childcare

New York State is offering a new incentive to get more people vaccinated, free passes to state parks this Memorial Day weekend. Meanwhile, some state lawmakers want to rescind a controversial mask mandate for young children at day care centers.

Citizen Action of New York is rallying behind struggling childcare providers and working parents and guardians that are dealing with the economic hardships the COVID-19 pandemic has caused.  They along with state lawmakers are asking Governor Cuomo to release the state’s share of federal funding and requesting additional funding from Washington as they all struggle to pay their bills. 

The covid-19 pandemic has upended many aspects of our community, and childcare schedules and norms are one of them. Providers are struggling to stay afloat while parents are trying to figure out when and what kind of childcare is the safest, best option.

Students in Baldwinsville will be going to school in person for three days and then having three days of school online. Jamesville-Dewitt will have kindergarteners and first graders in school each day, but grades 2 through 12 in a hybrid model. And all 20,000 students in Syracuse City Schools will learn remotely until the beginning of October.

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon is disappointed in many of the county’s school district reopening plans. At a briefing Friday, McMahon said his office had asked schools to at least bring elementary school students back 5 days a week.

Childcare providers are struggling to stay open with limited revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis, on top of the added expense of creating socially-distanced facilities.  New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling for a $50 billion investment in the industry.