You know me well enough. >> I'm so nervous now. Oh my goodness. >> And a parachute for my attitude. >> Thanks so much. Thank you for dropping that beard. for anyone keeping track.
>> We will have a mile from each very app and a little nervous fire drill. >> A little nervous the colorful parachute get you all the way down. do that.
>> Also, we are good to none of those are chairs. >> Welcome everyone to early childhood advisory committees May 21st 2026 meeting. We will begin today with roll call. >> Okay. Um just as a reminder if you are
joining us uh virtually to um uh let us know where you are uh joining us from. Um and we'll go ahead and get started. Uh Miss Suarez >> here. >> Uh Dr. Parish >> here. Mr. Anders
>> here. >> Miss Mormon >> here. >> Miss Plum >> here. >> Dr. Johnson was not able to join us today. Um, Miss Laneford, >> Mr. Turner >> here,
>> Dr. Wilford >> here, >> Miss Howard, uh, oh, was not going to join us today. Uh, Dr. Shrien >> here, >> Dr. Dean >> here
joining from my uh from Virginia my >> Dr. Nelson >> here >> Mr. Quinn. Okay. Uh, Missari, >> you might be running late.
>> Dr. McCartney here joining from Harrisonenberg, more than 60 miles away. Dr. Patrick here. >> Mr. Vanderhal >> here.
>> Miss Garrick. >> Hello. Here. I'll be traveling to Atlanta, so I'll be more than 60 miles away. Uh, Miss Layman is on her way. Uh, Miss Tosh here. All right.
Uh and uh Mr. Chair, we we have once uh let's go, guys. We'll have a quorum. It's Yes. Um so, Miss Layman should be here in the next 10 to 15 minutes. Um and should be present by
the time we need to vote. Uh, so once she arrives, we will name that she's here and we've got a quorum. Um, but I think we can go ahead and get started. >> So, skip the approval of minutes at this point. Yes. Move on to public comment. >> That's right. >> Okay. Is there any?
>> There is not. Uh, so Jeff's team will uh will be walking through public comments on the regulations themselves today. Um, but we did not receive any public comment for this meeting specifically. >> Okay. And with that, let's move on to legislative updates.
>> Oh, it's Yes. Yes. Sorry. Sorry. I just I just have a bad uh tendency to um tempt fate, but people are moving around in different places and we don't have public comment. And I I must confess I'm a little giddy about being here today. I
mean, this is such a major we're just at such a major place. So, couple of things to to start with. Um, if you'll go to legislative, you'll go we'll be using paper a lot. I'm not a big paper fan, but we really probably need to do paper on this one. So, page eight, uh, we'll
be talking about legislative update, starting with House Bill 258, updating terminology. Um, we're going to go over a lot of information today. Uh so I'm going to do a little bit probably a little bit more summary uh than usual but uh referring
to the slides for more details. Um so long story short um in this general assembly house bill 258 came up and it changes the term family day home in the code of Virginia to homebased care and
it changed family day system to homebased child care system. The main point about this is it is just a name change. We are worried that people will see this and oh there's a new type of child care. No, this is just a name
change. Um it's a little bit more in depth than uh one would originally think through. Um and what the code does, it gives us a little bit of time to implement this from a terminology for technology. Uh but it does impact a lot
of things. impact six regulatory changes. So you'll be hearing more in the next couple of months about doing what we call uh exempt actions and fasttracks. Those terms will come up. We'll explain them a little bit more as we go through because we have to change the regs. But as you might can imagine,
we also have to change local code. You know, provide uh local communities will need to change their code. we will need to train training um forms you know things from BQB5 and just it's going to have a large impact uh and it's
just going to take a little bit of while to get through this process um so hopefully in the about next probably six months or so we'll kind of be settled down into this uh the joke I use with my staff is all their swear jars need to be
turned into family day home jars because we got to do a huge culture change because we've had family day home for 40 plus years I think it's been in the code. Um so we're going to give each other a lot of grace uh as we kind of go
through this but also really just kind of help ourselves uh and us as a regulatory agency as VOE really need to model that. Um so if you hear us starting to change you'll know what's going uh on with that. Any questions on that?
All right, then I'll pass it on to uh the next slide. Childcare substitute pool. I think Alex, are you giving an update on that? >> Um I can I thought >> sorry I if you are comfortable doing it. Sure. >> Sure. Um so this is an exciting pilot
that is just getting off the ground. Childcare Virginia, a nonprofit that has partnered with the VODE for many years in VDSS before that um has just launched a substitute hub. They're calling it the VA subhub. It's in the early days of the
pilot. So right now they're piloting with five centers just here in the Richmond area. Uh so they're located Richmond, Henriko, Petersburg, and Chesterfield. However, over 80 centers have expressed interest all throughout the state. So, it's probably not surprising to many folks in this room that there's a lot of demand and desire
for this kind of workforce support. You know, a common challenge for centers is I don't have, you know, the teacher for our two-year-old classroom today. What am I going to do? And so, that is the goal that the Subhub is hoping to meet. Um, right now, where they are in the process is really with recruiting
substitutes. And I know they'd be eager to hear suggestions if folks have them. uh they're finding a little bit of difficulty moving prospective substitutes all the way through the process. So they're contemplating like where where are the points that they're not losing subs throughout the vetting
process and also whether the wage needs to be re-evaluated to make sure the value proposition is there for subs. Um but again this is just really early days. The goal is to have substitutes deployed here in centers this month. But I think the uh process of getting subs
into those into ready positions is taking a little more time than was anticipated. >> Yeah. >> But what's like the qualification requirement for being a sub? >> Yep. So folks have to meet all the same qualification requirements that they would have to meet to be a classroom
teacher in a center. And there are two different subpools and wages that they're going to implement for teacher and lead teacher >> question. Is there not an opportunity for family day homes to homebased child
care? >> That's a great question to >> participate in this. >> Yeah, that's a great question. And um I'm happy to share that feedback back and and you know feel free as well Cheryl if you have contacts at childcare rare I think that's something worth considering as a next phase of the pilot
>> who pays does the center pay childare with >> yes the center and that was a pre that's a great question Jennifer that was a prerequisite for participating in the pilot is the center had to be willing to to pay that wage and that was actually a bit of a a challenge it ties back to so
many conversations and So much of our work, right, is the the wage at some centers was actually equal to or higher than what staff at that center were already making. And so that was a challenge, right, like, well, how am I going to pay a substitute more than my
full-time teachers already making? So, >> for the substitutes, is this like a year contract for them or a ongoing basis? >> That is a good question. Not entirely sure. Um my understanding is I think it would be ongoing and kind of at at as
demand specifies. Um but yeah, good question. Think of more questions or feedback, send it my way and I can compile it and share with childcare work. Again, this is still pretty early days, so uh looking forward to learning about this process through the pilot.
>> Uh last question, sorry. So, is there an opportunity for them to come out of that substitute pool and into permanent employment? >> Oh, that's interesting. I don't know. That's a good question, >> Alex. Um, there was a program similar to this. It's been 25 years ago. It was
called Substitutes on Standby. And I imagine licensing has flushed all these pitfalls out this time. But how it work? And it was it's a little tricky because I have River for example I have Riverben Children's Center employees and I've checked all the boxes needed not only
for insurance but for licensing to make them Riverben children center employees. And now the example you gave two-year-old teacher calls out. So I call them and I they send Jane Doe over to automatically that day be a Riverben Children's Center 2-year-old teacher. So
I'm in this scenario, we're legal with all the licensing that for that day, not it's in our world, it's not usually a contract year. It's like I need somebody right now and I just need them for today. >> Yeah. The we work really really closely
with childcare to kind of figure out how to navigate that and we have a really really good plan. Part of this pilot is to kind of iron out any details related to that because one of the things you know like your the orientation training regarding you know let's just do the the
prime example is emergencies regarding allergies and things like that. You know you know them coming into your program. They're have to have some sort of quick kind of training about allergies and this child and things like that. So some things are going to have to be done on site. So it's not like they can just
come in and like oh you're good and throw them right in. There's going to have to be a little bit of an orientation period, but the goal will be that childcare aware will have done all the heavy lifting that if it's a training or an orientation that can be done that doesn't matter what center you're in, then they will have done
that. Got it. >> And completely different program here in setup than the substitutes on standby. But if they if childc career wants feedback, what this company did 25 years ago is they offered a buyout program. I
think it was $200. But if you wanted to purchase that sub from that company on a permanent basis, if I wanted to steal them and keep them as a river, I could do it legally and on the up and up, but I had to pay them 200. I think it was $200.
>> I think, don't quote me on this, I think there's a similar type of contractual relationship and payout with that. >> Do we know what the app is that they're using for track? I knew someone was going to ask me that, so I was like frantically looking at my notes to see. Um, so I will see if I can find the name
of that because you're right, they are using a technological solution to help do some of that background check and and make sure that information is already within the app, but I'm not sure the name of it. If you have any more questions,
absolutely feel free to send them out way. Um um great. So, moving on. Next slide. We're going to be on the next your page 10 free service training release. So, we've been talking about this for a number of months. We're really excited
to announce that um all the pre-ervice training updates have been released. Um and so, just a reminder that the new courses that are available, there's four courses. You have a core that everybody's going to take. Then you have
a centerbased birth to five, a center-based school age, and a family day home training. So, we're really excited about this. We're getting good feedback so far. We're just about a month into that process. Um, and so a
little bit more time needs to kind of go through um before we'll see the fruit of our labor regarding that. do just want to kind of give you a little bit of upcoming uh we are looking at the annual three-hour what we currently call a three-hour training um for that's
related to the pre-ervice training. We are also going to take the same kind of approach with that of doing something specific related to school age or doing something for birth to five and then and if you do all three if you do both those then you might you will need to take
both. If you only do one you'll do that. We're also going to do one on just records. Uh and part of that is especially this the annual training is geared around the top violations we see every single year. So it's like we see
that this is an issue where lots of family day home providers or lots of centers struggle in. Let's target training to in those areas. Um and what's interesting when you look at the top 10 violations for centers versus family home, they're very different. the
top violations a lot of times from family day home is a lot more records related where we but there is some with with uh centers. So we're really trying to target our training on the need that we're seeing. So we'll be sharing a little bit more probably at our next um
our next meeting about that because we're in the process of working with PSU to to update that. Any questions on the pre-ervice training? Right. shifting on still on page 10 uh of your handout ratio and group size waiverss. So just a reminder uh in the
appropriations act from 2024 there was the ability for centers and uh uh subsidy providers to expand or get a waiver for the ratios. uh the details in terms of you know one one person here a
child here two children here everything's kind of outlined in the slide. So in this year's budget the waiver is not included. Now one of the things that we as a group did in terms of the workg group is we've started to
build some of that into the new CDC regulations. Um but what we forecast is there's going to be a gap in that process between the new rags coming in and the waiver going out. Um so because of the great work that we did and the board did regarding
general procedures, we have a way of working through that for doing an allowable variance. Um we aren't quite ready to kind of roll that out yet because we're still trying to think through it through it because we weren't sure if it's going to be put in the budget or not. So, we will be coming
back soon uh regarding that. We will also be sending out through readiness connections and memos to those who are currently using it talking about what we're going to do. We aren't quite ready to go public with it. U but it is something we're hoping to uh roll out here probably within the next month
because the current one is going to expire at the end of June. So, questions about that. >> Let me have a little caveat there. We also don't have a budget gap. So um we did get in front of when it does not exist. Um
understanding the timing here there is a possibility there'll be the one of two places they'll be in the budget because we now know that the CDC rags will not be sort of uh in effect in time or as Jeff just described there will be this plan B to ensure continuity. The intent here was
to continue this flexibility um because it works well for the the field and we haven't seen any uh uh concerning trends in terms of child safety. But we don't have a budget. We're still waiting on a budget. Um and we just we don't we don't know for sure whether this language will be in there or not.
