It’s time for first chance solutions.
We are all too aware of the problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic whether it’s the health of our families, their financial stability, or the education of our children.
What we are all desperate for are solutions to those problems.
Perhaps the most promising solution is the early access to effective vaccines. We want to thank Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine for their leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each has made incredibly hard decisions to try and keep people safe, including rationing scarce vaccines. We are grateful for their leadership.
Just as quality early education is a first chance solution to academic achievement gaps, it is also a first chance solution to normalize family functioning with children learning, parents working and families healthy. We appreciate that each of the governors has prioritized vaccine for teachers as a way to get children back in school and parents back to work, but both failed to include early childhood educators in the vaccine distribution.
Our early education workforce has been on the front lines throughout the pandemic caring for children and supporting parents, many of whom are essential workers, who we all need to be able to work.
Thirty-nine states have already adopted the Center for Disease Control guidelines that include early childhood educators in the same priority as K-12 teachers and other frontline essential workers. These states understand that child care is critical for our states to recover from COVID-19.
We urge Governors DeWine and Beshear to give educators in child care settings the same priority as educators in K-12 settings.
Our youngest children and their teachers are most in need of safe learning environments.
Early education where children love to learn and learn to love requires the opportunity to safely be with teachers and other children. Safe early learning settings are first chance solutions to preserving the health and wealth of our community.
We have the means but we must now have the political will to do the right thing.
Shannon Starkey Taylor is CEO of Learning Grove.