ELCD Management Bulletin (MB) 20-09, available at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/mb2009.asp and MB 20-10, available at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/mb2010.asp, provides guidance to ELCD Contractors regarding Program Quality Contractual Requirements During an Emergency Closure and states:
“Contractors who are currently open or who are physically closed but funded to be operational due to the COVID-19 pandemic must develop a plan around modifying program operations to address the needs of children and families who are no longer being served in a physical setting during an emergency closure. For contractors that have closed some or all sites, this plan must be provided to the contractor’s assigned regional consultant by April 30, 2020. This plan must include engaging staff during the emergency closure to provide supportive services to children and families.”
The program quality emergency plan must be completed through the following survey available at https://surveys2.cde.ca.gov/go/prgrmqualityemerplan.asp, no later than April 30, 2020.
Once contractors have submitted the survey, the assigned regional consultants will receive the electronic submissions of the plan. Regional consultants will contact individual contractors if additional information is needed. Contractors should keep a copy of the plan on file for audit purposes.
Contractors who have more than one contract type should submit one plan for all contract types.
For reference the survey asks the following questions (please note: answers are limited to 5000 characters per question):
Question 1: Provide an overview of how staff will remain employed to provide quality services that are in compliance with California Code of Regulations, Title 5 (5 CCR). Include the number of staff engaged in providing direct services for children of essential workers and the number of staff supporting families at home. What will be your plan to have staff to continue to provide quality services?
Question 2: Provide specific information on how you will meet the requirements for contacting families a minimum of twice a week to keep update on the children and family in compliance with 5 CCR Section 18275 and how you will document outreach efforts. How will you contact, support, and assess a family’s need for additional support?
Question 3: Provide specific information on how you will meet the requirement to provide an activity plan for each child that can be incorporated into the family’s daily activities and assists with creating a predictable routine in the family’s home. How will you ensure the activities provided will comply with 5 CCR Section 18273 and how will you document these activities? How will you provide educational activities that fit within routines and activities of daily living?
Question 4: Provide information on how, if at all, you are assisting local efforts to provide child care and developmental services to children of essential workers including how you plan to assist essential workers in finding child care. How, if at all, do you plan to serve essential service and emergency workers during an emergency?
Question 5: Provide information on how you will provide all staff members professional development opportunities in compliance with 5 CCR 18274 and how will you document these opportunities. How do you plan to provide professional development and training during an emergency to improve staff skills and quality of services?
For questions with technical concerns with the survey, please email the ELCD’s Emergency inbox at ELCDemergency@cde.ca.gov with the subject line Program Quality Survey Technical Issues.
For questions specific to your agency’s plan around modifying program operations to address the needs of children and families who are no longer being served in a physical setting during an emergency closure, please contact your assigned ELCD consultant for answers to your questions. A list of consultant assignments can be found at https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/assignments.asp.
