To the Editor:

We recently opened our newly renovated childcare center, The Burke Foundation Early Childhood Center at YWCA Princeton. Our renovated program building has new classrooms, a lactation room, additional children’s bathroom, HVAC air filtration system, and — because of COVID-19 — comprehensive health, safety, and security protocols.

Each morning starts with temperature checks and symptom screenings. For the health and safety of our staff and the families we serve, only staff, children, and essential workers are allowed in the building. This new check-in process has given my staff and I the opportunity to interact with each family on a daily basis, and our teachers are in constant communication with parents via ClassDojo, classroom phones, or emails.

All staff wear masks and PPE, and children over the age of 2 are required and encouraged to wear masks each day. Children are resilient and have been quick to adapt to wearing masks once teachers explained it’s a way to keep each other safe.

We’re also working closely with the Department of Children and Families’ Office of Licensing and Princeton Health Department, as well as Princeton Public Schools, to maintain our strict health and safety protocols.

Despite all that has changed here at The Burke Foundation Early Childhood Center at YWCA Princeton, our mission remains the same: to provide high quality childcare and education to the families we serve. Our teachers still utilize a research-based curriculum that engages critical areas of cognitive, physical, and social development, and all of our classrooms are bilingual.

We hope you and your family join us. To learn more about our program, visit ywcaprinceton.org/childcare.

Tara O’shea
Director of Childcare and Programs, YWCA Princeton