SACC Program Returning To All Fairfax County Schools In August

CENTREVILLE, VA — School Age Child Care (SACC) programs will be returning to all public schools in Fairfax County when the academic school year begins on Aug. 23. The county-run program provides care for students before and after school, as well as during school vacations.

"With the school board's decision to return kids to the classroom this fall, full-time, we will return with 142 SACC locations throughout Fairfax County, including two new SACC centers at Clearview Elementary School and McNair Upper Elementary School," Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said, during a Thursday morning news conference at London Towne Elementary in Centreville.

As the parent of two FCPS students, McKay said he recognized the anxiety many families were experiencing about whether child care would be available when schools opened.

"We all are making plans for our kids this upcoming school year," he said. "We're making important decisions about when they will return to school and our parents and our families need to know that Fairfax County and our school system has put together a safe program for kids to come to SACC throughout Fairfax County."

Although SACC is a county-run program, it operates in full partnership with the school system. McKay called that partnership vital to the program's successful operation during the pandemic.

"Over the past 16 months, the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the importance of child care during the first decade of life for young children and their families," he said. "Like other essential services, the availability of child care services was altered in communities throughout the country, including Fairfax County. There was anxiety not knowing if families who needed it most would have access to safe and regular child care."

McKay was joined Thursday by County Executive Bryan Hill, school board Chairwoman Stella Pekarsky, and Anne-Marie Twohie, the director of the county's Office for Children.

London Towne Elementary was chosen as the site for their news conference because it is one of the 31 schools offering the Camp Fairfax summer program.

"I'm proud to say that our Camp Fairfax program here has averaged 90 percent daily enrollment," McKay said. "And we could not have done that without the work of a lot of county staff, SACC staff, and school staff, making sure that we are providing safe, inviting environments for our young people today."

As of Wednesday afternoon, 76 percent of Fairfax County residents 18 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 69.4 percent have been fully vaccinated. Since the COVID-19 vaccine is now only available to people 12 and older, many school-age children are at greater risk for catching the virus.

FCPS does not currently require teachers and school staff to get vaccinated, but Pekarsky said a large percentage of them sought out the vaccine when it was made available to them.

"We were lucky in the school system that our teachers and staff were actually prioritized in the spring and offered the vaccines and we saw a very large number of who took advantage of that," she said. "In fact, at the time, I believe the number was over 90 percent."

At Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting, McKay introduced a board matter tasking the county executive to explore the possibility of mandating vaccinations for all county employees.

"We know that the CDC has updated mask guidance for the country, and we're following that closely to make sure that we are doing everything we can to message to our public the importance of protecting each other and making sure that SACC centers like the one that will be in this school, and Camp Fairfax, like the program that is being run safely now, can continue to run," McKay said.

Related:

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