>> Can I add one comment? >> Sure. Um, one thing I I don't have the answer on this and I've been struggling with this for days and I don't have the answer and Jeff I don't I don't expect you to have the answer. I just want to bring the problem to the group so
everybody understands. So this ratio waiver which has been a godsend which has really been awesome with this staffing crisis that we've seems like all industries have been experiencing. There's basically two paths that centers
have can choose to uh use ratio waiver. First of all, you don't have to use. It's totally up to you. If you want to use it, you have to apply. You have to check a few boxes to qualify to use it. So, let's say you apply and you qualify and you choose to use it. You can use it. you can kind of put that card in
your back pocket and when that teacher does call out or when you do have a staffing crisis, you can move children around to whatever extent you can only increasing ratio by one in the younger age groups, but it can kind of just help you get through the day in that emergency.
Other centers may choose to great, I'm now going to put five babies in my infant group. Ratio ratio is 4:1, but now I've qualified for ratio raver. I am going to enroll uh child infant number five and this group is now a five to one ratio and you can do that legally under
ratio waiver. So that's kind of two paths and I don't know the exact numbers but I know there are centers who just kind of put it in their back pocket just in case they need it and there are centers who enroll that extra child in every single age group up and down the hallway. Well, this gap that Jeff is now
referring to, which will begin July one, if you are one of those centers who only use that in the the card in your back pocket, you're out. Because if you look at bullet point number two, at least one child currently under care would have to
be disenrolled for the variance to be um to continue. So I you know I don't know what the like I feel bad for that group of population who maybe it's fair to say is not taking advantage of the system and just throwing an extra child in
every age group but using it for those emergencies that population of centers are out until hopefully new rags. >> I don't know how to I don't know how to flush that out. I just want to bring
that to everyone's >> well that is part of the thought process that we'll be working through is trying to that's why we aren't quite ready to go public with this is because we're just trying to wrestle through waiting on the budget to come through and then just trying to figure that out. >> Y'all know me I hate bringing up problems and not
being an issue. >> I don't have a solution. >> I don't foresee it being an issue. I think I think maybe you're we have no intention of changing the ratio waiver. What we are struck with is the regs were not done in time, but the only reason that this was not initially
put forward was because we thought the regs wouldn't be done in time. So either it'll the language will be in the budget or Jeff and the team have a solution in place. So I just want to be clear for anybody who's listening at home, the intent is that on July 2nd if you rely
on this flexibility that you will continue to have this flexibility. Yeah. >> Great. Thank you. >> I should also note it's a very small number of centers relative to the overall population 300 >> about that. >> Yeah. Yeah.
>> That that applied for. Yes. >> Yeah. >> We will make sure that our language. >> Yeah. Um I think that we now have a quorum or maybe maybe did to begin with. So we can jump back and take care of our
minutes before we move on to our >> uh big main event. >> So everyone should have in front of you a copy of our minutes from our March 19th meeting. >> Everyone had an opportunity to review those. Any questions, comments, any
edits? Not. Do we have a motion to adopt these minutes? >> Motion to adopt the minutes. >> Motion accepted. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Have a second. Any further discussion?
>> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> So moved. >> Jeff, I think we are back to you. >> I thought about bringing like silly string. I thought about bringing confetti. I thought about, you know, a can of pops. >> Jenna brought Play-Doh.
>> I brought Play-Doh tools. Play-Doh. >> Dash them out. >> So, >> in a parachute and a parachute parachute. >> Yeah. >> If people start to fall asleep, that's
good. That's that's absolutely that's that's what we'll do. Um seriously though, really just wow think of where we've come in the last five years. So those who have been part of the CDC rec process since then raise
your hand been part of this. >> Yep. >> Small number. >> We've worn a lot of people down. They we've lost them along the race. Wow. what and you know just talking
about this getting to this point it is a pretty big place um just from the work that's been done and it and it's a and it's we we were all in this together um just the department the work group eac
um so many people have had input and it's really an exciting place to be you know looking back and you know talking with Aaron and Jenna you know what Looking back, I don't think there's anything we should have done differently, and I think we have a great
product because of that. Uh we we were pushing some envelopes in terms of putting a draft rag out as part of the Nora, but oh my gosh, has it played off. It was kind of hard uh managing it, but it it really has. And so just one I do
need to just say a special thank you for the OCCHS team, legislative team have done a fantastic job supporting the workers, supporting ECAC. Uh and you know actually Clark, I'm going to let you say that because you and I have
talked about that and can you just share that from your perspective >> what I told you yesterday? >> Yeah. >> Um sure. I um I try to have great attention to detail and I took our last copy of rags that we looked at I think a
year ago and this current drag side by side word by word line by line and really scrutinized them and I was very impressed. Um Jeff's going to go over any substantial changes but there were lots and lots and lots of edits edits and just when you read the sentence it
just made sense. It just was they just a complete cleanup. Like I could tell somebody put a lot of hours, a lot of time, and a lot of thought into every single sentence trying to make it as clear as possible for 3,500 childcare
centers who now have to abide by these ranks. So, um, I was very impressed. Right. >> These these folks >> Yeah. president wrote a big binder to our first time
and it showed at least two governors that big bind. >> Yeah. So, um All right. So, let's just kind of start working through this. U we're going to start um on page 12 uh overview. So, it's also there up
on the screen. Um actually slide 12 uh kind of overview. So we started this in December of 2021 and we being the work with EPAC the work actually started a little bit prior to that in about August of 2021 uh when all of the licensing
staff had the opportunity to give their input about what they saw as working and what they saw as not working with the current regulations. Where did they see that there was ambiguity? Where did they see that this doesn't really help protect children? Where did they see
that Jeff, we have a hard time enforcing this because the way it's worded? Uh and so December of 2021, it was brought to the workg group and the ECAC uh a a starting point. And then in 2024, uh and again in se excuse me, May of
2024, September 24, after amendments were made on feedback, we endorsed something that went on to the board. Uh public comment uh on the proposed regulations ended January 1st, 2026.
Final reg final regulations before we today reflect revisions based on public comment received on the proposed regulations. So we've gone through at least two public comments on these regulations. We've gone through numerous revisions. The work group went standard
by standard through this and we came up with what is before you now. So, what we're going to do today is go through the public comments. We'll do a kind overview of the public comments. Then, we will talk about uh the substantive
changes. And I'm going to use the word substantive changes because that's kind of the legal word that we're using. Meaning, it was enough of a change that the regulations are going to need to go through an attorney general review one more time. But that does not mean that this is some major change and you're
going to be like, "Oh my gosh, I didn't agree to that. um the changes that you see, the vast majority of them are going to be like, "Yep, that makes sense." It's not a big change based on public comments. Some of the things we'll need to talk through a little bit because there was quite a few public comments, but based on our
analysis, based on what we've heard from you, we are not proposing a change based on maybe a recommendation for public comments. So, with that being said, let's kind of go we've uh recap our processes and goals. So we're going to
go right straight on to slide 14. So again, we established temporary work group uh in 2021 to help revise the regulations. The work group completed its process, presented it to the ECAC. We had multiple stakeholders uh we met
in early 2022 and we spent a year going through those. We're meeting monthly and giving you homework. And this was a a work group that did a lot of homework. The work group convened uh and basically
we sought to balance multiple and sometimes competing priorities ensuring alignment with state and federal law. We wanted to protect health and safety and well-being of children. We had to rightly so consider the cost and operational impact of regulations. Um I
I I repeat this constantly even knowing I'm beating a dead horse. The best ratio is a 2:1 ratio. Two adults with one child. That is best. That is not financially feasible. And so we have to balance
what's best with what's actually feasible. We can kind of work out. And then also the goal was to reduce burdensome requirements. How can we keep children safe without creating red tape? And sometimes we have to do some competing priorities and tradeoffs in
with that. So in April of 2023, ENCAC reviewed the draft uh and incorporated into uh we reviewed recommended changes, incorporated and sent it before the group for endorsement. The board approved the notice of intended
regulatory action in June 2023. And this is where we were pushing the envelopes. We actually had some regulations that we put before the public when we said we want to review things. The public gave feedback. Although legally the feedback was only
required regarding whether or not we do a regulatory action, we got a lot of great feedback. So we knew what those pain points were going to be. So the draft regulation was amended based on over 500 comments. Again, not
required but given. So, we kind of got ahead of the curve. And then the comments, we created a proposed regulation which was proposed to ECAC in May of 2024 and then we did some tweaks came back in September 2024
and then the board approved the proposed regulations in October went for executive review went for OAG review was posted for a 60-day public comment on December 1st, 2025.
