COVID-19 FAQs

For 2021-22 school year programs, all JCYS Family Centers will be open from 7:30 am until 5:30 pm.

Fall/Spring
We are offering full-day, half-day, and extended-day (select locations only) early childhood education for the school year.

We will continue the practice of maintaining pods through the 2021-22 school year. We will not combine groups of children.

• • We will, when necessary, allow vaccinated staff to move between groups of children, for instance, when we need a substitute teacher in a classroom.

We stopped performing COVID screenings of staff, students, or visitors prior to their entering the building in Summer 2021.

When you sign your child in every morning, you self-certify that your child does not have a temperature and exhibits no known symptoms of COVID-19 by indicating so in a column on the sign-in sheet. Staff and visitors also self-certify.

• Masks are required indoors for all individuals 2-years old and older.
• Masks are not be required outdoors for children and our staff who are required to be vaccinated. Masks will be encouraged in crowded situations.

JCYS implemented a mandatory vaccination policy on July 8, 2021. This policy required all employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by the first day of the the 2021-22 school year, Monday, August 23, 2021d

Children will be isolated from their class with a staff member until picked up within a one-hour timeframe. The child will have to remain at home until they are healthy and for the time specified in the updated handbook and sick policy.

JCYS has adapted our Travel Guidelines Policy around the Travel Advisory for the city of Chicago.

The Advisory is updated every Tuesday and goes into effect the following Friday at 12:01 am.

If someone at the center, within a household, or if there has been definite exposure to COVID-19 in relation to someone at our Center, we will immediately contact the local health department. At that time, they will instruct us with next steps and how to handle the situation. We will then follow all measures and instructions and notify DCFS and families accordingly.

Children and staff will continue to practice and observe safe handwashing practices. Throughout the day, all door handles, and high-touch points will be cleaned. All cleaning practices will continue to be observed within the classrooms. In addition, we will ask that children do not bring in any additional toys or lovies into the classroom. Blankets that can stay at school will be stored in their inside cubbies. There will be 30 minutes between each classroom’s use of outdoor areas per DCFS.

Additionally, as an added precaution and cleaning measure, we will be using an electrostatic sprayer once a week when no children or staff members are present. Electrostatic spray surface cleaning is the process of spraying an electrostatically charged mist onto surfaces and objects. Because the particles in the spray are positively charged, they cling to and coat any surface they’re aimed at. For awkwardly shaped objects or hard to reach places, cleaning staff only have to point and spray; the nature of the mist allows it to coat surfaces evenly, and envelope objects—even if the mist is only sprayed from one side. After the spray is applied, the sanitizing agent works to disinfect the covered surfaces.

The Parent Financial Policy can be viewed here.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents such significant hardship for our families that JCYS has decided to address it differently from our regular policy toward tuition/fee reductions. These COVID-related policies are designed to do the best we can to ease the burden to families while still ensuring we can
continue to operate. We recognize this will still be difficult for some of our families. We are doing what we can both to support our families and pay our fixed costs including, to the degree possible, employee pay.

Short-term closures
If a classroom or Center must suspend in-room education for a period of two weeks or less, no
credits or refunds will be given. Any subsequent COVID-related closure will count as a new two-week period unless the closures are within one month of each other.

Long-term closures
If a classroom or Center must suspend in-room education for a period of greater than two weeks, families will receive a 60% tuition credit for every paid week beyond the first two weeks. If the Center must remain closed longer than two months, families will be credited in full for any tuition paid for any part of the period of closure thereafter. Credit will be issued to your family’s account for the applicable time frame, which may be refunded if not used for future programming or the credit may be donated back to JCYS. If a second closure is required within one month of the end of a prior closure, it will be counted as a continuation of the prior closure. E.g., if a second closure begins within a month after a two-week closure, that second closure would begin week three.

JCYS has open enrollment and will accept your child at any time throughout the year. However please be aware that we will not be able to “hold” a spot for your child unless you pay the tuition to save that space.