ELYRIA, Ohio — Things are ever changing in the childcare world these days.
"It was hectic at first when we first opened up in June,” said Mohammad Suleiman, assistant director at Little Angel Daycare.
Too many kids, not enough kids, more staff needed, new cleaning protocols and now many of them will be in charge of remote learning like Suleiman.
"We’re going to try our best to work it all out,” he said.
Suleiman says they’ve got the demand, more parents want to send their children, but they don’t have the staff.
"If we had more employees here, we could enroll more kids, it’d be easier for parents,” said Suleiman.
He’s also worried about technical difficulties. Who will help his 20 to 25 kids get back online if something goes wrong?
Many childcare providers in Elyria have brought these concerns and many more to the city by joining the mayor’s online forum.
Mayor Frank Whitfield says he hears them.
"We’re childcare, daycare providers, we’re not teachers and what type of support can we get from schools to kind of assist with the instruction,” said Whitfield. "It was a powerful, eye opening experience just kind of hearing what they’re dealing with and the opportunity that’s in front of them.”
In addition to getting some of their concerns hashed out with the school district and the governor, the mayor is working to help them get funding from the CARES Act, but they’ll have to share the $300,000 allocation.
Childcare, getting food to seniors, technology training for folks across the city and COVID testing will all come out of the same pot.
"It might not cover the exact things that we need but we’re defiantly grateful and appreciative of what we can get from them,” said Suleiman.
Suleiman is applying for a piece of the grant and plans to build a playground with the funds to help the kids get outdoors.
Sept. 1 is the deadline for childcare providers in Elyria to apply for CARES Act money. More information can be found, here.
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