based on that feedback which closed uh in February and here we are with a final draft. So if everything goes according to plan and uh as I was sharing with my wife this morning I was walking out you know
this should go through smoothly unless we get hit by a meteor or something else something unforeseen. >> No no we've already seen that seen the fire. Um, and I think you're going to be really pleased. Hopefully, you've had a chance
to at least look at it. Um, so with that, before we go to uh jumping in, I do want to do kind of one more slide before I start talking about highlights. So throughout this process, we've constantly come back to what are our
goals. And so our goals first off is always to improve compliance because we believe compliance leads to safer look safer children. Our goal is to reduce risk. We can't eliminate risk because life's risky. We go our goal is to reduce it. So by improving compliance,
we reduce risk, streamline the requirements, reduce duplication, enhance flexibility. When we have the ability to do so, while always trying to strengthen child safeties, continually trying to move that needle, align standard with federal mandates required
by child care and developmental fund. align standards with national safety guidelines and updated research and reduce the regulatory burden. Part of that was a good thought process. We always want to do that, but we also had an executive order, order 19, that we
also wanted to follow because that's part of our goal as a state agency is to take our governor's lead. So, we're excited about where we are. So, let's talk about some highlights to the proposed final regulations provide better health and safety
protections. We believe that are clearer. We believe that and are more flexible than the current regulations. So some of the key things we want to highlight is are listed here. Supervision uh flexibility. So we talked about some increased ratios for school
age children, some variance processes. We kind of alluded to that a little earlier and then also increase the flexibility in the supervision of school age children to allow for more independence. One of the things we constantly hear is this is more strict
than schools. Partly there is some truth to that because a school building is much more secure than it is when it's just child care. But at the same time, we want to take into heart we do have children who are much more independent. Staffing flexibility. We expand the
qualifications. We increase the flexibility for staffing at the beginning of in and ending of each day when there's just a lot of motion in a child care center. It's like one stat one room might lose 90% of their children by 4:00 whereas another
might stay till 6. So trying to work that out. Allows for training and include orientation and pre-ervice. So we're kind of expanding and allowing for some additional training to count towards uh other types of things like annual training or lead teacher training. And then allow all training
except for orientation to count towards annual training. Uh with that one last column reduce administrative burden uh reduces duplication of effort for documentation and immunizations. Renew removes unnecessary testing for
repeat TB uh TB tests. Reduce owner's reporting requirements and removes requirements uh related to undesated epineph. Talk a little bit more about that. you know, and one of my favorites is we do not require all the information
uh on health and safety for the teachers because that was one of the leading violations, but had nothing to do with the protection of children. So, just a reminder for that. So, before I get going into review of the public comments, any questions about the
process, the goddess gear or any of the information I shared so far? And you know, as we're going through um as we start going through in more detail, stop me if you do have questions because I'm gonna just kind of continue to roll uh with things uh as we go.
So, the public comments ended on January the 30th. We had over 240 specific comments from 130 commenters. The OCS team reviewed each comment and made recommendations for amendments. So, we took every single public comment
seriously. Uh, some of those probably shouldn't have been taken seriously, but it's our job to make sure that we're listening uh and really giving a good um, you know, giving the comment or the the what they're due, the respect they're due in terms of making those
comments. Today, the EDA is seeking endorsement on the proposed final regulation with approval to make any minor technical or grammatical errors and to take it to the board in June. So, what we're asking for today is if we do come up with something
that's like we don't like that that we can agree to what you do like we will then make that change. Uh come back to ECAC at the next one saying we made the change, here it is. and then but getting permission to present it to the board in
June. If there's something major, we can back it off. But our goal and hope is that if there is anything that we might want to tweak as a group that we're able to do it here. Don't want to get into too much word smithing if we don't have to, but we'll take that on a case-byase
basis. So that's kind of the goal as we move forward. So we've kind of summarized the top concern on the next three slides. So, what I'm going to do is just kind of read the area of concern uh and then give a little bit of an overview for
agents for our response. I'm not going to go into the response too too much because this is kind of a summary. We wanted to give you in one place kind of a summary of the big things because we're going to get down into the details as we go through. So, we're going to go
through these next two slides kind of, you know, big picture, but wanted to give you the top concerns. So this is really about what the concern was. We'll address how we respond to it later. So the areas of top concern. So the first one was opposition to increasing the
ratios for school age children and allowing ratios to temp temporarily increase for all age groups. So we did have a lot of those. Um so we'll talk a little bit about what we did do and what we didn't do um as we go through. But
part of our response just as a large is this is something we do now. Uh looking at research talking through this we didn't make any changes uh any major changes to what this group had originally approved and we'll talk about
the details here in a few minutes. The second top concern regarding supervision requirements for older children and sight and sound supervision without separation by a physical barrier and the concern was request to align supervision requirements for all school age
children. So basically and for those who were in the workg group we had a lot of conversation about supervision. You know it's sight and sound. What does that mean? What if I have, you know, especially with school age children, they're I have an L-shaped room. You
know, I might not see them in the corner. You know, just reminding everybody of the conversations that we've had. So, we'll talk a little bit about what we've changed uh language-wise uh a little bit later on in the slides. The next one was the top concerns uh and
responses related to lead teacher qualifications. Request to count orientation training towards training required for lead teachers. some concern regarding qualifications and experience requirements. So our our responses qualifications were expanded to increase
eligible childare workforce while retaining protection for children and then orientation includes the topics required in 110b2. So we are allowing orientation to count if the 24hour requirement is met. So we'll talk about the details as we go through
slide two of top concerns and responses. Very first one regarding nutrition and food service, opposition to requiring children to remain seated while eating or drinking and due to developmental needs or access to seating on field trips. So we kind of revised the
language a little bit. The next one down, play furnishing equipment, materials and tools concerns regarding the hardship of laundering soft tools and materials weekly. Uh so we did revise the language a little bit. Some of this is revising language to bring clarification because it might not have
been a true issue. It might have been a misunderstanding about what was written and what was said. So sometimes we just tweak the language to get there for some of these. And again, we'll go into detail. Next one, indoor and outdoor play equipment. Some clarity requested regarding protective surfacing. So we
kind of addressed that. concerns regarding requirement to cover large or difficult to cover sandboxes. You know, in in order to keep up with our tradition of always having something icky to talk about, um we'll talk about sandboxes here in a little bit and their
use and not non-use. Uh we'll go through that here in a few minutes. Number three, uh three for top concerns, attendance records and reporting. concern regarding reports of unsupervised children to the department and parents, additional concerns
regarding attendance requirements and requirements for classroom or group specific documentation. So, we revised the language uh and amended things to make make sure there's some more clear. The next uh one of the last ones or
third from the bottom regarding animals and pets, concerns that restricting access to certain animals essentially prohibits them from classrooms, displacing existing class pets, limiting children's learning opportunities. Uh we've revised some of that to prohibit physical contact rather than requiring
things to be inaccessible. So we'll go through that a little bit more. Section 400, parent communication. And again, just a reminder, these are the top concerns that we saw in public comment. So the concern that requiring injury reports to include a future
action to prevent recurrence is not always applicable. So the example I like to use, kids will fall down and unfortunately break bones. And saying what would you do differently to keep that? The answer should be we won't allow them to run. That is not a good answer. That is not feasible. Uh so we
we kind of like okay let's clarify that a little bit and then the last one 130 orientation training request to revise and clarify the uh consistent caregiver uh orientation topics. So we'll talk that one we'll talk a little bit more detail as we go.
Um, so before we transition, um, if anybody had a chance to look at the public comments and had any questions or are there any questions about the major topics before we start getting into our responses to these,
if you haven't had a chance to, it probably is good to read through those. um partly not only just to kind of see what people say but also really just to give you a perspective of some of the questions that we kind of get. Uh and
when we work through things sometimes it's like I'm not sure how to explain that any differently than we do. Uh and so what we do a lot of times is we'll have um um the you might have heard we talked a
little bit I think last time about we were putting out a guidance document regarding communicable diseases and notifying parents and things like that. That is a lot of times how we bring clarity post implementation of a regulation. So our goal kind of it the
public questions actually give us a good idea of you know what nine out of 10 people would have read it one way but one person read it different and part of our goal today is if we can help that one person let's do it understanding and
this is just having done this for 25 years we still are going to miss the mark we're still going to miss the mark and that's why we always want to be kind of looking at things and giving ourselves some flexibility ilities with allowable variance. Also giving ourselves some ability to do things like
guidance documents and some questions and answers. Right? Good. Keep pressing on. We got an hour before our next break. Is everybody okay? Keep pressing. All right. Excellent. Good deal. All right.
So, the finals uh just I just actually Sorry. Go back, please, if you would. I just want to just really look at the word final there for a second. the final standards for licensed child days center substantive changes. It it's
just I don't want to underize you are so valued as an ECAC. You are so valued and we just really appreciate your participation in this and being able to say definitively to anybody who asks us.
This was a team effort amongst all the players, amongst all the individuals, amongst all the organizations that are responsible for child care. And so this is our regulation that we are giving to the board for them to bless to
implement. And so it's just a really exciting place to be and I don't want I don't want to underemphasize that. It's just this this is a this is a really really good place to be. All right. So let's dive in slide 24 please. So a
general overview. So substantive edit any change in the requirement to include removal of requirements or components of the requirements. So and that is that's a pretty broad word. So, if it's we've changed a little bit of the requirement, uh, then it's it's this and and we use
that word because that triggers another review by the attorney general's office. Just removing the epinephrine stuff, and we'll talk a little bit more about that. That by itself kicked it over. The beauty of that though, it does give us a
little bit more liberty. Whereas, let's just say there was only one change we might wanted to make and it's like, ah, you know, is it really that critical? Can we do a technical assistance to keep it out of, you know, going through all this additional steps? Done that. Let's
do this the right way. So, we've changed a lot uh in this, but I think you will see all of it for the better. And anything that's like if if if I or any of the staff are like this is starting to push the envelope of a true change of
what you endorsed, then we're going to talk about it today. But I think you'll find that everything is going to be kind of right and long and just clarification. So number two, technical edits. Whoops. Sorry, bullet too. I need to be more clear. Technical edits. A change to clarify requirements, correct grammar or
style, improve readability or align terminology. 80% of section uh sections include either technical or substitive edits. Subdive changes made in 30 sections. The remaining 45 sections including only technical edits. So just kind of giving an overview of what we're
going to dive into next. All right. So let me just kind of explain what you're going to see in these slides. So what we do is we kind of do an introduction. Uh we talk about the sections. We do a kind of summary of changes. Then we actually kind of go
down in a little bit more detail. Um so this is kind of how we will walk through each section of the regulation. So in the first part uh substantive and technical editance edits were made to the introduction and purpose. No changes
to the section describing the purpose and applicability of regulation uh requirements. So next slide please 26. So, a general reminder uh and maybe for those who who are new, what we will do is in the slides, we're going to show
you strikethroughs and underlines. What you have printed out is the clean version that will be given to the uh board in June. Anything that we say we want to tweak that we aren't quite we if
the group approves we will make those technical edits hopefully in this and then that is what we will go to the board. So what we will be approving at the end is this document with any kind of tweaks technical you know any technical tweaks we want to make today.
