BICCC has been a trusted childcare provider in our community for more than 40 years. This fall, we will continue to offer the same exceptional care as always, while working hard to maintain a safe and healthy environment that your family can rely on. We also recognize just how difficult it is to educate our children during these uncertain times.

BISD’s decision to move to its students participating in the Hybrid learning model to Continuous Learning 2.0 for at least the first nine weeks of the school year has put many parents into a difficult position. For some families, the demands of Continuous Learning 2.0 are too difficult to balance with full-time jobs and other responsibilities. In light of this, BICCC is pleased to introduce a new Learning Pod option for our families.

These Learning Pods will provide school-aged children with the structure, stability, and social outlet traditionally provided throughout the school day. Each pod will consist of up to 8 similarly aged students, and will be led by dedicated pod leaders who have a background in education or childcare, will adhere to all licensing and background check requirements, and will lead their pods at BICCC’s indoor or outdoor facilities under the supervision of our staff program directors. These contracted pod leaders will be responsible for helping students with the academic portion of the day, while also providing social and emotional support and curating a fun and engaging pod experience.

We understand that, for a variety of reasons, not all students will require placement in a Learning Pod during the school day. The creation of these pods allows BICCC to preserve the integrity of our robust childcare program, which will run concurrently with the Learning Pods program. At the same time, those parents who do need outside support will get the care they need during BISD’s Continuous Learning 2.0 program. Any students participating in a pod are welcome to join in our traditional childcare program before and after the school hours determined for their grade by the school district.

We recently released the pricing model for our standard full and part-time daycare program. Full-time attendance at our traditional program, which is available from 7 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, is $48/day. In order to staff the Learning Pod model appropriately, BICCC will be charging an additional $12 per day, per child, to have access to this dedicated pod environment. This total of $60/day will be billed on a monthly basis. Currently, we only have the ability to offer full-time Learning Pods, but with enough interest a part-time model may be feasible.

If you have enrolled your child in BISD’s Hybrid Model/Continuous Learning 2.0, enrollment in the Learning Pods will be strongly encouraged. Please understand that our staff members will not be able to ensure your child’s attendance or participation in daily school activities unless you’ve enrolled in one of our Learning Pods because they will be otherwise engaged in our daily programming for those in our care who are not participating in BISD’s Continuous Learning 2.0 program.

We are seeking to have Learning Pods up and running for all enrolled students on the first day of school, Wednesday, September 2. We are in the process of offering contracts to between three and five pod leaders, depending on enrollment. We are also in the process of upgrading the internet access to our building, which is scheduled to be completed by September 1. Therefore, if you would like your child to participate in Continuous Learning 2.0 at our facility on the first day of school, we urge you to return the attached updated registration form by the end of the week.

We also ask that you grant us a measure of grace as we rush to institute the staffing and technology needed to institute this novel education and childcare model.

Sincerely,
Shelley Long, BICCC Executive Director