During pandemic, Annandale preschool reaches out to children at home

Children stay in their cars as they say goodbye to their teachers.

And instead of a traditional end-of-year celebration, staff decorated the parking lot with balloons, banners, and posters. As parents and children drove by, the teachers said goodbye and put the children’s belongings in the trunk, along with report cards and an end-of-the-year gift.

Maintaining relationships

When the school’s physical location had to close due to COVID-19, “teachers immediately went into brainstorming mode,” says Sleepy Hollow Preschool Director Debbie Brown.

Within 10 days, the teachers had created a curriculum to send to families with ideas for hands-on learning activities they could do at home using readily available materials, such as paper towel tubes.

Every teacher and assistant teacher recorded videos of themselves reading stories, Brown says. Eventually, families had access to 75 stories on Google Docs. The teachers also reached out on FaceTime or phone calls, so every child had a personal interaction on a regular basis.

The teachers then hosted weekly Zoom sessions with three children at a time, where they included typical elements from a school day, such as singing a song and a hands-on activity.

“The overriding priority for all of this is to stay in a relationship with the children,” Brown says. “And to the degree possible, and under the circumstances, we tried to have normal interactions while being honest about the fact that things are different but we are still friends and will talk to each other and do fun things together.”

“The feedback from families has been very positive,” she says.

Sleepy Hollow Preschool’s summer program was canceled, and the staff is thinking about what to do about fall. Due to the health risks associated with being in an enclosed space indoors, the teachers are participating in online training sessions about how to have a preschool program outdoors on the playground.

The school surveyed parents about their concerns and what they need in order to feel comfortable returning their children to school, Brown says.

“It’s going to be a huge step, because bringing young children together and keeping them apart poses lots of issues,” she says. “The key is making sure this is going to be developmentally appropriate.”

State regulations for Phase 2 of the COVID-19 reopening plan calls for preschool groups to be limited to 12 people, including adults.

“The most important thing is, we get to open again,” Brown says.

Parent involvement

Since Sleepy Hollow Preschool opened in 1949 in a private home in Annandale, “we have never done a structured academic program,” she says. “It’s always been about learning through play,” as the trends about how young children should learn have come and gone.

Over the years the preschool has been based in several churches, most recently at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Annandale, and has been at its current location, at John Calvin, since 2013.

Sleepy Hollow Preschool is run as a parent co-op, with parents or another family member working side-by-side in a classroom with the lead teacher and assistant teacher. The parents are considered employees for state licensing purposes and are required to undergo a background check, have a TB test, and watch a video about child abuse and neglect.

Brown came aboard as a parent when her daughters attended the school, taught there for many years, and has been the school’s director for the past 12 years.