Mississippi Administrative Code
Title 18 - HUMAN SERVICES
Part 17 - Division of Early Childhood Care and Development Child Care Payment Program Policy Manual
Chapter 8 - Procedures After Approval of a Certificate
Rule 18-17-8.8 - Allowable Closures for Providers

A. Subsidy providers must be available to serve the needs of parents. A child care center shall remain open in accordance with the months, days, and hours of operation that was provided upon application for subsidy or is currently on file with the MS Department of Health, Division of Child Care Licensure, whichever is more recent. No additional voluntary closures are allowed other than those described in this section.

B. A child care center shall remain open on days when children are taken on field trips, or any other day outside of the approved holiday list provided by MDHS, for any children who cannot attend the field trips or who still need child care during holidays not approved by MDHS.

C. MDHS will pay for up to eleven (11) holidays (see chart below) per year. If the Governor of Mississippi allows days in addition to the list below in observance of a holiday, providers shall be notified they are also allowed these extra days.

Six (6) of the holidays shall be fixed and must be observed on the day designated for state holiday observance. Those holidays are denoted by an asterisk. The remaining five (5) holidays shall be used at the discretion of the child care center on the date designated, or on any date deemed necessary by the child care center. If the child care center elects to use the holiday on a date other than the designated date, the center must notify DECCD seven (7) days prior to the designated date of the flexible holiday. Parents must be notified by the child care center fourteen (14) days prior to the holiday change.

D. In addition to the eleven (11) holidays, DECCD will also allow up to three (3) paid days for provider closure for the purposes of professional development per year. Providers must document professional development activities for 8 hours per closure day with a minimum of 80% staff in attendance. Documentation of professional development shall include:

* Training agendas (in-house) or list of conference sessions attended,

* sign-in/out sheets (in-house) or certificate of completion if attended elsewhere, and

* proof of staff payment.

* Dated notice of closure due to Professional Development provided to parents. Documentation must be submitted within five (5) days of the event and will be monitored annually. Any provider claiming closure for professional development not providing documentation of claimed professional development will be in violation of policy. Parents must be notified by the child care center fourteen (14) days prior to closure for professional development.

E. Natural Disaster - Child care payments shall be continued when parents are off work due to circumstances beyond the parent's control, such as hurricanes, floods, and tornado. Child care providers shall be reimbursed when the center is closed temporarily in the event of an emergency declared by the President of the United States or Governor of Mississippi or an event that results from a natural disaster or human-caused event for up to ten (10) business days per occurrence, unless the parent needs to make alternate child care arrangements.