See the UPDATED report from Turn the Page KC

Beginning May 15, thousands of parents are going to be expected to return to work without an answer to the question: who will watch my kids?

While businesses are eager to reopen, there is not a clear child care answer for approximately 10,000 Kansas City elementary school children. Most schools, camps, and summer programs that typically serve these students each summer will not open come June or they will operate virtually.

Summer is always a challenging time for parents, but parents will have to make a devastating choice this summer —risk losing your job because you do not want to leave your kids home alone, or return to work without a child care solution.

As our local government and employers prepare for workplace re-entry, we must create policies and partnerships to support parents of these 10,000 children who cannot be left home alone.

If we do not act quickly, children will remain home unsupervised, and they will suffer a significant learning loss.

Turn the Page KC is making the following recommendations in its report, Kansas City’s Summer Childcare Crisis:

Need Versus Reality: How to Expand In-Person Summer Programs

Several organizations in the Kansas City area are providing in-person summer programs for school- aged children, including Boys & Girls Club of Greater Kansas City, Operation Breakthrough, and The Upper Room. Representatives from all three have reported that families’ need for in-person programming exceeds their current capacity given the restrictions —and subsequent funding implications— on class size, space, and personnel.

Even with lower enrollment and class sizes, summer programs will have increased costs for space and personnel, but will only receive state funding for each child they serve. In other words, state funding does not account for these increased costs. In addition to the factors listed above, programs are also incurring additional costs for supplies that cannot be reused or shared as in previous years.

How to Support Summer Program Providers:

City: Summer program providers must be involved in conversations city officials are having with school districts and charter schools regarding educational programming for Kansas City kids.

State: DESE must account for the increased costs outlined above by increasing the summer ADA rate. DESE should also amend the "first in" funding rule so students can participate in their district's virtual summer school and in-person academic programs.

School Districts and LEAs: School districts that will remained closed for the summer can partner with summer program providers to provide space for additional sites and classes.

Philanthropy: Kansas City's funding community should provide additional financial support to summer programs who will operate at a financial loss to ensure that Kansas City kids can participate in in-person educational programs during these challenging times.

Additional Ways to Address Kansas City’s Summer Childcare Crisis:

Parental status must be a factor in workforce re-entry plans. Whether or not an employee has children at home must be considered when determining how soon an individual returns to the physical workplace. If it is possible to work remotely, parents should be permitted (and encouraged) to do so until in-person school resumes, hopefully this fall.

Organizations that are willing and able to provide summer camps this year will need additional funding from the state, city, and the local philanthropic community. Social distancing will require more physical space and additional instructors. Summer programs that care for our city’s children are essential if we expect parents to return to work. Remote work is not possible for about half of the workforce, so family-friendly return-to-work policies will not be enough.

We must find a way to facilitate virtual learning for students from low-income families, including the distribution of hotspots and tablets or computers, so that inequities in learning are not exacerbated. Distance learning works better when a parent is at home to help, particularly for elementary school students.

Parents can help mitigate the summer slide by embracing their role as a learning coach. Although many parents now joke about being a homeschool teacher, we should think of this role as a coach, partnering with the student’s teacher. We've created a list of resources for parents. At a minimum, parents must encourage their children to read for at least 20 minutes per day.