by Madelief Becherer, Administrative Director & Lynn Rappaport, Pedagogical Director
Thank you so much for the immense amount of time, energy and love that everyone has poured into starting this school year off strong for our students. We are grateful to each and every one of you for your devotion and are inspired by your dedication.
As we navigate the start of this second year of the pandemic, Orchard Valley is also feeling and experiencing the very real and uncertain challenges facing many schools, organizations and businesses in the United States. Finding, hiring and retaining qualified teaching staff is a clear and present challenge that is now affecting programs each day.
Gratitude for Teachers and Staff
Our school has been leaning on our valiant teachers and administrative staff to step in and take on extra hours across all programs just to stay open since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Every staff member has been stretching to meet the needs of our programs and we could not be more proud of the highly skilled and committed colleagues we work with. They go above and beyond the call of duty every day, greeting the children with smiles and forfeiting prep time and family time to be able to serve and meet the needs of our students and families. We are forever grateful for their sacrifice. And we endeavored to honor them even more by re-fortifying our staff during the summer as we prepared for this new school year.
Our Progress
We began planning for this school year with great confidence and hope when it came to hiring new teachers. For months we have posted jobs on a wide range of sites and locations, and have expanded our hiring networks in the hopes of finding qualified teachers and substitutes. We extended our hours at Sweet Clover Nursery and also committed to a 3-5:00 pm aftercare program at Child’s Garden this year to meet the critical needs of some of our families. And yet, even with all the deep commitment from our teachers and administrative staff to make these plans work, this week it became painfully clear that we simply do not have enough employees to keep these programs open.
Many of you have experienced and know that Orchard Valley is currently struggling to maintain a full staff in each of our Early Childhood Programs (Sweet Clover Nursery, Child’s Garden and Farmhouse). With this, we have been forced to freeze enrollment at Sweet Clover Nursery and have even had to close some programs due to lack of staffing and substitutes during the week. As you may imagine, this is both very disappointing and also absolutely necessary.
A Hiring Crisis, Tipping Point & Call to Action
This phenomenon is not unique to Orchard Valley, or to Early Childhood Education in general. As previously mentioned, all business sectors in Vermont are struggling to become and remain fully staffed. The continued pandemic-era fallout is fueling this crisis, though we are clear that the foundation of this country-wide staffing crisis is rooted in a fundamental lack of early childhood care and educational programs. Without childcare, parents cannot work.
Staffing in early childhood education has reached a crisis point in Vermont specifically. Childcare centers and preschools are reducing hours, closing entirely or are frequently experiencing daily closures due to lack of staffing and substitutes across the state. Job openings are posted, re-posted and creative ways of recruiting are used, but fewer and fewer applicants are applying.
Today, we are reaching out to you to share this very real picture of the environment our teachers and administrative staff are working within. We want you, as parents, to be both informed and empowered to join us in working our way out of this crisis. Orchard Valley needs advocates for Early Childhood Education, for our Orchard Valley programs and we need to be speaking up for our children's needs.
What You Can Do
A few specific ways that you can support our programs and our ongoing efforts to advocate for Early Childhood Education during this crisis include:
1 - Assist with helping us fill open Substitute teaching positions for all our programs - Apply
2 - Reach out to your state representative about this early childhood education care crisis and employment crisis in Vermont.
3 - Join
Let’s Grow Kids Action Network: letsgrowkidsactionnetwork.org
Vermont Early Childhood Advocacy Alliance: vecaa.org
Our entire Orchard Valley Team is grateful for your care, compassion and support as we continue navigating this staffing crisis and ongoing COVID-19 health crisis. Please contact us anytime if you have questions, concerns or creative ideas to contribute as we strive to develop new solutions.
Our head, heart and hands are open and welcome your feedback, talent and energy. Together we can continue serving the needs of our children and families, and find new ways to forge ahead during these challenging times.
"We must eradicate from the soul all fear and terror of what comes to us from the future. We must acquire serenity in all feelings and sensations about the future. We must look forward with absolute equanimity to everything that may come. And we must think that whatever comes is given to us by a world direction full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this Age; namely, to live out of pure trust. Trust in the ever-present presence of spiritual worlds. Truly nothing else will do if our courage is not to fail us. Let us develop our will. And let us seek the awakening from within ourselves every morning and every evening."
- Rudolf Steiner