All right so going back to our presentation slide 26. So in the definitions uh we took out the word abuse of head trauma uh because it's only used once uh revise requirements related to abuse of head
trauma and orientation and training to include the definition for clarity. So part of a regulatory thought process in many instances if a term is only used once you don't do it. If the term is a standard term used throughout an
industry then we also don't define it. We also revised experience in the supervisory capacity to broaden the experience requirement for directors to remove limitations on specific experience areas. So this we've kind of opened it up and made it more clear what
we will accept as experience. And so what does that mean? And that's the underlying personnel or team members were added to that to bring some clarity to that. Right. Uh again, I'm not going to ask for questions, but please stop me at any
point if there are any questions in terms of what we've done or why we did it. The next section is going to be part two on administration. Um I'll just kind of let you read those pieces to kind of give an overview of
what we're going to do. Part of that is to save my breath because if I'm gonna be talking for four hours, I'm going to get a little horse. I'm moving on to slide 28. Overview of the change removed
epinephrine requirement in response to public comment. The agency will address undesated epinephrine through a separate comprehensive action to align requirements across chapters and to allow more time to collaborate with the Virginia Department of Health. So for
many of you this will be a refresher. I know for some of you it might be new. So for those who are refresher bear with me. 2023 we had some code change that required epinephrine undesated epinephrine that means epinephrine most folks know as an
epipen to be kept on site for children if there was an allergic reaction. Uh the law was modified because it was for centers and homes. The law was modified that centers still had to have it. homes did not, but both individ both both
entities had to have a trained person that knew how to use them. It went out for public comment because it affects CDC regs, family day home regs, voluntary reg, you know, affected a lot of entities. Public comment came back and said, "Whoa, this needs to go
through the regulatory process, the regular regulatory process, not a fast track." Uh and so we stopped that uh after consultation with the attorney general's office, talking with the board, we felt that it is best to
handle that law and those regulations in their own separate nor process and that is something that we will be implementing with uh the board because there's a lot of questions about implementation. It's very expensive. Um so based on feedback working attorney
general's office working with the department of health we stopped those regulatory processes because this was running parallel we had the changes also in the CDC regs. So after consultation with lots of individuals, we felt it was
best to allow epinephrine to run its own track and so we have withdrawn it from the CDC Rex. Questions about that? Don't want to go past that one too quickly. Great. All right. Next slide. Two of
seven for the administration substantive changes one questions. Yes. Chapters. >> Yes, please. >> Go to the next chapter. Yep. Okay. Sorry. Um I'll be brief. There may be one word that needs to be struck on chapter 30.
>> Page 41. >> Page four. Page four of 51. Standard 78130 letter C. >> So this Yes. >> This has to do with the posting of um allergy information and sharing or not
sharing. So in the second sentence, it's telling us that center staff shall the center shall inform staff of the list. The very last sentence, the last word says don't share it. And I think what we're trying to say in that last
sentence is you can post it on the wall in the classroom with a parents written permission, but without the parents written permission, we've already shared it because we've shared it with the teachers. We've shared it with the staff to I think just the word share perhaps
should be dropped from that sentence shall be share with children who are present and kept confidential unless permission is received from the parent who post display or share. >> You already shared or supposed to
already share >> but that's sharing with the staff. versus posting it on the wall could be anyone walking into the classroom. So, not necessarily a a staff person. So I would recommend to the group to
leave this because it because of the the safety nature of this being available. Great example to say a substitute teacher really being able to see this. Um confidential confidentiality is the second most important thing related to
that. And so by leaving this gives centers the ability to share it confidentially. I'd prefer to leave that so as not to to keep it clear. There is a higher thing than confidentiality. >> Clearly we're not in violation by
sharing it with everyone who works in that classroom. >> Right. >> Without a parent's written permission. >> If they have given permission to post, display or share. If the parent says you're you can share this, then that would cover the display in the posting.
>> We don't have a parents written permission. Clearly, we're not putting it on a wall, >> but I can still tell all the teachers in the room. I can still share the information. >> It has to be in the room. >> Yeah. >> This list shall be in each room or area where the child
>> What we do now is we cover it. Yeah. >> Out of sight, out of mind, which I'm not a big fan of when you're dealing with allergies. I think it should be right there in your face at all times. Don't make a mistake. Don't forget. Um, so I like the opportunity to get a parents
written permission to post it and not hide it. >> So, um, this is not a big >> I just the amiguru that final word share because because you're saying you've already shared it with staff. >> That's it. >> And and we and you say, you know, you
have to get permission to share. >> That's it. But I think if there's a difference between sharing it with caregivers who are responsible for the care of the child versus sharing publicly with anyone who walks into the room, >> right? >> It's like a share publicly or share wisely or I get it.
>> Okay. >> Because by sharing in the rest the post or display is covered. So because what some centers might do is I you know what I'm absolutely fine you giving my child's allergy to every single parent so they don't send peanuts to into the
classroom or those parents that are willing to do that. I'd like to know that my best friend, you know, my child's best friend is allergic to peanuts. >> Y >> that could be shared. >> Yeah. >> So that that kind of allows that extra precaution. Got it. Okay. Thank you.
So, in spirit of keeping the pace going, I'm going to kind of continue to go again. Stop me, please, you know, as we go through. So, page uh slide 29, two of seven. Um the review of the changes requirement for proof of age and
identity under the code Virginia required information on previous child care and schools in response to public comment language from subsection 8 moved to subsection 9 to make it clear that the requirement is part of the code. Now one of the things uh you know that has
been brought up to us uh based on our combining of eight and nine is there's a there's some ambiguity and it can be read that there must be more documentation than is code required regarding previous schools being
attended. So we are going to ask that you give us the ability to do a technical change and so page my team we have a page number for that >> page five >> page five number >> eight and nine that
>> yeah so 8 n uh any child uh care or school attended by the child number nine documentation of viewing proof of the child's identity and age to include previous scares. So you can see what we've done up on the screen is we're
combining those two. So what we're going to do is where it says we're going to switch the child daycare or school currently attended by the child. We're going to switch it so that the documentation of viewing proof of
identity does not that documentation of proof will not apply to the school currently attending or child care currently being attended. Does that make sense? Yep. So, we're just going So, um the way it's listed up there, we have
number eight. It says a child or school currently attended by the child. So, you just got to be able to write that down. parent says my child is attending you know Carver Elementary School then the next requirement is we have to document the provider has to document what proof
did you see of the child's identity by combining those two it can be assumed that you have to have documentation of the school that the child was attending and we don't want that because that's not what the code
requires So, we're going to do a technical edit so that we say documentation of brewing the proof proof of identity. The documentation of viewing proof only applies to the proof of identity.
Documentation of viewing proof does not apply that you attended a a different school. I'm seeing some yeses, but I'm also seeing some confusion there. Um, let's do this. Um Jessica, if you can give the
language uh and login and putting it into the chat of what we're proposing >> or is there a better place to look for it? >> Is in Zoom that I can just share. Wait, you could you could uh team message Chelsea. Okay. >> Sure. >> What happens is when we enroll a child,
the parent uh federal law and state law has to prove that this child is who they say they are. And they show that by they prove that in one method by showing us a not a photocopy a real copy original copy of birth certificate right we at the center document that we've seen. So
that's viewing proof of child's identity. The way it was worded it was kind of implying that you must also view proof of the child's previous or other schools currently attending. >> The code of Virginia doesn't ask that.
The code of Virginia requires me to ask for that information from that parent, but I don't have to actually view proof that that child used to attend such and such childcare. So, that's the reason for the change, right? >> Chelsea, I don't think we're going to be able to folks are going to be able to
see that. Um, can we possibly put it in Can you pull up a blank like uh word document and make it big on the screen? >> Thank you. As I'm following along, can I just clarify? So the change is noted in
the slide deck, but the wording impacts the draft that we have in front of us, but it's not in the draft. >> Great. >> Right. Yeah. >> Just make sure I'm following along. >> No, absolutely. Yeah. Sorry for the confusion on that. Yes. >> So what we are approving at the end of
this session is Okay. What we see on the slides, not what we see here. >> Right. Yeah. Yep. So, we'll take this and then that will then get put into the draft that's given to the board. >> Um, and Jenna, correct me if I'm wrong. I do not
see us going to the board with all these slides and going through. We're going to basically go with, you know, with the final, you know, this has been approved by Incac get their blessing feedback and things like that. So we not we'll be doing you just talking about the process a little bit but we will not be going to the board with all of this detail. We'll
be going with what's >> Yeah. Yeah. As a reminder uh Andrew typically what this body has done is to vote on an endorsement with a set of recommendations. So for example you could endorse with the changes proposed
in the slides and the changes added on the word document. Right? So you know so there there's an the opportunity here is is sort of to doors think about what are the other things that you would want to change or add or edit uh and uh sort of
so you do that with the recommendations and then Jeff and the team go back make those and then take it to the board saying it's fully endorsed um because it reflects all those changes >> and and just to clarify the change is not in the the document or the slide it is right here it is it is this
>> this is what is being proposed as the change. So what is on slide 29 should be disregarded for this. This is what is being recommended as the change >> which is not the pattern that we'll be
following for the rest of this presentation. >> Right. Right. >> This is this is an exception and something that has happened real time. >> All right. That was I wasn't doing Clark did much better job explaining it. So, because I could see those like
>> sense that makes way more sense. >> Great. >> Good job. Thank you, sir. >> We're all in this together. We're all in this together. Um, great. So, I think we're on slide three of seven. Uh, Chelsea, thank you for kind of keeping
us on task there. So, uh, this one had to do with attendance records. Um in response to public comments edit made to clarify the requ clarify the requirement is for a list of children actually present within the group for emergency purposes. The written documentation of
attendance that records are uh the records records the arrival and departure of children as it occurs is a different requirement but may meet the requirement. So basically what we're trying to do is we need to know we don't want to know just let me rephrase we don't need to
know just who's in there we need to know who's in each group. Uh just had a a recent negative action that we did because um just the attendance in this center is just atrocious. they had one classroom that had six children present
but seven uh listed and then a classroom down the hall they had um 14 children listed but only 10 written down and so we started saying where are these other ones and they're like uh and just and it's like well we got a problem. So,
this is really just to kind of clarify what's being asked uh especially in an emergency because as you can imagine evacuating a classroom kind of checking do I have all the children I'm supposed to or was that child that was in transition need to be accounted for.
