Representatives of the Little Rock School District and the University of Arkansas System on behalf of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a "day camp" for the children of medical center employees.
The program, set to start Monday for as many as 150 children ages 5 to 12, will be at the Pulaski Heights Elementary and Middle school campuses, which are just north of the medical center at 401 North Pine St.
Up to 50 Little Rock school system employees, including 10 state-licensed teachers, will operate the day camp from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Superintendent Mike Poore said. In addition to district support staff, community volunteers will assist with the day camp, particularly in the early morning hours. The Clinton Foundation will help with meals for the children.
The program was announced to medical center employees Monday afternoon.
Within two hours, 64 applications were submitted, said Teletha Leonard, senior director of benefits and employee services in the UAMS office of human resources.
Applications will be taken through Friday, Leonard said.
The day camp is open to all UAMS employees, but priority consideration will be given to families in which a parent is involved in direct patient care, said Leslie Taylor, UAMS vice chancellor for the office of communications and marketing.
"It's just a wonderful gift. We're very grateful," Taylor said about the school system assistance, adding that both the medical center and school district will practice social distancing and all other precautions possible to ensure the health and safety of the participants.
Establishment of the day camp comes in the midst of statewide efforts to slow the spread of the contagious and potentially fatal covid-19 virus.
All public school buildings in the state have been closed to on-site instruction since mid-March and will stay that way for the remainder of the school year as directed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Students are to do their lessons at their homes in consultation with their teachers by phone, email or the use of other technology.
Poore said Monday that school district leaders and representatives from Arkansas Heart Hospital, Veterans Hospital and CARTI are exploring the possibility of starting similar day camps for the children of employees of those medical facilities.
The announcement Monday of the UAMS and school district partnership comes after an earlier venture between the Little Rock School District and Arkansas Children's Hospital did not come to fruition. In that case, school system employees were to go to the Children's Hospital campus to provide supervision and academic support to the children of employees there.
Seventy-five to 100 children were anticipated for the service that started April 6, but the program opened with 50 and dropped to fewer than 20, Poore said. He attributed that to employees being furloughed or assigned to work from home.
As many as 800 UAMS employees expressed interest in child care help in a recent survey, Poore said.
There will be no fees charged to the families, to the district or to the hospital for the day camp.
Poore has said in the past that any programs for health care workers will be staffed by district employees who volunteer for the assignment.
He emphasized the importance of creating a safe, sanitized environment to the success of the day camp at the Pulaski Heights campuses.
"We want a nurse on campus the whole time. That will be an LRSD nurse," he said. "We want a check-in process that will match up to what the medical center does when people check in at their hospital. We want to have cleanliness going on throughout the day.
"We're wanting it said by the medical center that we are following what they want," Poore said. "We think it is important that everyone sees that this medical group is endorsing how we are trying to make the environment safe."
The day camp operation could stretch to the end of July if necessary, according to the memorandum of understanding.
Children participating in the day camp are not required to be students enrolled in the Little Rock district.
Other terms of the agreement are:
• LRSD will provide up to 40 classified employees who will work in shifts to provide supervision and child care.
• LRSD will provide up to 10 certified employees to provide curriculum and instruction assistance during the day camp.
• LRSD and UAMS agree to be flexible in scheduling the times the certified employees will be available to provide curriculum and instruction assistance and agree that such time will not exceed five hours per day.
The Bentonville School District in Northwest Arkansas has already begun services for the children of health care families in that district.
Metro on 04/14/2020