THE SUMMER STRUGGLE – Some parents still searching for child care

Six-year-old Zofia says she likes camp at Crane Point Hammock in Marathon … and balloons! BARRY GAUKEL/Keys Weekly

When the school year ended this past week, many Keys parents sighed with relief; no more supervision of virtual school. Unfortunately, there’s another stumbling block. 

Summer months in the Florida Keys typically are filled with steamy sunshine and assorted summer camps for Keys kids. But nothing is typical in the time of coronavirus, and parents are struggling this summer to find child care and daytime activities for their little ones.

Some day cares have yet to open, and the number of summer camps is very reduced. And that snag coincides with the full opening of the Florida Keys and parents’ need to get back to work. It’s a problem nationwide and in the Keys.

“We still have employees who cannot find child care or summer camps so they can come back to work,” said Christine Hurley, assistant county administrator in Monroe County. “Our Employee Services has sent information on available locations, but it seems some are canceling still.”

Many of the summer camps that are operating have switched to online programming, which means a parent must still be home to supervise young children.

“Parents are really struggling this summer to find options, especially for the younger kids, say 5 to 10 years old,” said Susan Archer, assistant executive director of the Southernmost Boys and Girls Club, which operates at Reynolds School in Key West.

CAMPS

Melissa McDonald, who works for the City of Marathon, relied on the municipal summer camp for reliable childcare during the summers. The camp has been canceled. 

“I’m fortunate that my youngest daughter’s day care — Banana Cabana— never closed. But I’m looking for a place for my 11-year-old daughter,” she said. Virtual camps or “camps in a box” kits aren’t going to cut it, McDonald said. “Who is supervising? The kids can’t be left to their own devices, even the most mature ones. They’re kids.”

And while The Art Studio of Marathon still has a few openings, Jessica Tippler’s 7-year-old daughter won’t be going. The Key West mom said, “I just don’t feel comfortable putting her out there. We’ll wait until July and see where this ‘thing’ is going,” said Tippler, referring to the coronavirus. “In the meantime, we might do some online dance classes or whatever we can find.”

Of the 10 summer camps that normally operate in Marathon, only six are open and most of the camps only have a few spots left (see sidebar).

Dolphin Research Center just added a third week for Monroe County kids only. “It’s good news,” said DRC’s Mary Stella.

Upper Keys resident and Ocean Studies Charter School principal Trisha Woods said her kids will be doing a lot of fishing this summer. For Upper Keys resident Jennifer Webb, she said her four kids aren’t going to any camps this summer, but they will be spending some time with grandparents in Port St. Lucie and Ocala.

“In July we are hoping to get up to north Georgia to do some camping,” she said. “Otherwise, we will just be hanging out around here and enjoying the Keys.”

The Weekly’s own Stephanie Mitchell said she had to get creative this summer to find activities for their 10-year-old son, Jack, in Key West.

“I’ve been reaching out to people I know with interesting jobs and expertise — a DJ, a robotics teacher and a chef — to see if they’d be willing to do a small camp for a week or so this summer with maybe three kids,” she said. “There are so many creative people in this community, and many of them are happy for the opportunity to make some extra money by sharing their knowledge and skills with a few kids for a week.”

A few camps are still on for the summer in the Upper Keys, including MarineLab’s summer camp and the Mark Sorenson Youth Sailing Program in Key Largo. 

The Southernmost Boys and Girls Club in Key West typically serves 150 to 200 kids a day in its summer camp. But due to capacity restrictions and social distancing requirements, it can only accommodate 50 to 60 kids, Archer said.

“I’m happy to report that the kids who are here — and especially their parents — are so happy to be here, to be out of the house and around other kids,” she said. “We’ve taken them to the parks that have reopened, and they’re having a great time. The kids are wearing masks and we’re constantly sanitizing their hands.”

DAY CARE

Marathon’s Community Co-op School and the Grace Jones Community Center have yet to open. The co-op will open next week, hopefully, after director Brandi Jordan makes some speedy modifications to room size, spending thousands of dollars to do so.

“The two rooms I have now can normally accommodate 16 kids in one room, and 17 in the other. I am putting up a firewall and updating my fire alarm system so I can put 9 kids in each room,” she said. Teachers will have to wear masks, and Jordan believes she has the experience to coax children as young as 3-year-olds, maybe even 2-year-olds, to wear masks too. The co-op’s priority, she said, is to re-enroll the youngest children first — kindergarten and first-grade age groups because they are the most vulnerable.

“But we can’t mix groups, not even on a split playground,” she said. 

Failure to comply with the rules set down by the CDC could result in fines, she said.

Grace Jones Community Center won’t open until July 1. That’s when repairs to the air conditioning and roof will be complete. The day care conducted a survey of parents to assess the need.

“We have 31 kids coming back on July 1, and we will be up to 48 children by August 1,” said Mallory Morton, a board member. And even with a full complement of children, the day care’s summer session won’t look the same: no field trips to an Upper Keys pool, not even “water day” on the playground.

Both Kreative Kids and Marathon Lutheran School are open in Marathon with limited capacity. Martin Luther usually has about 20 children in its center, about half the normal enrollment.  

“It’s a slow start,” said Pastor Tony Mandile, “but that’s good for the start of all the new routines that have to be learned for proper hygiene.”

Lisa Wojciechowski, a Keys Weekly employee, said her daughter has re-enrolled in Islamorada Day Care, owned by Linsey Alba.

Wojciechowski described a dropoff and pickup procedure that has everyone waiting six feet apart, the kids’ temperature taken at the door, sanitizing everyone’s hands (parents and kids) before the parents sign in and the kids walk in, among other precautions. 

“They are doing an amazing job, and taking every single precaution,” Wojciechowski said.