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O2B Kids still offering children safe, enjoyable sanctuary away from home

By Bruce Hope bruce@opcfla.com
Posted 12/2/20

FLEMING ISLAND – Despite the slowdowns created by the COVID-19 pandemic, O2B Kids Fleming Island continues to be a place where kids, parents and staff love to go.

The facility has several rooms …

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O2B Kids still offering children safe, enjoyable sanctuary away from home


Posted

FLEMING ISLAND – Despite the slowdowns created by the COVID-19 pandemic, O2B Kids Fleming Island continues to be a place where kids, parents and staff love to go.

The facility has several rooms to accommodate the children it supports. There is an indoor playground area where children can expend their energy and play in inclement weather conditions. There are also different rooms for art, science, and many extracurricular activities. Some of those are dance, gymnastics, drama, sports, cheer, and karate, among others.

There also is a cafeteria area for older children, where they can buy drinks and snacks. That also helps teach financial skills and lower level money management.

At peak capacity, the after-school program can hold as many as 200 students, and the pre-school program can welcome 150 students.

Children up to 13 are provided care and education on multiple levels. There is daycare for infants, pre-school, VPK, after school and summer camp. Typically, O2B Kids is open from 6:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., but due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, hours are currently from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“O2B Kids is a nationally accredited pre-school and after-school center,” said Torrey Guthrie, Regional Fun Counselor for Jacksonville. “The really cool thing about us is we offer a bunch of extracurricular activities that are included in your tuition whenever you attend with us.”

Where COVID has caused many businesses to be closed for an extended time during the shutdown or to close permanently, O2B Kids kept its doors open the entire time.

“We have been very fortunate and have been able to remain open this whole time,” said Guthrie. “Of course, just like any business, we’ve been affected by COVID and have to put in place a bunch of different policies, but we’ve been able to remain open and keep our staff and students as safe as we possibly can.

“We did see quite a few families choose to stay home during the shutdown, and of course, a lot of parents lost their jobs or just simply got moved to working from home. So we worked with our business and with our parents to either reduce their bill or stop it completely so that whenever they were ready to come back, they still had their space in our program.”

For parents who aren’t ready to return their children to traditional brick and mortar learning, O2B Kids supports drop-off where children can stay all day and conduct their virtual schooling. There are counselors available to assist students with different issues.

What makes O2B Kids Fleming Island special?

“We like to have fun with our students,” said Guthrie. “We believe that learning should be fun and that hands-on learning is the best way to learn. So that’s with our state-approved kindergarten readiness curriculum funnydaffer. It was developed by O2B Kids. It’s a really great curriculum because it incorporates hands-on learning, so the kids have fun, and they enjoy coming to school.”

Lily Rivera of Fleming Island is the kid’s college open area receptionist. She attended O2B Kids as a child and began working there when she was 16.

Rivera remembers that being a student at O2b Kids was always very welcoming, fun, and full of good memories. She loved that environment, and it led to her return once she was old enough to work.

“I came here as a kid, and then I came back at 16 years old and started working,” she said. “So I’ve been working here for three years, and I’ve kind of lived here all my life.”