If you would have told me a year ago that we would be in the middle of a pandemic, after a major hurricane, and have experienced two air conditioning outages, I would not have believed you...
To say that this has been a challenging year is an understatement, and we share in your frustration. Please know that with each setback we are problem solving on how to prevent/manage issues in the future.
COVID-19 procedures. We are closely monitoring the health and safety policies of our governing agencies (i.e., Louisiana Department of Education, Office of Public Health, Centers for Disease Control and LSU Emergency Operations Center) in order to keep both children and staff safe. We are in touch with directors of other centers and know that we are fortunate to be experiencing much less incidence of COVID-19 from either children or staff. Our policies and procedure, while frustrating at times, are working and keeping everyone safe.
Mandatory Vaccinations
LSU communicated before the storm with its employees and students about the vaccination mandate. With the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19, the University is authorized to require students to get the COVID-19 immunizations. I am writing to let you know how this impacts ECELP.
Like all LSU faculty and staff, ECELP teachers and staff will be required to vaccinate or have an approved reason for a waiver. As you know, we also employ LSU students and graduate assistants at ECELP. They will also be required to vaccinate or have an approved reason for waiver. Any teacher, staff or LSU student who submits a waiver will be required to be tested for COVID-19 on a regular basis.
Proactive Measures + Communication
As part of our strategy to keep teachers and children safe, we will continue to require masks and take the previously shared safety measures. The University has waste water monitoring for early detection of COVID-19. The ECELP is one of these sites - you may visit this page on the LSU COVID-19 Roadmap site to see our status. We are listed at the bottom of the page under "LSU Preschool". We also provide a link to the wastewater page website under the "COVID-19 Update" tab >> ECELP Pandemic Health Precautions & Procedures >> LSU Wastewater Testing. In the near future, we will be adding a COVID-tracker for incidence of COVID at ECELP.
Storm communication. Please note that we follow LSU's messaging regarding closures. Your child’s safety is our number one concern. We are exploring different text and automated phone call solutions to reach you as quickly and directly as possible when emergencies and/or closures occur. Once our administrative team chooses the best platform, please stay tuned for future communication on procedures.
Air conditioning. After having roughly 5 years with no AC issues, we share in your frustration with the two (seemingly consecutive) closures due to AC outages. After our initial outage, we had an alarm installed on our AC to prevent our discovering an issue when we arrive in the morning. In the most recent situation, we did check the building immediately following the storm and again on Saturday to ensure that we had power and that the AC was functioning. Unfortunately, this outage occurred after that check. We are currently working with Facility Services on procedures that will eliminate the need for last-minute closures. As mentioned in the storm communication section, we hope our new systems for closure announcements and updates will assist your family in making the burdensome, yet necessary arrangements when closure is necessary.
We know that you have choices in your child's care and education and thank you for entrusting your children to us. We are working hard to remain transparent and proactive as we know you need information to make sound decisions for your families.
Cyndi
Executive Director
