Harbor Child Care opens after temporary pandemic closure

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Harbor Child Care opened for business on June 1 and Arnie B. Goldberg, the executive director, said it was successful.

Harbor Child Care, which offers summer camps and programs for infants, toddlers, kindergarteners and school age children, has five locations in Uniondale, Mineola, Manhasset, New Hyde Park and Glen Cove. Because of the pandemic, Harbor Child Care temporarily closed its doors on March 16.

“Harbor Child Care is following the social distancing guidelines from the CDC, the New York State Department of Health and the Office of Children and Family Services,” Goldberg said. “Our staff wears protective facial coverings throughout the day. Cleaning and disinfecting occurs before the children arrive in the morning and after they leave in the afternoon and additional cleaning service is done in the evening.”

Amy Tempesta, a mother of two young children from Sea Cliff, sent her two-year-old to St. John’s Little Learners in Lattingtown prior to the pandemic. Though she has never sent her children to Harbor, she said she would be nervous about sending her children to a child care center at this time.

“I’m not in that situation where I would have to decide,” Tempesta said. “I am going to wait until September when school starts back up. If it was the summer camp situation and everyone was going to be outside, I would feel more comfortable probably. But I don’t know if I would feel comfortable doing a daycare indoors.”

Goldberg said that he is happy to be back in service for families. “Our staff has been working diligently the last two weeks in preparing for the opening,” Goldberg said. “We look forward to having families return to us.”

Harbor receives directives from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. Since Harbor is not under the jurisdiction of the New York State Department of Education, Goldberg said, it was able to open.

As for children of essential workers, health care professionals and first responders, Goldberg said that he and his team are happy to have them. “Whether they are enrolled in Harbor Child Care before Covid-19 or if they are new to us, we are pleased to have those children come to receive quality education and care from us and we also pleased to have children who are not from parents of essential care workers back to Harbor as well,” he said.