Slide 32 please. 37. Oh, yeah. Right. Yes. 37. >> 31. >> 31. >> 31. >> 31. >> This is This is the perfect test. >> Slide four of seven, which is slide 31. um in response to public comment edit
made to clarify requirements for reports made to the department. So one of the key things you'll see here is we change the word in a lot of instances from center law to ly because it's the legally operating program who's responsible for all of this. So it's
sort of a technical change but an important one from a regulatory standpoint. Next slide please. Slide five of seven for administration. Adult volunteers added to comply with the code of Virginia. Six of seven for part two
provised to allow the school entrance physical exam for school age children when the center does not assume responsibility of the child directly when they when the center does not assume responsibility for the child directly from a school or directly transfers responsibility of the child to
a school. This change aligns with current regulations. Next please. 7 to7 art two. Incorporated feedback from BDH epidemiology and tuberculosis tuberculosis experts.
Tuberculosis is highly contagious and the disease may be active although there are no visible symptoms. The amended language incorporates feedback from the Virginia Department of Health and ensures the health and safety of children and staff by ensuring a response to any risk of the presence of
tuberculosis in the facility. This is a little bit more. So, this right here would definitely kick something over into substantive changes. Um, but being a good partner and trying to making sure that we are in line with current health requirements, we thought
best to add this year. So, we're now transitioning into part three, which is staff qualifications and training. So there were some uh pretty big edits to this section uh regarding lead teacher qualifications, orientation, ongoing training, daily
health observation training, medication administration training requirements uh and the director qualification and director responsibilities. Uh driver qualifications, we did do some technical edits to that and first aid
and CPR certification. Just a reminder, there is a difference between CPR certification and CPR training constantly. We went through that a number of times in the work group, but thought that'd be good to share with um PCA here. So, there's eight slides. So,
like I said, there's quite a bit uh of changes that we did in this section. So, one of eight has to do with the lead teacher qualifications. So we added language that clarifies health and safety issues should be related to the care of children. So partly it's oh well
I've got all this training but it needs to be a little bit more specific. So we add some language for clarification. We but we removed prohibiting orientation training from being used toward lead teacher qualifications because the orientation requirements are now much more robust specifically covering these
required areas. This allows programs to avoid duplication of effort which is a uh time and costs saving measure. So if you get orientation and it covers these things then we are going to say it does work towards lead teacher
qualifications. Slide two of eight for part three. Added for clarity, since there are now different program and age specific pre-ervice tracks, the program staff will be required to complete the training for each age group they work with. So, as you remember, it was a
10-hour block. Now, we're saying that you can take different things based on that. So, we had to change the language uh to make sure everything was kind of clear that this was okay to do. And so just to let you know this this might be a good place just to pause for a breath.
Aren't quite gonna take a break yet. So just to let you know co so what happens after this gets approved is then the staff behind me and over there shift gears to going into a training mode. So it's like how do we train licensing
staff on this? How do we train providers on this? What kind of handouts do we need to tweak? What kind of handouts do we need to develop? Um, so part of all of this goes into this clarification helps our staff as well. Whereas I
didn't know that there's now three parts to this training and part of this. Um, so just thought this is a really good place just to kind of stop and you know we are we are getting into the mode you know just like Jenna talked about you know some things we got to wait till the budget comes out before we can move
forward. Now that we get through this step, as soon as we get an endorsement from the board, we're going to go into shift gears and start doing training so that we can do a training program that's not, oh, here's a training two weeks before it goes live. But here's a
training, you know, couple months out to get prepared for this. And then, hey, we're going to do a follow-up training. We're going to make that available to the public and make it available to staff and do some co-raining even so everybody's kind of on the same page. Um, and you know, these kinds of things
are what we will really specifically do because there'll be a change in approach that some of the inspectors have been doing for 20 years. They're going to have to do a quick about face or slight tweak for that. Slide three of eight, please.
So, a little bit more uh changes in this area regarding orientation. We incorporated the definition of abusive head trauma. We talked about kind of making things clear, not having to jump back and forth between different places in the regulation. That was a a big complaint about the previous
regulations. So, we're trying to kind of condense things. So, we've included that into the orientation training requirement and separated from shaken baby to make it clear that abuse of head trauma and shaken baby are different things because we have people's like, why am I learning about this? It's well
they are the similar but there are some differences and just kind of needing to note that in response to public comment we merged the intent of the original requirements for an overview of first aid and CPR skills into this standard. So part of
orientation now is the training regarding CPR and first aid. Again, the training and the thought process is if I am a staff person and I'm not certified and trained in first aid and CPR, not certified, I need to know what I can do
and when I should be seeking the help of others um because there's just that balance that we need to do. We'll talk a little bit more about that uh here in a couple minutes if need be. The revision clarifies the intent of requiring staff to receive the overview of first aid and
CPR to help staff recognize and distinguish between injuries, medical emergencies, and sudden illnesses that would require being handled by a staff. So, got ahead of myself there. So, just saying that you need to be trained in order to know who to go to or to seek further help from a person who is
certified in first aid and CPR. Four, please. So, we're still in staff qualifications and training substantive changes in response to public comment. Merge the intent of the original requirement for an overview of first aid and CPR. So,
again, just the same kind of thing in a section C into the subdivision. Revision clarifies the intent of requiring staff to receive an overview of first aid and CPR to help staff recognize. So, I won't beat the dead horse here. This is part of the the
training process here. Next, please. Five of eight. Remove reference to the annual health and safety training being three hours should the training length change in the future. And that's why I kind of sewed that seed early on that we are looking at doing that. So, we do
foresee uh if someone is a program director, it's probably going to be the full three hours. If they don't do any record stuff, then it's probably going to be the an maybe an hour training for school age, probably an hour and a half or so for birth to five, that annual
training that's required by the department. Next, please. So, in your handout, this is slide 42. Sorry, you have 41. Yep. Bottom of the page page numbers. Slide 41. Go on. Page
21. >> We're calling Jeff's optometrist. >> Slide six of eight. In response to public comment edits made to merge the requirement of conducting daily health observation from subsection E or C into the training requirements,
required training components. And it's also made to clarify that the training address addresses inclusions and exclusions guided by symptoms of a potential communicable disease. So learning from the past about how to do things better. Uh even the guidance
document that we've done leads into kind of where we are. So might be another good little time to do some kind of edit uh editorializing. If you remember from the work group, what we brought to you is what we called TAS that we had issued in the past and
we also brought to you allowable variances that we've issued in the past. So part of what we've done here and why I think this is such a great thing is we've learned how wording things in the past led to confusion or limited our
ability to be flexible. So what we've tried to do is word things a little differently to clarify so we don't need to do any kind of technical assistance or guidance documents but also wrote things that allow for a little bit more flexibility so we don't have to do
allowable variances. So part of what we've been learning over the last well really kind of four and a half years of COVID is how do we word things differently to account for situations that we've never faced in the past. Um, so this is kind of some of the language
you hear here is some of the language we've talked about in the course of the last couple of months regarding communicable diseases and our move to do a guidance stop. Then slide seven of eight removed epinephrine requirements in response to public
comment. Agency will address undesated epinephrine through a separate comprehensive action. more of the what I've mentioned before. Slide eight, please. So, this has to do with driver training requirements. This is the last
substantive edit that we've done in part three uh for staff qualifications. Edits edits made because training related to cent's transportation policy is already required under staff orientation. This avoids duplication of efforts for drivers who work directly with children
and have completed the required orientation training while ensuring drivers who do not work directly with children receive this important training. Before we transition into part four, physical plan comments, concerns,
questions about section or excuse me, part three. Yes. Regarding the attendance record keeping, would there be like a universal form that all locations would have as far as attendance tracking? Yeah, I I do not
force seeing us doing that because it's done so differently and a lot of people are using electronic tech uh things like that. So, we don't want to force the use of that. Um I think some of that will just start to merge as more and more programs start using technology. I think
we'll see some merging of that. um you know for those who are subsidy providers you know and in past in terms of attendance tracking and things like that we think the system will kind of adjust itself once this information goes out anything to add on the 10 or anything
like that >> just say it'll it'll take us some time for it to be uh like uh fully usable to meet kind of every element at the same time um uh it will it definitely can meet the conditions of the in and out Right. Um
uh for uh all children that are enrolled um if you choose to add your private pay kids in addition to subsidy kids in the system. That's not a requirement for sites that participate in subsidy but is an option. Um but the grouping is the
piece that um would require some systems changes and that we'll be kind of working towards looking ahead um as we you know roll these uh these rags out. >> Okay. if that's a suggestion that we come up with the model form. We're definitely open to that. Um, you know, so we can
definitely talk more about that. You know, we're kind of open to we really want to we're all in this together, you know, and really really want to just make sure that, you know, we're hearing feedback and things like that. So definitely willing to explore that.
And this is a topic for another day, but we will be reaching out to folks about feedback on pass and ways that we can continue to improve that user experience for sites um particularly as we're thinking about how it can align with um licensing requirements and regulations.
So stay tuned on that that for today. >> Next, please. So going into physical plant. So kind of summary of the changes uh requirements regarding other agencies after lure hazardous substance indooroutdoor areas
um regarding the substantive changes technical changes uh mostly have to do with initial lure building maintenance and requirements for toileting and furnishing. So again, just a summary, um, you know, usually we don't rely too
heavily on the slides and we just use them as talking points, but in this instance, you know, we made the slides and put some information in here just to kind of make it easier just to kind of navigate things. So slide 45 on page 23
104 for physical plant substantive changes. So this has to do with annual and renewal approval from other agencies and requirements after initial lensure. The requirement of subsection D was merged into C, allowing the use of the public and private schools fire
inspection report rather than making a requirement to use a school's report should a school refuse to provide it. Uh so we have some schools where providers uh work really well with some schools we don't and so we just wanted to try to do what we could to help make that process
a little bit easier. Two of four, please. Still in the physical plant regarding hazardous substance and other harmful agents. Uh language amended to make it clear that natural and homeopathic cleaning products,
sanitizing agents and pesticides that are not considered hazardous are now hazardous are now available but that any substance or chemicals that contain cautionary words are considered hazardous and must be stored as such. So as kind of a me just one more hand soap
is allowed for children's use and is emitted from this requirement. Um so as technology changes as product changes uh we notice that we got to start thinking a little bit differently and broad categories are getting blurred uh and category definitions are starting to go
away. So we're trying to adapt our language to match those requirements. Three of four. built under physical plant. Uh we're talking about areas uh edits made based on public comment. The intent is to allow for greater flexibility as long as
infants and toddlers are kept safe during outdoor time when older children are present due to different sizes to speed the speed and development and level of older children. So this is about flexibility while still remaining kind of guard rails uh to protect the
children. Last slide for physical plant has to do indoor and outdoor play equipment in response to public comment clarifying language and added to make it clear that this requirement applies to playground equipment and not indoor equipment.
