Urgent Update on the Maryland Superintendent of Schools’ Decision to Close Child Care Facilities

Today the Maryland Superintendent of Schools announced the closure of all Child Care Providers by the end of the day Friday, March 27th, except those serving essential personnel. Local 500 is convening an emergency meeting to plan next steps and protect our state's childcare providers.

Child care and early education are vital components of our state's education infrastructure and are critical to keeping working parents in the workforce. They are more than worth protecting. We will update our members and the public with more information, resources and next steps.

In the meantime parents and providers should visit earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org and http://marylandpublicschools.org/Pages/default.aspx for information on qualifying child care programs for essential employees. Per the department of education, providers who apply and meet certain requirements may reopen to serve the families of essential employees only beginning March 30 after a deep cleaning of their facilities. See http://marylandpublicschools.org/Pages/default.aspx for requirements and more details.

Please check back at seiu500.org and at facebook.com/SEIULocal500 for further updates as this situation progresses. We will not stop fighting for you, your children, and the working families you serve every day. Thank you to each and every one of you.