Rochester's elementary schools to provide free care to children of emergency workers
On Wednesday, Rochester Public Schools will begin providing childcare for qualifying students at all 16 of its elementary schools.
The care will be available free of charge during normal school hours — 9 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. — to children of emergency workers only. Children kindergarten through age 12 are eligible. (Additionally, fee-based extended care will be available from 6:30-9 a.m. and 3:45-6 p.m.)
The childcare services are being offered in response to an executive order requiring Minnesota districts to provide emergency childcare for parents on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Sunday, Gov. Tim Walz ordered schools closed through March 27 to allow districts to begin developing distance learning plans, should the need arrive for schools to stay closed for an extended period of time.
Under the order, emergency personnel include providers of healthcare and emergency medical services; law enforcement personnel; personnel providing correctional services; public health employees; firefighters and other first responders; and court personnel.
Follow this link to learn more and/or register for care.
Looking for another option?
A pair of local students have developed an online initiative aimed at pairing teens with healthcare and other essential workers in need of childcare.
It’s called Step Up to SIT — and it was developed in response to the COVID-19 crisis by the daughters of Mayo Clinic physicians. The program works by matching high school and college students willing to offer their babysitting services with individual families to allow parents to keep working.
Here is how the two founders — Rioghna Pittock, a junior at Mayo High School, and her sister Hannah, a senior at the University of Chicago — explained Step up to SIT in a post to Mayo’s social media network:
At a time like this, it is easy for young people, who are largely unaffected by COVID-19, to feel helpless. It is our hope that through this initiative we can empower young people to do what they can to keep their communities safe, and at the same time offer valuable and necessary assistance to healthcare and other essential workers so they can feel confident continuing to do their jobs to keep our Rochester functional and healthy.
As of Monday, Step Up to SIT had already identified more than 80 students willing to provide child care to Rochester-area health care and other essential workers. More info about the initiative can be found here.
Drive-up meals
Amid the school closure, RPS will be offering free drive-up meals to children 18 and younger starting Wednesday.
Meal locations include Riverside Central Elementary School, John Adams Middle School and Rochester Mayo High School.
The meals — consisting of a cold lunch along with breakfast for the next day — will be available from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on weekdays through March 26.
Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.
