What do you think about this? (another daycare post)

jiffy-pop · April 2012

So every morning when I drop DD off, the "morning" teacher has the small infant room (6wks-crawling) AND the bigger babies (crawlers/walkers) in a combined room together from 6:00 am until the part-time teacher gets there at 7:30. I usually drop DD off around 7:15 and she seems pretty swamped. And this morning, when I left at 7:35 ( I was running late), she had 7-8 babies/toddlers all by herself and the other teacher hadn't even gotten there. The ratio is supposed to be 1 to 6. They had a teacher leave recently and I know they were in the midst of rearranging some teachers to help cover, but this has actually been a problem from Day1...the morning teacher has always seemed to need help since some babies haven't had breakfast or their first bottle yet, so she has a lot of hungry babies that want to be fed at the same time. She needs help between 7 and 7:30 especially. I want to mention this to the director (who is super sweet and she is also helping cover a class right now), and let her know that I've noticed this. I recently got the director's email so I plan to email her about my concerns.

I'm also the type of mom who will "help out" a little bit if I am there the pick up/drop off and another baby is crying or needing something. Maybe they have plenty of help during the day, but when it's just the morning or evening teacher by themselves during pick up/drop off times, it's a little chaotic and I feel guilty just leaving the teacher by herself with babies crying. I also like that time to catch up with the teacher on how my DD's day went and watch how the teacher is interacting with the babies.

BTW, the director is also about 33wks pregnant and I haven't been told who is going to take over her duties while she is out on mat leave.

Give me ideas on how my email should read.

MrsWindyCity · April 2012

We did not have this problem early on but at some point, it became an issue - I think maybe newer babies were coming in earlier, so the old schedule was no longer working. After a few days of DH dropping DS off and them being over ratio, he mentioned it to the director. She immediately made one of the teachers adjust her schedule and start coming in earlier. I don't really know what he said, but it's my H, so I'm sure he was pretty straightforward and just said he had noticed that a few times while dropping DS off the teacher had too many kids, and if she could have one of the other teachers come in 30m earlier, it would be great (and you know, legal).

ETA: Our infant ratio is also 1:4. 1:6 does sound high for infants.

Iblamethebeer · April 2012

A 1:6 ratio for infants sounds crazy to me. I thought in most states it was 1:3 or 1:4.

1:8 is just ridiculous.

What if there's an emergency and they need to vacate the building?

jiffy-pop · April 2012

Iblamethebeer:

A 1:6 ratio for infants sounds crazy to me. I thought in most states it was 1:3 or 1:4.

1:8 is just ridiculous.

What if there's an emergency and they need to vacate the building?

I know, I don't think it should be 1:6 either. During the day when all the teachers are there at one time, it is like a 1:3 ratio. I asked the director what they do during emergencies to vacate the building, and she said they load the babies in one or two cribs (they have wheels on the cribs) and roll them out the door.

Leap08 · April 2012

Iblamethebeer:
A 1:6 ratio for infants sounds crazy to me. I thought in most states it was 1:3 or 1:4.

1:8 is just ridiculous.

What if there's an emergency and they need to vacate the building?

In our state the ratio is 1:6. Our center tries to maintain a 1:4 or 1:5 (so better than what they have to do), but occasionally in the morning they may be at 1:6 until another teacher arrives. Being above ratio is never okay with me. I would definitely say something.

octwed07 · April 2012

You absolutely need to say something ASAP -- if they exceed the ratio, they are in violation with the standards and a violation can be filed against them. I would not email -- i would tell them that it is a violation and safety issue and they NEED to hire an assistant in the mornings. At DD's daycare, they always do counts and when the teacher goes over the 1:4 ratio, she'll ask me to stay a minute while she grabs another assistant or will have one of the toddlers go to the infant room for a bit. They should be taking this seriously.

offbeatmama · April 2012

I'd talk to the director ASAP and tell her you noticed they seem to be significantly over ratio and to please make sure the law is being followed in terms of ratio. There's no excuse for that. I've had times where the director of DS daycare was in one of the rooms to maintain ratio because someone came early or a teacher was late. On the off chance that something happened and DS was going to put the room over ratio the teacher immediately paged the director when I walked in the room. The problem was solved before I even got DS checked in.

emberlee3 · April 2012

In my state, the ratio for infants is 1:4. If even 1 child in the group is under 1, the ratio must still be 1:4, no matter what the ages of the rest of the children. So, yours doesn't even sound close to being legal.

Your DCP needs to stay in ratio, period. Report them to the state and find a new center. If they violate that regulation, what other violations are they ok with? Familiarize yourself with your state's child care regulations so that you know what to look for.

Want a personalized experience?

What do you think about this? (another daycare post)

Re: What do you think about this? (another daycare post)

Choose Another Board

Search Boards