Significant public comment received related to the uh hardship of covering large sandboxes and sand areas. Therefore, since areas and equipment have to be maintained in a clean and safe condition, if a sandbox or sand area is contained or has hazards,
there's another standard to address this issue. So, basically what came back was I have a sand pit is very different than a sand box. Sand box most likely probably needs to be covered. You do not
need to cover a sand pit with a big 20 by 20 tarp every night. And a lot has to do with drainage and just lots of things. But the bottom line is, you know, bottom line, I guess the bottom line is
we heard, we responded and we think we we the team came up with a great compromise for this. Just really really did a good job on that. Anything from the physical plant section to go over cover questions, concerns,
comments? Shifting now to part six staffing and supervision. So we cover three different regulation or sections 260, 270 and 290. Um so substantive edits made to supervision
ratio group size requirements and rest period ratio requirements only technical assistance made to ratio and group size requirements for balanced mixed age groups. Slide 50 please. Slide one of three regarding this section. Edits made in
response to public comment sharing concerns about not being able to use safety gates in a room and school age children having to have the same level of and supervision as infants. Edits were made to align requirements with supervision requirements in schools where children are allowed to walk down
the hall to the restroom, nurse's office, or principal's office is unsupervised. time frames reduced since the flexibility for sight and sound supervision was extended for all school age children and not just those 10 years of age and older. So this is a little
bit more flexible than what you had originally agreed to previously. So this again there was a lot of comments about supervision and ratios and so trying to find that nice balance
of what are we requiring in centers for school ages versus during the school day with the understanding that sometimes there are very different environments. Sometimes they're more controlled, sometimes they're less controlled. Um, so really just kind of recommending
these kind of changes be done. I do want to sit for a second because this is probably one of the the bigger changes that we're recommending. >> I have a question about the physical barrier and this is probably something y'all discussed a long time ago. I'm
just coming in on the tail end of it, but are you if if the gate system is built in, you know, they they have lovely uh built-in gate systems that you attach to the wall, does that make it a physical barrier and then you wouldn't be able to
have this gate system to keep your, you know, your non-mobile infants safe from other children? Or is it only like a temporary structure that would be covered by this? or is it more like a solid barrier?
>> Yeah, Jessica, I think I might have to defer to you in this one or the team. >> Yeah, we amended the language to specify permanent physical barrier, but it's also if it if it impacts your immediate ability to respond. So, we do have those
programs that have, you know, like said, you have the sort of built-in gates that are permanently inflicted. As long as they can still they still can see those children, they can still immediately respond and that's not Okay. But like if I'm in this room and there's a little window and I have to go
outside of this room to go in the other room, that's a physical barrier. >> But if there's a a gate that I can open, that's not okay. >> And you can see in here. So it's like sight, sound, and ability to respond. >> Yeah. I'm just I I'm just concerned around, you know, sort of like the use
of gating is a really good way to keep younger babies safe. So I want to make sure that that's not going to impede that. >> Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And it's probably a good point to to bring up here kind of like Clark said, you know, part of it is finding that nice balance
of what's minimum required, but giving always encouraging if you feel as a provider you need to go a little bit more because of your situation, absolutely, you know, doing so. And but what we heard was because of the way the previous regulations were written, there
was this ambiguity that people were like scared of doing something a certain way. And we just want to try and clarify here that you know no that that situation's okay. If you want to go above, great. But just clarifying what's that threshold that cannot be crossed from a
violation kind of standpoint. >> I would think you would want to put that in your training very clearly. Sure. Showing that a gate with access with a um you know a gated area with a door access, >> right? Right. Right.
>> Would be appropriate. Yeah. Slide 51, please. Slide two of three regarding staffing and supervision has to do with uh ratios in group size. Technical edits were made to correct incorrect chapter and to update terminology for consistency. In
response to objections to this allowance in public comment, additional language added to clarify that the variance is optional and must be approved. So, this is where we kind of talked about that that gap that we're going to try and figure out is because we will be moving
to this where there will be variance options. Uh, but it must be approved. You just can't do it. Like just a little bit of background. Currently, because of the budget language, the variance, you know, we have the ability to do the
variance regarding ratios. However, it is currently and will be here an approval process. One of the quickest ways to not be approved is have a violation of ratios and supervision. We you don't get the rate, you don't get the variance, if you have it, we take
it. Um, so we're very mindful to make sure, you know, that we're again that balance that there are some programs that absolutely can do it. There are some programs that should not be allowed to do it. And the process that we have in place and that
we will continue to roll into this uh will be the same kind of thing. Just want to recognize um this is obviously one of the uh most discussed and most debated aspects of of childcare licensing and you're trying to strike a
balance between flexibility for the ups and downs you know of a day and you know folks calling out or folks being a little bit late right and the alternative which is a parent not being able to drop off child right and not go to work or not go to their doctor's appointment or whatever it might be and
you know ultimately um seeing this as as as a floor but also giving some flexibility, you know, um when uh when um when folks meet that kind of necessary condition so we're not putting kids in harm's way. I would say in
general the Virginia ratios are right in the middle. Um and I would say that based on what we've seen after having the flexibility for the last four years is that the vast majority of folks aim for lower ratios than this. Um just I
mean one because of the inherent you know challenges as as Jeff joked about earlier about these are you know these are these are these are pretty hard right if you're staffing as an educator um and you know I think parents as the consumers appreciate uh lower ratios but
you also um these are these are serious violations and so giving that flexibility so that centers feel like they have that cushion I think this represents a nice compromise um in one room we we we feel like have sort of achieved a good place with the field.
Um folks can always go lower if they want. Um but this is a nice balancing act. Kind of stepping off topic a little bit here. And one of the things that hopefully um and I name this just for my staff uh stand
to name it for them but also for this group. One of the things that we've really worked hard over the last four years to do and we will continue to do and I say this as a commitment to to this group is you know looking for ways to get to uh like Kristen and I I don't
know if you all know Kristen but just and I go back and we we always used to joke how do we get to yes? How do we help how do we get to a place where we both can say yes? Um, and and that's kind of the commitment that we're making here of of we're putting into practice. How do we find ways to get to these
places where we both can say yes, this is a safe place? Um, and so this is a really good example that that I think you all have helped us embrace and we have helped you embrace these places of in the middle. Um, because that is where
we all win. Um, because if we force things that are too difficult to put in place, we're asking for problems. If we don't have some reasonleness when regarding some of these things, then we put children at risk as well. Um, both are risky on opposite ends of those
spectrums. Too strict or too loose, children are still at risk. >> Do we need to beat this dead horse anymore? >> We don't. But I do have a comment. >> Oh, yes, ma'am. >> Because I know coming up will be uh homebased child care. >> Yes, ma'am.
Es on you. I >> you are our model. >> Um sight and sound is always difficult in our setting. >> Yes. Um, and I'm sure even in smaller um, childc care facilities, if you still
meet ratios, at what point do you go to the bathroom >> without, you know, taking kids with you and leaving them outside of the, you >> just the sight and sound has always been hard space when you talk about still
small age, small um, ratios, >> right? and still leaving that educator in the classroom room, not for long periods of time. Sure. >> But room where they can at least still hear what's going on and they've already prepared the children to be in a safe
space, >> right? >> And not in harm to, I guess, still be able to go to the bathroom. >> Yeah. I mean, >> yeah, >> one thought on that, you know, is and I just the balancing act is every time we've had a runner, it's because they
haven't been in sight and sound, right? So, like I just the number of times that it's been a highway, it's been a New Orleans street, it's been pumm road here, right? I mean, every single time it has been a child who was out of sight and sound, who then subsequently pushed
open a door and was in almost very short fashion was in in harm's way, right? And so I think, you know, part of what I would welcome and if there thoughts now, you know, for this reggg as well as as for going forward is I'd rather have us
define the exceptions rather than create something that allows you to do it all the time, right? Like I think there's a discreet set of like educator related exceptions, whether that's fire drill, a bathroom break, right? like sort of to
sort of try to specify those as a as a we're very clearly signaling when there is a need to be to sort of do exactly what you described Cheryl which is think about the precautions and be very intentional about what are the
precautions right you you know unless it's an absolute emergency you're making sure the doors are locked right you're making sure there's sort of you know nothing in harm's way you're going into the restroom hopefully still here right I mean those pieces because um you know particularly for the twos and threes
they are incredibly exploratory and they're gone right they don't they're not sort of like looking on the door like coming back and so I just think thinking through if there's an opportunity to find some of those exceptions particularly when we get to the homebased child care I think we would welcome that because I think we we
would like these to be as Jeff just described real but I just want us to be just thoughtful about getting those exceptions as a category kind of defined rather than going from, you know, not saying every other moment of the of the
time like you have to know where they are, right? Because of and the reason we put these things together is because of the ratios, right? This is not at home, right? This is not with small ratios. This is with larger ratios. And so if you lose two and I mean they're off and they could be in harm's way in very
short order. One of the things just kind of kind of thinking through that and heard of the trainings the pre-ervice and the three-hour we're starting to kind of think through supervision and things like that. And one of the things in terms of moving forward when we talk about the training for these is some of
that joint training between inspectors and and and uh providers and whether it's not necessarily we can bring them all together at the same time but some of the same segments so everybody's hearing the same thing about what does supervision mean. you know it is it you know you have to go to the bathroom
there are going to be times without sight and sound and especially in the family home centers that they're partly one of the things we're really working a lot about is talking less about meeting a standard in terms of developing a system because if we have good systems
it accounts for those exceptions. Um so we're really doing a lot of language change about how do we build systems as backup always a second set of eyes always a you know the best example is and is like for or for for buses you know in transportation the best system
is someone comes in gives the keys to someone else and someone else goes and double checks you know a backup and just taking some of the things that are done really well in the commercial industry and like in manufacturing about safety systems it always involves a second set
of eyes. So stepping out a little bit. This is some of the training that we're trying to figure out and develop more and more about systems and how to do that. But appreciate the feedback. This is just kind of helping us think through how to go to the next next take this to the next level.
