Over The Rainbow Aims To Increase Enrollment As New York Reopens

BREWSTER, NY — Over The Rainbow Learning Center is among Brewster's many businesses affected by closures resulting from the new coronavirus. And while the business wasn't required to temporary shutter, the pandemic has affected its business.

Administrative Director Rita Acerno told Patch the school usually has an enrollment of around 90 children. That number has dropped to 18 as a result of the pandemic.

Moving forward, the learning center hopes to re-increase its enrollment before it's too late, Acerno said.

"A few of the Directors/Owners have been meeting (via telephone) trying to come up with a plan to remain open," she said. "When tuition stops coming in, it becomes very difficult to meet the overhead of the business. The School District covers the tuition for children registered in school and the CARES Act covers the tuition for the children who are not of school age, but we need the children to attend."

Acerno said the learning center has been following CDC and board of health guidelines, going as far as to deliver students to the curb for pick up and drop off, taking the temperatures of students and staff daily and restricting visitors.

Acerno said the facility is faced with a conundrum its trying to overcome.

"Parents are afraid to send in their children, which is completely understandable," she said. However, "without child care facilities, most parents cannot go back to work."