Policies| Kids at Work

AS OF SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 ALL ADULTS AGED 18 AND OVER WILL NEED TO SHOW PROOF OF VACCINATION OR NEGATIVE RAPID TEST WITHIN 24 HOURS IN ORDER TO ENTER KIDS AT WORK.

The following applies to FALL 2021 programming. During the Summer of 2021 all participants who register will receive a detailed Summer 2021 specific Health and Safety email upon registration. Summer 2021 health and safety policies are slightly more stringent than the below such as health checks, staggered entry and exit, and a “foldable stroller only” policy UNTIL Fall 2021.

Cleanliness and Sanitization

Space Modifications

Division of Main Playroom – Families who were joining us pre-COVID will notice that we’ve updated our main playroom to include a closable wall, so that our students cannot access strollers or the entry area during class. This also allows staff the maintain sanitization of the class area more effectively. Kids at Work will close from Sept 6 – 20, 2021 to renovate our space with this as well as other improvements.
Improvements to lobby area, stairs, and second floor hallway to maintain cleanliness. This improvement was made during our 6 month COVID closure.
Resurfacing of our hard wood floors so that we can maintain their cleanliness more effectively. This improvement was made during our 6 month COVID closure, and floors will be touched up during our Sept 2021 renovation.

New Equipment

Two Commercial Grade HEPA Air Scrubbers – constantly in use – changing the indoor air 8 times per hour.
UV Light treatment on all surfaces (fabrics, etc) that cannot be effectively sanitized, once per day.
Hudson mist-sprayer for our child-safe prokure sanitization solution.
DARCY AI temperature camera and health check system. Kids at Work will take temperatures of all children and unvaccinated adults who enter our space.

Partnership with Pathogen Alliance trained contractor from Black Squirrel Artisans

Training for staff on how to properly sanitize objects between classes.
Training for staff on UV light use.
Proper maintenance and upkeep of our HEPA filter air scrubbers and HVAC system.
Immediate assistance with full professional remediation should we be forced to close due to a confirmed positive case.

Sanitization Assistant – Staff member assisting with the following duties (present constantly):

In the classroom, assisting teachers with constant removal of any items used by children during free play times, sanitizing the items, and placing them back in rotation if possible.
Spearheading cleanliness between classes, along with administrative support and teaching staff.
See below for specific details on cleaning procedures.

Vaccination, Masks, & Other Policies
The following applies to INDOOR programming only. Please see Sun Sessions Outdoor Music specific information below.

Vaccination – Our Policy as of September 20, 2021
Kids at Work has always been an inclusive space. To that end, we’ve made the very difficult decision to, as of September 20, 2021, require one of the two options of every adult over the age of 18 entering Kids at Work. EITHER:

1/ Proof of full vaccination in the form of a completed vaccination card, photo of front and back of card, or app based “Excelsior Pass” or other state sponsored out of state pass. OR
2/ Proof of a negative COVID test taken within 24 hours, and a valid photo ID under the same name as the test. Screenshots/photos are fine.
Unvaccinated staff will be required to submit 2 COVID tests per week to KAW management.
Please be prepared to submit the above information IN PERSON prior to every entry to KAW. Sometimes we will need it, when a new staff member is checking you in, for instance. Sometimes we won’t need to see it, such as if you are a regular and we’ve already seen your information several weeks in a row.
Vaccination status is a private matter and Kids at Work will maintain complete confidentiality of your personal status.

Why isn’t Kids at Work requiring vaccination for ALL adults?
Operating within a diverse population requires a more nuanced approach than a simple “blanket rule”. If our community is to feel safe within our facility we do need to consider the needs of our entire community, which includes BOTH children and adults; nannies and parents. We’ve also taken our approach of “vax or test” directly from other corporations, schools, and city-wide programs.

Masks and PPE

All adults are required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status, since we work with unvaccinated children. Unvaccinated adults will be offered a free KN95 mask and will be required to wear it unless they have their own.
Per the NYCDOH, all persons over the age of 2 WHO ARE REASONABLY ABLE TO TOLERATE A MASK will be required to wear an acceptable face covering including.
Children aged 2-5 will be encouraged to wear a mask in an age appropriate manner (through stories, modeling, and play), but if your child cannot tolerate the mask that is fine.
Staff must wear KN95 face coverings at all times when interacting with children, regardless of the distance between the staff and children, and regardless of vaccination status.
All staff wear masks at ALL TIMES while working indoors at Kids at Work, even when children are not present.

