Dear Colleagues,
Given that NOLA Public Schools have decided to return to remote learning for at least the next several weeks, the University will once again be offering a no-cost drop-in day camp for the children of Tulane faculty (and instructors of record, including graduate students) to help fill resulting childcare gaps. This drop-in day camp will host children in kindergarten through 6th grade (students must be 5 years old by 9/30/2020) and will begin on Wednesday, January 13th. We will continue to provide this option until it is no longer needed or the schools return to full-time in-person instruction.
The day camp will be facilitated in consultation with Kidcam Camps, a regional leader in summer camps for children ages 3-13 who collaborated with Tulane’s own Pre-College staff for our successful Fall 2021 program.
Tulane’s kindergarten – 6th grade day camp will follow CDC recommendations, including social distancing guidelines as well as mask requirements for all teachers, professionals, and participants and will follow the protocols Tulane has developed for safe classroom experiences. The facility that will host our childcare – the Chapel of the Holy Spirit on Broadway – has several distinct spaces to accommodate different age groups and green space for outdoor activities, such as non-contact sports, nature walks, and scavenger hunts.
The children will be overseen by a combination of Kidcam staff, our own Pre-College Programs staff, and a large cohort of Teacher Certification students and other undergraduate students who are currently in training. All the Tulane students will be supervised in their work by our staff and also by their internship/service-learning academic advisors. We are aiming for a 1 to 5-6 staff/student ratio. We only have the capacity for 40-50 students at any one time.
Additionally, we will provide academic and co-curricular programming for all day camp participants. Academic content will be grade-band specific and will feature dedicated space for school synchronous instructional time and oversight during those activities, especially for the younger children. Co-curricular programming will consist of daily social activities (by age groups) meant to provide non-academic enrichment for all participants.
If the remote learning order is extended, we have the capacity to supply day camp support through the end of the spring semester. The drop-in childcare will allow the University to deliver on the promise of a quality residential, educational experience while keeping faculty families safe. All faculty members will be notified as further information about day camp programming becomes available.
As we approach the start of the spring semester, the importance of family and safety is our top priority and informs all our decisions.
We understand that instructors may have earlier/later teaching assignments given the Spring 2021 spacing of our typical teaching schedule. Please let us know as soon as possible on the registration form about these special requests, and we will try to accommodate. Students will not be admitted to day camp without pre-registration and completion of all enrollment forms. Space is very limited and will be first come, first serve contingent on prior registration. In order to provide as much space as possible, faculty members are encouraged to sign up for time slots when no other childcare options are available. Remember that this is a no-cost service designed to address your in-person teaching needs and cannot accommodate requests for all day childcare.