COVID-19 Preparations
Update as of March 25th:
We know that this is a time of great uncertainty, Below are answers to many of the questions we have received recently.Because the orders and guidelines from policymakers and government officials are changing rapidly we will continue to keep you updated as we receive new information.
Q- Will April tuition be billed?
A- Since Governor Wolf has made it clear that we will not be able to reopen our centers on March 31 as we had initially hoped, we will NOT bill families during the extended closure. If we are able to reopen for a partial month, we will prorate invoices for the days we are open. We recognize that this crisis has caused financial hardship for many of you. If you need to withdraw your child so that you use your escrow for other family expenses at this time, we will process that in as timely a fashion as possible. While this will result in your child no longer being enrolled in our program, we will try to work with you upon reopening to re-enroll your child.
Q- What is Wonderspring doing to support families during this closure?
A- We have created the Wonderspring Warmline. You can access our team of child development experts, including your child’s teacher by emailing
familysupport@wonderspring.org or calling 610.617.4550 x3000. We are prepared to answer every question from why won’t my child take a nap to why won’t they share toys and stop hitting. We will also continue to contact you by phone and through email to check in and to provide activities and resources to help your family through this difficult time. Additionally, please be sure to follow us on social media and check out our new YouTube channel, which features videos from the teachers you love. Finally, all of the resources we have collected can be found on our web site under the COVID-19 tab.
Q- What is Wonderspring doing to support the teachers during this closure?
A – Our volunteer Board of Directors unanimously approved a decision to continue to pay our staff and provide their benefits into April. While this is an extremely costly decision for a non-profit focused on access to quality childcare, we firmly believe that our teachers are at the very heart of what we do and that we must support them in order to support the children in our care, their families and communities. We are also being very intentional about remaining connected. All staff receive daily contact from the senior leadership team and have been connecting informally to show we care about one another. It is important that we as a staff team support one another as a family, not just a place to work.
Q: How is Wonderspring working to ensure it will be open when I need to return to work?
A: The board and senior staff are using every tool at our disposal to ensure that we are able to reopen as strong as ever when the world returns to normal. We are working with our partners to advocate for government support that will ensure the survival of the childcare sector and we are working with vendors to seek deferral or reductions of bills where possible.”
Q- How can families support our teachers during the closure?
A- There are several ways to show your support:
- Contact your elected officials about supporting childcare operators through the shutdowns. You can send a message to the Governor and general assembly by clicking here.
- If you have the means, continue to pay your tuition even while it is deferred.
- Make a tax-deductible donation to Wonderspring.
- Send notes or messages via email or voicemail and we will share them with the teachers.
For a list of resources to help you talk to your children about Coronavirus and keep them engaged as well as where to get meals for children during center closures go here, We’ll be adding to this list as we gather more information. Check back regularly.
In an effort to keep our children, families and staff safe and healthy, all Wonderspring centers are currently closed. All staff members are continuing to work and are checking in on our children and families regularly. To help families keep their children engaged and learning, we are also posting resources and activities on our social media sites as well as on this website here. This page also includes information about how to talk to children about COVID-19 as well as places where struggling families can receive food
While we are currently scheduled to remain closed at least through March 30, information and guidelines about COVID-19 are changing on a moment-to-moment basis so we can not say definitively when we will be able to open again. However, we will continue to update families as soon as new information is available. Information will be made available through email, One Call Now, this website and our social media sites.
It is important to know that typically developing and healthy children usually do not experience life-threatening illness from the disease, but once infected, they can be prolific carriers capable of infecting a lot of people. Those people may be vulnerable to the devastating consequences of COVID-19. All of us are responsible for doing our best to protect our communities.