>> I just have a quick question and this is maybe so when the group size limitations don't apply for the following I knew about the rest period one and the transportation field trips is outlined. What what are we si what is it saying specifically just out of curiosity for like during
outdoor activity and during meals and snacks like that what what ratios apply or do any >> so and Jessica correct me if I'm wrong it's it's about the group size because in certain instances you can combine two but like if you're outside then you know
you can have four or five different groups that can come together. >> It's group size not ratio. >> Yeah it's group size not the ratio. >> Oh okay. Yeah. Yeah. Slide three of 352. We move this requirement to section 660
specific to evening and overnight care. So again, just trying to we kind of talk a lot about trying to combine things with that. All right. Anything else on staffing and supervision before we leave that part
do one more then all right so do one more couple more slides then we'll take a break uh because then the next there's a series of slides I don't want to kind of break right in the middle of that one so program requirements and equipment uh is the section that we're going through
Um summary of the changes only technical edits made to general activities, daily care and activities for infants, toddlers to sleep before school age, children with special needs and requirements for resting. There was no change to requirements for ratio and supervision during transportation and
field trips. Slide 55. Actually, let's take a break. Yeah, let's take a break here because we're gonna we got four we got four slides to go through. Probably a good time to take a break. It is now
Mr. Chairman is 47. I will defer to you in terms of how gracious you want to be when the break for the great >> u minutes 15 back at two. >> Come back at two. >> Let's do two. >> Mr. Chairman, I'm not answering that question because they don't have enough
and you're the one disrupting me. >> Let's do two >> two o'clock. Please, please, please feel free to do the snacks. Uh, I just want to do a call out to Chelsea for all the work she's done to get this together and for arranging for
snacks and making sure I don't go too long and >> feed these so I'm sure somebody else pay Turn it back over to Mr. Kevin Williams. >> All right. So, uh, page
number 28, slide 55, where we should start back. >> 54. >> 54. Yes.
>> Overview of slides 55. So slide 54. Yeah. So we're on part six, program requirement and equipment. So we did have some substantive edits made to the requirements for parental engagement,
parent communication notification, play furnishings, equipment, materials, toys, swimming, and waiting. Uh we only had technical edits to prohibited actions, linens and equipment requirements and no change to parental agreements and
requirements for cribs, CS, rest mats and bids. So kind of an overview of the next four slides. Now we are on page 28, slide 55. So there's four slides that we're going
to go over regarding this section. Uh the first one has to do with parental engagement. Uh edits made to clarify that termin that termination policies need to include requirements for the center and families. This was just a clarification that was
made. Slide 204 has to do with parental parent communication and notification. Um based on an overview of the changes amended based on public comment that there are injuries that happen that require no plan to prevent reoccurrence
i.e. the child was running around fell down broke his arm and it is not good policy to have them not run around. Uh language add to specify that this need that that this is needed when the injury is related to a hazard policy failure or
training need. So when there's a targeted oh here's a way that we can improve then we will improve it. Revise this requirement to differentiate between remorse reports made to the department and what's needs to be reported to the parent because those can be very different. Uh includes situation
in which a child's whereabouts is or was unknown to be reported to parents. So, uh, there's a requirement that is a lower threshold to report to parents. And when it gets to a certain higher threshold, it's also to be required to
report it to the department. Full disclosure, if it's reported to the parents, we'll probably get a complaint and it will get reported to us. Um, but there is a higher threshold of worse situation, for lack of a term, higher risk, then you're definitely going to
need to report it to the department as well. Slide three of four or program requirements and equipment substantive changes has to do with play furnishings, equipment, materials, and toys. Ed, and it's based on public comment. We aligned
with current requirements and alleviates the hardship of washing these items weekly even when it is not soiled. It was a requirement that kind of added some extra things there that based on public comment like, "Yep, that's probably more reasonable. Slide
44 program requirements overview. Edits made to subdivision three in response to public comment clarifies that the requirements specific to lifeguard training apply when the lifeguards are contracted or employed by the LE can't
control that which we don't have. You know it it's a license like at a pool or something like that. This requirement is when the lifeguard is contracted or employed by the lency. Questions about program requirements and
equipment transitioning section seven uh preventing the spread of disease and uh disease and infection control. Again, a lot of this is lessons learned. Um, so a lot of it we kind of learned during COVID, so it had already
been incorporated, but based on some public comments, we've done some substantive edits made to requirements for handwashing, diapering, and toileting. Only technical requirements to the prevention and spread of disease. Good job, workg group. Uh, no changes to
toilet training. Slide 60 which is on page 31 of your handout. So for handwashing we made edits to use terminology consistent consistently used throughout the chapter. Changing terms can get very confusing. Uh public
comment received regarding washing hands before diaper changes and assisting a child with toileting. Uh edits were made to allow flexibility to use gloves for diapering or toileting rather than requiring hand washing before these activities while still minimally requiring handashing after helping a
child use the toilet and after each diaper change. We made a little bit more flexibility on the upfront but still requiring substantial compliance after diapering and toileting threat and spread of disease. I know this is a key
place that we got to keep on top of uh providers just because it's a lot going on uh in those moments. Slide two of two regarding pre preventing uh the spread of disease and infection control for diapering and toileting uh continued
made edits to make it clear that children must also be in sight and sound when toileting assistance provided. uh move the requirement related to using changing surfaces from subsection three of subsection D to subsection E because subsection D is specific to diapering
areas. Additional edit made to clarify that children younger than three who are toilet training do not have to be changed on a changing surface to promote independence, foster autonomy and ease the transition to using the toilet. So we kind of basically the in between
toileting phase learning to toilet is a little bit of a unique situation. So trying to give some flexibility and clarity to that questions, concerns, comments before moving out of preventing spreading disease and infection control.
Are you saying the additional edit here is not in this language or is is in the language like stand up do? >> Yeah, we're going to add we're adding that. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Does that mean that it's in the
>> It is not in >> it's it's in there. It's in subsection E. >> Right. Oh, we did the switching. >> Yes. >> Right. So that's page 37 of 51 in your document. >> Thank you. >> And basically what you're saying is by
limiting B it provides flexibility. By limiting B for those who are uh not toilet training then provides flexibility for those who are toilet training. Yes. So we're not we're not we're not explicitly adding the language in the blue box. But by limiting it to
those that are not toilet training, it provides more flexibility for those who are slide 62. So transitioning to medication administration and topical skin products. Substantive edits made to requirements
for medication administration and topical skin products. Only technical edits to the requirement for self-administered medication. No changes made to the requirement for prescription and non-prescription medication, storage of medication and medical records.
So we have three slides related to this. Uh the first one has to do with the requirement for medication administration. uh includes requirements for medication authorization from sections E F and H for readability and it made because epinephrine is now
available as a nasal spray for the emergency treatment of antifilaxis and as technology changes we got to make sure kind of our ranks change and this is one that needed to be named. Next slide.
So we're still in the same section kind of continued uh the language from subsection E F and H were incorporated into subsection B and C for readability. We removed the epinephrine requirement response to public comment related to um
the other regulations but also entered into here. agency will address undesated epinephrine through a separate comprehensive action to align requirements across chapters and allow more time to collaborate with the Virginia Department of Health. So just
naming that once again. Next, please. So this is a section on topical skin products. Uh an overview of the change amended to use terminology to be consistent with language throughout the standards. Additionally, school age groups at times have children that are
younger than five. And this would be difficult for staff to remember who can have access to these items and who can't. Um, so we're trying to just again make things a little bit more simpler, not get too caught up in um age, if they are school age, hand soap removed based
on public comment as children use the restroom independently and without direct supervision for short periods of time. Focus special questions, thoughts, concerns of part eight, medication administration,
please. So, here we're getting into first aid, emergency supplies, and emergency preparedness and response. just kind of naming uh what you're seeing is the public comments covered a lot of different things. Um and so one of the
things that again just to compliment staff is they had a lot of public comments on a lot of different things had to go through a lot of information. Uh and you can see you know that the public comments touched on a lot of different things. So in this uh section
on first aid emergency supplies emergency preparness response there was substantive edits to requirements for first aid and emergency supplies. There were only technical technical edits made to the requirements for emergency preparedness and response plan and there
was no change to requirements for emergency response drills based on what again we had reviewed back prior to um you know the first first set of uh draft regulations. Next please.
So in uh the section first aid and emergency supplies the requirement for first aid instructional manual was removed. Uh partly it's a lot of folks go for information on their phones and it's there and do a quick search is probably a faster way to respond to
something than to finding the manual, looking it up in the index, switching to that page, reading the information when most folks have it right then and there. And also, we don't know how old that manual actually could be. Um, the administration of first aid should occur
based on training received rather than on an instructional manual that had been outdated or not included covered skills in the train. So, we want training that's going to be more up to date to also override an outdated game.
Next, please. Oh, sorry. Anything before first aid emergency supplies? anything on that section to follow us part 10 special services. So this is including nutrition and food services, special feeding, field trips,
transportation of animals and pets. So in summary, substantive edits were made to requirements for nutrition, special feeding needs, transportation, and requirements regarding animals and pets. And there were only technical edits made to the requirement for field trips.
So there's four slides that we're going to be covering in this section. So we're on slide 69. This has to do with nutrition and food services. Drinking water is required to be offered at regular intervals regarding regardless of temperature. Therefore, the init intent of subsection
E is already met. So we struck that out because it's already being met. Edit made to require food and beverage containers brought from home are labeled with a child's name which is consistent with terminology used throughout the regulations. Just kind of clarifying things. Public comment shared concerns
about there regarding there are times that having a child seated to drink water may not be feasible i.e on a or example on a field trip while hot surface outside etc. So the language is amended to require that children be seated or remain standing in one place
to limit choking hazards. So just a real world example of hey this might not work really well. Um so just always again nine people can read it and agree and then that 10th person brings up a really good point and so we always want to be
amanable to changing those things. Slide two of four has to do with special feeding needs. Edits made to remove duplicative requirements. Supervision of children during eating is already addressed in 820 781610F
and general supervision and safety is addressed in 8A 2078126. So we struck that. >> Definitely was surprised no one had noticed that the snacks for today WERE >> popcorn and grapes. I thought maybe
because our childcare folks don't get those enough that we thought we would bring those today. So all of your all the cats. >> So we were actually we've been we've been taking pictures of you eating it to blackmail you all.
>> Yes. >> Well, growing up we didn't disinfect the table either. So >> true. We will exit if there's a fire alarm. I just want y'all to know. >> Uh next section here is uh
yeah, next one. Did we do we did two of four? Yeah. Three of four. So for transportation section 640 edits were made to clarify to ensure all seats, aisles, floors, compartments and the full interior space of the vehicle
are checked. Um so you know it's basically checking every seat. It's the entire vehicle. Um sometimes it's they crawl under the seats and then back and everywhere else. So just wanted to safety children getting locked on vehicles is one of the worst situations
we face. Go a little over and beyond. If we need to, this is the place to do it. So just a little bit of a clarification added to that one. Next, please. So animals and pets, we did get a lot of feedback regarding this. Um, this was amended in response to public comment.