Other Health and Safety Measures

All participants and staff will be asked to wash hands for 20 seconds in our bathroom upon entering the space.
All unvaccinated persons including children will have their temperature taken upon entry into the facility.
Kids at Work requires ALL adults to wear socks in our indoor space. Kids at Work has socks to loan adults if they do not have socks. Children can be barefoot.

Class Procedures
The following applies to INDOOR programming only. Please see Sun Sessions Outdoor Music specific information below.

Cleaning Practices

Objects that staff and children handle are sanitized throughout class (“ad hoc” cleaning) by our sanitization assistant and teacher, as well as after each class. Kids at Work always maintains multiple sanitized objects to swap out at any time.
Adult Supervision – All adults are encouraged to support one another by alerting staff or other adults if they see a child handle or mouth an object, so that it can be removed and replaced.
The floor within the play area and classroom is dry and wet mopped in between each and every class. The stroller/entry area is vacuumed in between each arrival/exit of each class.
Every play object, instrument, toy, and art supply that comes into contact with childrens’ hands is deep cleaned and sanitized with child-safe Prokure in between each class.
The entry way, elevator, and stairwell are cleaned at the beginning and end of every day.
All walls, floors, and other hard surfaces inside Kids at Work are cleaned at the end of every day with soapy water and sprayed with Prokure, which is a child safe sanitizing agent.
Any fabric (including rugs) or sensory items that cannot be washed with soapy water and sprayed during classes are sanitized with the handheld UV light at the end of each day.
All mats, furniture, chairs, tables, large motor objects, etc are wiped with soapy water and sprayed with child-safe Prokure between classes.

Temperature Checks

For those families that have been attending “post-COVID”, Kids at Work will no longer require the health check questionnaire before each entry. We will, however, continue to monitor each child and unvaccinated adult’s temperature upon arrival, as a part of the check in process!
Partnership with DARCY AI by Edgeworx Software
All students and unvaccinated adults will have their temperature taken by our incredibly fast and accurate DARCY thermal camera. The camera allows your child to have their temperature taken without a typical thermometer gun and without close contact by our staff. In the event of an elevated temperature, DARCY creates an alert/tone that our staff can monitor upon each entry.

Symptoms, Close Contacts, & Positive COVID-19 Tests
The following applies to INDOOR programming only. Please see Sun Sessions Outdoor Music specific information below.

Symptoms of COVID-19

Persons (adults and children regardless of vaccination status) will be required to stay home in the event any of the following symptoms are observed or felt within 24 hours before each attendance, without the use of medication.

Fever
Cough**
Shortness of breath
Chills
Night sweats
Sore throat
Muscle/body aches
Loss of taste or smell
Headache
Confusion
Vomiting
Diarrhea

**Many children exhibit non-illness related dry cough and clear runny nose (such as with teething). We ask that all families maintain open communication about the history of such symptoms in their child. For instance, if your child has allergies OR has already been cleared by a pediatrician that it is not illness-related, please let us know ahead of time.

Those persons who are exhibiting symptoms must stay home. They will not be allowed to return to class until they either (1) stay home for 14 days since the onset of symptoms OR (2) get NEGATIVE COVID-19 test results OR (3) get pediatrician guidance that the child is ok to come back to class and that a COVID test is unnecessary (children only). In any case, they must also stay home for at least 24 hours after symptoms have gone away WITHOUT the use of medication If a child exhibits symptoms during class and is sent home, the families within that class will be notified and kept up to date on the status of the affected child. The above sickness policy holds REGARDLESS OF VACCINATION STATUS. This is in line with current NYCDOHMH protocols for child care center staff and children.

“Close Contact” with a positive COVID-19 case

Close contact is defined as any individual who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated. If you have come into close contact, you will have been alerted by the affected person or the NYC COVID-19 Test and Trace Corps. Participants are required to let Kids at Work know if you are a close contact. This includes caregivers, staff, parents, and children. Anyone who is deemed a close contact will be asked to quarantine per the NYCDOH and refrain from attending KAW programming for 10 days starting from the date of exposure OR starting from the date of isolation of the COVID positive individual. Exception – those close contacts who can prove status of full vaccination AND a negative rapid test may return to Kids at Work.

