on remote learning days at their schools, Republican Gov. Phil Scott announced Tuesday.
Scott said he would also modify state regulations to allow registered home-based child care centers to serve longer hours on school days, which he believes will add about 3,000 spots.
“We know we need more childcare capacity and we need it quickly,” Scott said, noting that child care will be a challenge for many parents as schools move back and forth from in-person and remote learning.
The regional child care hubs will be set up in workplaces, as well as school, recreational, municipal and summer camp buildings, Agency of Human Services Secretary Mike Smith said. The state anticipates needing 73 such hubs that could serve as many as 7,000 school-aged children, he said.
The state also will expedite administrative processing and increase flexibility for applicants seeking to become registered child care providers, Smith said.
The Scott administration is recommending that $12 million in federal coronavirus relief funding be used on the child care initiative, he said.
A majority of school districts will be instituting some aspect of hybrid learning, which involves in-person and remote learning, said Education Secretary Dan French. The agency has the restart plans of 49 of the state’s 60 school districts. Of those, 46 will have some version of hybrid learning and three will be remote, he said.
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RETURNING COLLEGE STUDENTS
As students return to college and universities in Vermont, some have tested positive for the coronavirus. Six tested positive at the University of Vermont, four at Norwich University and one at Vermont Technical College, said Vermont Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine.
“While we understand hearing about new cases of COVID-19 is cause for concern, these positive tests mean the system is working,” Levine said. “We actually want to find these cases as the campus begins to regroup so we know who needs to stay inside and away from other people, so we can prevent the virus from spreading any further.”
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