Covid-19 has posed many challenges to families. Not the least of which has been schooling for children of all ages. The Hill Preschool Staff and Board of Directors has worked to assure open communication and quality distance opportunities for our early childhood learners! A brief outline of our approach and evolving plans follows. You can also review details around our anticipated changes as we open again to families this fall.

August

• Families were not invited for programming and distance learning continues!

• Grasshopper Camp meets three times daily and has focused on games, geology, music, and more!

• Renovations to our spaces to meet licensure requirements and accommodate new classroom size requirements are ongoing.

• Preparations are underway for finalized in-person procedures and meet and greets begin August 26th!

July

• Families invoiced at 50% and distance learning continues!

• Grasshopper Camp meets three times daily and has focused on music, art, local ecology, sports, and paleontology so far!

• Renovations to our spaces to meet licensure requirements and accommodate new classroom size requirements are ongoing.

• The HPS YouTube now has over 160 videos viewed by our families over 2,000 times. These resources will serve our families for some time!

June

• Families invoiced at 50% and distance learning continues!

• Families with contracts for the upcoming (2020-2021) school year received the option to move forward under new terms. An amendment was prepared to update their existing contracts taking upcoming Coronavirus precautions, licensing requirements, and health requirements into consideration. Families who did not feel the changes met their families needs were given the option to receive full release from the contract with full refunds of deposits and prepaid first-month tuition.

• Families enrolled in Grasshopper Camp received the option to transition to virtual camp sessions at 50% or receive full refunds.

• The Hill Preschool began the process of renovating spaces to meet licensure requirements and accommodate new classroom size requirements. These renovations include our need to add new bathrooms as children will not be permitted to co-mingle space.

• The HPS YouTube now has over 150 videos!

MaY

• Families invoiced at 50% and distance learning continued.

• Requirements and guidance from our licensing agency, the Office of the State Superintendent of Schools and the Department of Health began to crystalize to allow HPS to begin to form a plan for 2020-2021.

• Plans were developed and approved to make necessary changes to the school using limited reserve funds to accommodate a safe fall opening.

APRIL

• Distance learning began! Programs began with daily circle time zooms for each classroom group and evolved to include special lunch bunch gatherings, daily chapter book readings in Grasshoppers, and many more opportunities to engage with teachers and friends one-on-one and in small groups!

• Staff began developing and curating videos on the new HPS YouTube channel for families to engage with flexibly.

• The Hill Preschool Board worked to secure supplemental funding for the school and to reduce tuition for families through closures.

March

• The Hill Preschool closed on March 13th when DC Public Schools announced closures and adjusted Spring Break along with DCPS. Teachers and families followed spring break with a week of preparation for distance learning.

• Teachers gathered books and equipment and began preparation to move to distance learning practices.