What if someone who was in class with my child, myself, or my caregiver, has been defined as a “close contact”?

Out of an abundance of caution, whenever we are notified that a participant (staff, child, or adult) is a close contact of someone else UNRELATED to Kids at Work, we do let the group know and we encourage all families to assess their risk and get tested. We keep the group abreast of the “close contact’s” testing results with permission of the affected person. We do not shut down any classes or remediate, beyond the usual measures.

Testing POSITIVE for COVID-19

Families should be made aware that Kids at Work’s policies may be more stringent than other businesses, because we frequently work with unmasked children.

What if someone in my household who HAS been to KAW within the last 10 days tests positive for COVID-19?
You are compelled to contact Kids at Work in the case of a positive test result on the part of ANYONE who has entered KAW within 10 days of the positive result or onset of symptoms (whichever comes first). Kids at Work is required by law to contact the NYC Test and Trace Corps and to supply contact information of infected individual(s). The infected individual will be required to remain at home for 14 days from the onset of symptoms or the positive result, and must supply KAW with proof of a negative COVID-19 test before returning to class. Individuals still displaying symptoms of COVID-19 will not be permitted to come back to class until 72 hours after symptoms have disappeared without the use of medication.

What if the positive case has NOT come into contact with my child, myself, or my caregiver?

Kids at Work maintains contact tracing of every human being who enters KAW, including caregivers, for each and every attendance. In the case of a positive COVID-19 test on the part of a participant, KAW is required by law to alert the NY State and NYC Department of Health, who will contact the Test and Trace Corps to let close contacts know of the positive case. All participants in all groups will be alerted to the situation by KAW. Participants within the affected group, as well as their close contacts and family members, will be encouraged to get tested. KAW will close for 48 hours following alert of a positive case for a deep clean and microsprayer application by our remediation contractor, held on retainer for this purpose. All staff will be asked to get tested at no cost to the staff member. Staff members are paid for their time in acquiring testing for themselves. We ask our participants to remember that a positive case at KAW doesn’t mean that the case originated at KAW. We ask all participants to respect the privacy of all families and caregivers. This will only work if we’re part of a respectful, caring community. We DO NOT want positive cases to be fearful of coming forward as that puts everyone at risk.

What if there is a positive case within a class that my child, myself or my caregiver has attended?

Kids at Work maintains contact tracing of every human being who enters KAW, including caregivers, for each and every attendance. Families will be notified immediately by Kids at Work by email and phone. Kids at Work will contact caregivers directly IF we cannot reach families within 24 hours of trying to make contact. Families, staff and caregivers who have been to KAW at the same time as the infected person, within 2 days prior to the positive result OR onset of symptoms (whichever comes first) will be REQUIRED to show proof of negative test results to Kids at Work before they can return to the space. The test must be performed at least 4 days from exposure. These persons will also be required to quarantine for 10 days from the exposure, per NYCDOH. How this affects whether programming continues to run largely depends on how widespread the contact is. Cancellation of programming is on a case by case basis. Kids at Work never cancels programming without providing either credits or refunds to its participants.

Sun Sessions Outdoor Music Health and Safety Measures

Adult participants in outdoor music are required to be fully masked at all times, with masks covering both mouth and nose.
Kids at Work teaching staff will wear face shields, as masks prevent volume of their singing voice. Sun Sessions teachers are fully vaccinated.
All adults are asked to set up their blankets at least 6 feet apart.
Social distancing between children may not be possible. If you wish your child to remain socially distanced from other children you will need to monitor this on your own. Kids at Work staff will not be encouraging social distancing between children, and it is up to the attending adults to assess their own risk and monitor.
Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 – Outdoor Music classes ONLY
Participants are compelled to contact Kids at Work if someone who has attended an outdoor music class becomes ill with COVID-19.
In the case that we are notified of a positive case within the previous 10 days, we will notify all affected families that attended class within that time frame. Staff will get tested at no expense to staff member and the staff is paid for their time in getting tested. Families and caregivers will be encouraged to get tested.
Families are compelled to notify their caregiver so that they can assess their own risk.
The affected person AND close contacts will not be allowed to come back to Kids at Work until their NYCDOH quarantine has ended, and the individual has sent proof as such to Kids at Work.