PLEASE GO TO HENRICO SCHOOL BOARD MEETING MARCH 14, 2024 LINK BELOW. READ THE LAST COMMENT ON PAGE 9 AND THE THIRD COMMENT ON PAGE 27. THIS IS WHY MARIJUANA SHOULD NOT BE LEGAL https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/henrico/Board.nsf/files/D3CJHX4D404E/$file/Written%20Comments%203-14-24.pdf

Good morning. My name is Alexander Guzman and I am the Public Policy Officer at ChildSavers, a 100-year-old nonprofit organization providing trauma-informed youth mental health and child development services throughout the Commonwealth. I am here this morning to speak in support of HB 508, Delegate Laura Jane Cohen’s child care substitute bill. At Childsavers, we work hands-on with over 500 child care centers across the Commonwealth. In the current competitive jobs market, we often hear child care programs are understaffed. Someone left for a higher paying job at Target, or Walmart, or McDonalds. Sometimes they give two weeks notice, sometimes they leave or resign on the spot. Exacerbating the staffing shortage is that staff may call out sick, or they need to take time off because their own child is sick, or they have paid time off like a vacation day. Between vacancies and call-outs, child care centers can really be in a bind trying to make sure that they have adequate staffing within each classroom. Sometimes this means that a child care center will open late. Sometimes it means that a child care center will close early. Sometimes it means that the Director will pause her responsibilities running the center for the day to be in the classroom. Too often, parents are impacted if they have to pick up their children early due to staffing shortages. HB 508 would enable communities to operate a child care substitute pool. The public school system regularly places substitutes. A similar child care substitute system is needed within communities as well. The substitutes would be background check cleared and meet all Virginia child care training requirements, including CPR certification. Please support HB 508. It’s time for Virginia communities to be able to tap into a child care substitute system. Thank you.