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We live in Arizona, where cases have recently begun to climb to dangerous levels.

This week was our fourth week back in preschool/daycare. At the beginning there were only about 5 children in each class. As the weeks have gone by, more parents have felt comfortable enough sending their kids and the class sizes have gotten larger, but they are all capped at 10.

At the end of the first week we received notification that a parent tested positive. That child happened to be in my child's class. Luckily the preschool had procedures in place so all drop-off and pick-up took place outside and that parent had never entered the school. It did not result in any community spread. However, at the time I wanted to know whether the child was going to get tested. The school had no power to mandate it, so we never found out whether the child got sick.

I'm very pleased with how it's going. I feel very safe sending my children and they are both thriving there. But the climbing case load here concerns me a lot. I'm afraid the preschool may be forced to close a second time.

DS went back full time on June 8th. He was soooooo excited and he's been extremely well behaved and happy since going back.

They are doing all drop offs and pickups outside, which is just fine for us. All staff is wearing masks and long sleeves - scrubs in some cases. They have a health screening, temp check, and sanitizing station before the go in.

They keep the preschool classes limited to 10 and they sanitize the playground between groups. They are also doing boxed lunches instead of family style. DS tells me they each have their own writing supplies and scissors instead of shared supplies and there are rules about getting too close and touching each other.

We also have an app that they use to send photos and communications to the parents. I am so, so happy with how everything is going. If Kindergarten ends up not being full time in the fall I would happy keep him at daycare part time if they have space.

Is anyone's child required to wear a mask? Or the teachers wear masks? I'm very curious about this.

My boys will do outdoor, half-day summer camps starting in two weeks.

@Jess1483: at my brother’s daycare they do care provider masks for hallways and dropoff / pickup but no kid masks anywhere (so teachers do not wear them in classrooms). They are in a suburb of Dallas where cases are increasing so not sure if that will change.

Those of you whose children have started back, but with limited class sizes: how has that been managed? Have a lot of kids not returned?

My daughter's preschool has not reopened yet, but I am curious how they are going to handle this. They don't really have a lot of extra space to expand into if everyone wants to return but they have to keep group numbers down. I am a teacher, and we have some summer travel planned, so we could volunteer to keep her out of school a little longer to help with numbers, but we do need a spot for the fall, so I'm not sure how that would really help.

@lady baltimore: a lot of kids did not return. My son's pre-K class is 10 instead of the usual 20. They also did some creative things with the other rooms, such as installing dividers in toddler rooms and their gym to make extra classrooms. They also maximized their staffing by turning assistant teachers into health screeners and runners that help at drop off and pickup.

My sons daycare/preschool never closed. We are in Oregon and our orders were that daycares can remain open but they had to keep kids in groups on 10 or less and those 10 can not intermingle with kids from the other groups. Separate entrances, outside play, etc. Since his school is an in home and only had 8 preschool aged kids and 8 toddler/babies, it was easy for them to remain open. They are way more strict on illnesses, ie even for a runny nose the kid has to be out for 10 days or test negative for covid (which we had to do once!) and they take temps upon entry. Parents can still enter but they are not allowed past the hallway. Its been very well managed and I am SO thankful to not have to deal with childcare and working from home. We are considering holding him back a year and keeping him in this daycare since kinder wont be full time in the fall. Annoying but I can not fathom doing childcare and work from home for an entire year!!!!

@Corduroy: Wait, so tuition was basically doubled?!

I've been back teaching my class for four weeks. I have such mixed feelings.

@DesertDreams88: We are following all of the CDC's recommended procedures and our state's guidelines. Unfortunately this allows our class sizes to be between 70 and 100%. And we still have staff who are working in multiple rooms. So although it is significantly safer than pre-pandemic procedures, it still feels really risky for me especially since our metropolitan area's numbers of cases is climbing. There's just too many bodies.

Our daycare opened up in May but we kept the boys home until last week when DH went back to work. We drop off and pick up outside of the school and they take the children's temperatures before entering. Teachers and staff wear masks along with children ages 3+. They have limited class size, staggered playground times and individual meals.

My almost 5 year old DS is so happy to be back at school and happily puts on his mask before we even leave the house in the morning. I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually but it has become part of his routine.

@MrsSRS: do you mind sharing which state? Or if your state has a growing case load or shrinking?

ETA: if your daughter has to quarantine do you have to also? Would your class have to also because of you?

@MrsSRS: great thanks! Hopefully no symptoms develop. I just was wondering for fall how extensive the quarantining will be because it just seems like if you get symptoms and now your class quarantines this could just continue forever!

@DesertDreams88: do you think it will be all virtual until things calm down? We’re in TX and there’s tons of drama about whether to send in person or choose virtual and I’m wondering how much it will even matter.

@bhbee: In places where the test rates, positivity rates, hospitalizations, and ICU usage is skyrocketing; like AZ/TX/FL, I don't think school will /should open in August.... kind of depending on school funding, though (like, is online funded at 100%, etc)

I think it will start online. If we start online, perhaps the widespread community will realize the seriousness, will take social distancing more seriously, decrease rates, and make an in-person return safe for Sept-Oct.

I think when flu season is strong (Nov-March) We won't be able to have in person school due to significant absences amongst staff and students.

Here's an example. Say my son comes down with a cough Monday night. That means everyone in my household should stay home the next day, Tuesday, while he gets tested. The earliest we will have his results back as Wednesday, and the earliest we will all be able to be back in classrooms would be Thursday. Imagine that happening en masse.

If anyone in my household is sick with covid, we'd have to all stay home for at least 14 days. Since we're 2 teachers, that has a ripple effect.

If either of my in-laws get sick, I will have to take the Family First CV leave, because they are my childcare and my paycheck doesn't cover daycare for 2. Also, daycare enrollment will be limited. So then my classes will have a long-term sub for however long it takes my in-laws to recover... if they do.

Furthermore, if/when there are school based outbreaks, either those classrooms, those grades, or the entire schools will have to shut down for at least a week until everyone can get tested and get their results back. I predict to there will be testing shortages again in flu season because everyone will want a test when sick to figure out do they have a cold, flu, or covid.

@DesertDreams88: and everyone is going on out of state vacations. Four from my class so far this month. What. The. Hell.

Late to the party, but this has been such a hard decision. We just started sending my daughter (15 months) this week. She's at a small in-home daycare, which currently has only four kids, including her. We still have my son (almost four) at home, though. His preschool has been open the whole time, but since there are so many more kids, we feel less comfortable sending him. My husband wants to send him next week if cases are still going down here, though.

IDK, I'm nervous. We've been discussing sending the kids as long as cases aren't increasing. And if they increase, we just pull them and keep them home until they're decreasing again. I feel like we're going to have a lot of back and forth, which is stressful for everyone, but I don't know how else to manage it! Working from home with both kids here is so hard, but we obviously want them to be safe as our number one priority.