Uh, we removes the reference uh to access to certain animals with the intent to provide clarity while retaining the safety requirements and classroom pets are allowed uh if children do not come in contact with certain animals. Um, lots of feedback.
So we felt that this was kind of a good middle ground that we kind of kept things uh and if a provider is bent on having uh contact with animals we can always consider allowable variance
with that section there. Um and yeah and this is again kind of about the classrooms itself number one but >> 11 evening and overnight care substantive edits to require uh to
requirements for evening and overnight care. We're on slide 74 which is on page 37. The requirement was uh for evening overnight care requirement was originally included in section 290 which
uh describes rest time and nap uh rest time ratio requirements burn was moved since it's specific to evening and overnight care. So just again trying to keep everything for overnight in the right section bringing some clarity so you aren't jumping back and forth. It's
like oh I need to find everything about overnight care. Whoops. I forgot that there's something in overnight care and the ratios. It needs to kind of be in the same section. So hopefully bringing some clarity to that. We'll pause for a second and let y'all realize we're on the last slide.
So I'm gonna take my time just to embellish on that. length was not on our bingo. >> Yeah. Well, that's a Did y'all hear Did y'all hear Clark? Say that a little louder. >> I've only interrupted him twice. >> Uh part 12 here, therapeutic and special
needs programs. There's quite a few uh you know, requirements here. So this part is entitled therapeutic child day centers and special needs child day centers. Um the sections 670 through 750 are applicable only to therapeutic child
day centers and special need child day centers. Um so there's no substantive change. Uh there were technical edits to each section to update terminology from therapeutic child day programs and special needs child day program to therapeutic child day centers and
special need child day centers. We're just trying kind of a language change. So before we go to the next slide, are there questions, comments, concerns? What do we need to maybe go a little bit
more in depth in? We went a little bit. We're going fast. We're running the race and you're like, "Wait a second, I missed something." But but what we really really do want to This is This isn't about trying to push things off quickly. Um, this is
hopefully about, you know, we've gained your trust and you're looking at this, but really just want to give you just a check second to chew on it, think about it, uh, before we talk about what the next steps are for this. >> I have one thing.
>> Yes, ma'am. >> The the the cleaning soft items. >> Yep. >> Um, >> what slide number was that? Um, >> or what rag? >> Anybody gets it, you get bingo. Yell it out.
>> Oh, um, 420. >> Um, >> yep. So, it looks like it's slide 57 maybe. >> Yeah. >> Page 32 in the regulation document. >> Yep. I completely understand, agree, unders
like it's a hardship. I do wonder about maybe defining what soiled means. Um because my thought is, you know, a doll ends up in a mouth, it dries, it doesn't look soiled, but
should likely be washed. So that's kind of Do we have a comment on that? We have a the So the current requirement it what we have aligns with what is there currently. >> Okay.
>> Um yeah >> 420D also requires items used by defense to be cleaned daily. >> Yeah. So, uh, if you look at 420D, >> was it D? >> Yeah. >> Oh, sorry. C
>> C. Um, so just to kind of, you know, toys and materials used by infants shall be cleaned and sanitized daily or more often as necessary. So, but what I think I hear you say is toddlers and >> Yeah, we have been in their mouth all the way or like
snot, you know, sometimes it's not visible. We have to listen to I would agree with that requirement to have any kind of like regular clean >> mud and I understand that soiled but I'd
be much more concerned about snot >> and I think on this one it's not just soft toys any to toy that is mouthed should be removed and cleaned when the child is done mouthing it I would think >> so there's a standard 470
had already been that any surface contaminated with body fluid including um has to be cleaned and sanitized and that's any surface. So it's not just technical services include the surfaces
of toys and materials and such. I would recommend guidance on defining soil because the other piece is you know just sort of trying to kind of think about all the permutations right and and again you know it needs to be more
frequently than a week if it's got a lot going on and so maybe but I but I also feel like this could be a place where we define soil and kind of how and really because what you really want to do is think about like because you're probably going to
catch somebody for this, right? It's more around how do you come up with that checklist that involves like the staff at the end of the day being like, "Okay, we're putting things back and evaluating these are the ones that actually need to be cleaned and sanitized or by hit the
end of the end of the week." Um, and so I think we did by more of a guidance thing, but trying to kind of get really specific about all the various ways in which um it can't be spoiled and drag. Jessica, do you uh in phase two training, do you remember currently
because we have so question for Jessica just to let y'all know. So when a provider gets licensed whether it's a homebased child care to say it correctly uh or a licensed center um staff uh the director owner
are required to do what's called we call phase two training and in that training we actually go through the regulations because it's like you know here you go go learn this it's like we actually have a course and Jessica do you remember the the off top of your head in the training I think when we talk
about 470 we also reference toys as emphasized the toy part of that correct >> I believe so but I don't >> yeah yeah so taking definitely hearing what you're saying yeah taking what Jenna is saying I think when we do our updated training that would be
definitely very much as part of this although these soft toys aren't required to be done weekly however if then you know if then go for that so we'll just put a note to make sure we emphasize that and and that's a great example of how as much as hard as we work to have
like we talked about with the evening care when all the evening care in one space there's some things that you got two different standards and it's kind of hard to do it but that's something we would definitely look to do to ensure that we've got the training covered on that >> the other one is as Henry can attest is
you know I don't know the place counts as soil but you sure want to be watching If you if you see somebody put something in their mouth, you can say that it's soil, right? >> Doesn't have to look like they're brown or they're dirt, right? I think I think my thought like there's a couch in my
office and oftent times like a kiddo who is waiting to be picked up is they are like rubbing all over it and they just like rubbed all over something in their classroom too and just making sure that like those are being counted. No, I think I think about it that guidance on
all possible versions of soil. >> Anything else before transitioning kind of the next steps? >> Next slide please. >> Um so on uh slide 77 we kind of talk through the next steps regarding the board of education. Um, one of the
things you'll just kind of notice is we don't have a lot of dates here. Uh, and the reason is once we kind of go through the next couple of steps, uh, things are out of our control and there aren't nice hard dates that are set, uh, before. So,
uh, the next step is, um, once we get, and we'll talk about that here in a second, uh, endorsement by this group, uh, to make that one change that we talked about, um, the board will complete. So we will endorse it. The board will complete the first review,
the final regulation on June 26. The second one hopefully and final review will occur on August in August of 2026. So basically there's a two-part process and um some of the other staff can probably explain it a lot better, but they do a first review and then they do
a followup review. Once that's done, the office of attorney general will review the final regulation, attesting that we have the authority to do what we just did. Well, it's already gone through there once, so hopefully it'll go through there quite quickly uh this go
around. Um once the OG approves, executive review will be initiated and the governor must approve before the regulation moves forward. Um, there's a couple of variables in there that it will probably get reviewed by Department of Planning and Budget again because
there's enough changes. Sometimes they decide they want to, sometimes they can look over and say it's good. Um, if the governor approves, a 30-day final adoption period will open. EAC and providers will be notified when the adoption period opens. At the end of the
adoption period, the regulations will become effective on a date selected by the EDOE. So that's kind of key because if you remember with the general procedures, we did a pretty quick turnaround. Uh partly was because there wasn't a lot of training needed. Most of
it was administrative in nature. We had the training we able to offer it. It was like a month or so after the adoption period finalized. This one we foresee a need because we got a lot of training to do. It's a lot of information. you know, we don't want to just do a one and done
um because that's not going to lead to a successful implementation and we really want to make sure we have a successful implementation. So theoretically, you know, this is a risk. Hopefully by this time next year, we might have our new
regulations. If we can do it sooner or greater, need to be careful. We can't because some a lot of this is just kind of outside our control. but just to kind of give some reasonable expectations of what we see kind of going on. So, we'll get an effective date, we'll work backwards, we will provide training uh
for staff as well as providers uh on what's what's going to come up. You know, our goal will be to share a lot of the same training because everybody's hearing the same thing and then it's like, oh no, no, uh I know what you heard and that's not what was said. uh and you know just for accountability
purposes, transparency purposes um and then to maximize resources. So if you want to know more about the kind of regulatory process, we do have the link up there. It's in your PowerPoint. Um and so with that,
I give it back to you, Mr. Chairman, >> okay, to vote to get an endorsement. I'm drawing this out for dramatic purposes >> because once done.
You >> sure you're not drawing it out to keep us here till 4:00? >> No. No. We don't need to stay here someday. >> Once done, >> this is pretty much out of our hands. >> Okay. >> Except for any kind of backroom dealings
you have with the secretary's office or governor's office or OAG or DVB. you know all my tricks. >> Okay, Jeff, thank you. Outstanding presentation and uh hats off to your team. The the work that y'all done since
we've talked with us just before um very impressive. Okay, we are asking ECAP today for an endorsement of the final draft of uh final standards for licensed child day centers licensing number VAC 20-781
dated today 52126 with one edit which was in chapter 781-50 and this had to do with children's records as far as uh parents providing proof of child's identity and that was the on the slide. So, is there
a motion to uh approve these with one edit? >> We have Jennifer with a motion. Is there a second? >> I second that motion. >> We have a second. Any further discussion? >> All in favor, please say I.
>> I >> I >> I would like to share very quickly with the group. I have worked in licensed child care in Virginia for 38 years now. I have probably seen the passage of
probably 10 licensing manuals. I bet Jessica, you could probably get a number of how many licensing manuals been. I will tell you in the '9s it was a three-year turnaround routine. Every three years a new one came out. Sometimes there were minor edits, sometimes there were big overhauls, but it was a pretty consistent every three
years relearn the wheel. And you know, I kind of like this 10year plan. Um, but anyway, I've seen a lot of licensing drafts come and this process has been outstanding. I've never seen such a very
fair response to public comment than the department has has been doing throughout the past five years. It's it's been outstanding. So, hats off to your team. >> Anything else on our agenda? >> All right. So, we start with Cheryl.
Just kidding. Boom. Here. Let's do it now. Right now. >> Oh, we're starting the next. >> We're all here. >> No. >> Not yet. >> Is there a motion to adjourn today's
meeting? >> So move. >> Have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. All in favor say I. I. I. Thank you all. We will see folks in September, which
feels like a long ways away. Okay, I'm sure we'll send many or most of you between now and then, but we don't see