LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Standing in an empty dance studio, Beth Hall is missing the days when the space was filled with music, choreography and laughter.
Dancers Center for Training, like all the other businesses in town, is adapting by going online.
“I will say I am grateful that I have been challenged to be creative," owner Beth Hall said, laughing. "I’ve learned you can turn a business model around in 24 hours."
The studio is offering several different types of classes online, using Zoom, for current students. But Hall is also hosting free Zoom dance classes for the month of May to children ages 3 to 8. She said she feels for parents and children feeling trapped in the house for long and wants to offer more activity options.
“It’s a challenge. I have three kids, and I remember when they were small,” she said. “So singing, dancing, acting and imaginative play – we want to let your kids start experiencing that. And then hopefully, if you enjoy us, you might want to stick around.”
In between Zoom sessions, Hall is preparing to reopen the studio for summer camps and classes. She’s already been planning and preparing how to do it with smaller class sizes and social distancing in mind.
“We’re so conscious of keeping everyone safe," Hall said. "We are measuring, and we’re bringing in environmentalists to help us with our cleaning."
Camps and daycare centers have the green light in Kentucky to open on June 15. Gov. Andy Beshear made the announcement Tuesday and said more guidelines and safety requirements would be released later this week.
Whatever the guidelines might be, some daycare centers are concerned that without more support, they won’t make it.
“We’re really concerned in terms of how this is going to be laid out,” said Steve Magre, the executive director for Child Care Advocates of Kentucky. “Mainly in regards to ratios and capacity. That’s really, really important to childcare centers.”
Child Care Advocates of Kentucky said it is the utmost priority to open daycare centers safely, so it is already digging into the CDC guidelines that have been released for reopening. Magre said the group fully supports the governor’s safe, calculated approach. However, he said with the emergency declaration still in effect, daycare centers will suffer under any new guidelines that could restrict revenue.
Magre said recent studies anticipate anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of daycare centers might have to permanently close due to the pandemic. Child Care Advocates of Kentucky is currently surveying local centers to see what the impact could be here, but it is fully expected a significant number will not survive without further financial support from the state.
“We are really talking about the important of being supplemented, being supported financially,” said Magre. “We need to play our role for the community, but we can’t if you don’t have the finances to stay open.”
The group is in direct contact with the governor’s office to see what stimulus or extra funding might be available to keep daycare centers alive. Magre said the pandemic has made it very clear what this group has been saying all along, that daycare centers are critical to the success of local communities.
“The restaurant industry has a great impact on economic development, but we have a greater impact if you really think about it,” he said. “Because we’re touching all employers. Literally, tens of thousands of children are served through childcare centers in Kentucky. And every child behind that is tied to a parent that works.”
The CEO of YMCA of Greater Louisville agreed and said summer camps are crucial to helping families out right now.
“This also supports the workforce development and people returning to work,” Steve Tarver said. “And they’ve told us that this is a very critical part in them returning to the workforce.”
The YMCA opened registration for summer camps, but it is still fine-tuning its new safety guidelines. The group has been working for weeks, based off Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, to create plans for smaller groups, social distancing and cleanliness. Tarver said the YMCA is confident it will also be able to implement whatever requirements the state releases soon.
He said it’s important for the safety of every person working at the YMCA but also for every child and family they will come in contact with, which has been a recurring concern coming from parents.
“They’re excited about coming back but they’re cautious, which makes a lot of sense,” Tarver said. “They want to know what we’re doing to keep their children safe. And that’s an important question all parents should be asking as the state opens up.”
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