LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — With the Clark County School District announcing a five-day pause on in-person learning, parents are scrambling to figure out childcare.
Child care centers throughout Las Vegas are seeing an increase in callers needing support during the five-day pause. One stay-at-home mom is even offering working parents a lending hand during this time.
“I have opened the invitation in my neighborhood for parents that are scrambling. If they need somewhere to send their kid for the day. I mean I already have six kids what’s a couple more?” Anna Binder, Las Vegas mom, said.
Some childcare centers have even had to turn some parents away and provide them with other resources. Kids Are Us, a child care center in Las Vegas, even had to turn away calls from other child care centers that were closing during the pause.
“We’re saying no to drop-ins right now because all I need is a couple of my staff members to call out, and we’re in trouble. Even with the school-age kids that we have, we have enough staff to handle those children, but if two people call out on Friday and next Tuesday, we’re still in trouble," Kimberli Helaire-Smith, owner of Kids Are Us, said.
With the closure happening due to a rise in COVID-19 cases, some daycare centers say they are taking extra steps to ensure the kids who do come in are safe so parents can have peace of mind.
“Well we have different ratios than the school district does, and that’s with the licensing, and they also brought group sizes down since covid started. We also have very stringent cleaning and sanitizing since everything has happened, and we’ve been lucky and haven't had a lot of cases," Melissa Clark-Hallock, Administrative Assistant for Tinkertown Daycare, said.
The city of Henderson Sports and Recreation Center is also offering a program to help parents during the five-day pause with their Battle Day Born program. Since the announcement of the five-day school closure, the program has received an increase in callers.
“So as soon as the email went out from CCSD we were immediately getting phone calls. Parents were asking for programs to enroll in for Friday. We already had Monday and then for Tuesday as well," Valerie Derrick, Henderson Parks and Recreation manager, said.
Some daycares do require at least a one-day notice to be able to drop off your child. For more information on Henderson's Sports and Recreation program, you can visit their website.
For more information on the Kids Are Us program, you can visit their website.
