Cell Phone Use at Daycare Centers

Sarbs81107 · November 2014

So my 2.5 year old son started a new daycare (which he will be in for 2 months before we transition to a new one as part of an interstate move) - One thing I noticed at this daycare center is that at drop-off his teacher seems to be on her cell phone.

The first 2 times, I thought it was a fluke, but today I finally sent a note to the director of the center asking about their "cell phone policy in the classrooms". What made me snap today was not only was my son's teacher on her phone again, and not at all trying to hide it from me, but when I passed an infant room I saw one of those teachers on her phone too.

Looking for a gut check here. Am I being overly hormonal by thinking this is completely unacceptable? I am paying a crap-ton of money each week for these people to not only watch, but educate my son. I know in a school teachers are not permitted to be on their cell-phones, I feel like when people are professionals working for a center they shouldn't be allowed to be on their personal phone excessively either since they are "on the clock".

Thoughts? Am I being crazy?

Pips09 · November 2014

Are you sure it's a cell phone? If so, then yes, I'd be unhappy about that. But at our previous center, all the teachers had mobile devices that looked like cell phones but were not. They were actually tied to a notification system, so while they may have looked like they were on their phones during drop off and pick up, they were actually checking the kids in and out electronically.

Mustardseed2007 · November 2014

DD and DS go to 2 different centers and neither allows cell phone usage by teachers. I have never seen a center that allowed DC workers to use cell phones in the class rooms. I have seen centers that have phones in the class rooms so teachers can receive calls from parents or call out for assistance or to speak with a parent, but our current centers are not that way.

I would absolutely say something about this. They should NOT be receiving or making personal calls while working. It's a safety issue if nothing else.

Actually both DS and DD's centers limit cell phone usage by parents as well. DS's center prohibits parents from using their cell phone in the building and DDs center prohibits it on the grounds, including the parking lot. The point to this seems to be to ask parents to focus on their kids during drop off and pick up (and in DDs case they want to eliminate distracted driving b/c there was an incident of a parent almost backing over another parent and their child while on the phone).

mlee116 · November 2014

Mustardseed2007 said:

DD and DS go to 2 different centers and neither allows cell phone usage by teachers. I have never seen a center that allowed DC workers to use cell phones in the class rooms. I have seen centers that have phones in the class rooms so teachers can receive calls from parents or call out for assistance or to speak with a parent, but our current centers are not that way.
I would absolutely say something about this. They should NOT be receiving or making personal calls while working. It's a safety issue if nothing else.
Actually both DS and DD's centers limit cell phone usage by parents as well. DS's center prohibits parents from using their cell phone in the building and DDs center prohibits it on the grounds, including the parking lot. The point to this seems to be to ask parents to focus on their kids during drop off and pick up (and in DDs case they want to eliminate distracted driving b/c there was an incident of a parent almost backing over another parent and their child while on the phone).

DS's center does all of this too. I would say something to the director because it would definitely bug me. If what are seeing are actually monitoring devices or whatever, I'm sure he or she would tell you then.

ricekez · November 2014

That would bother me enough to say something. When DS1 was at a center, the teachers had their phones around, but they rarely used them while working. One young teacher did use her personal phone to play music for the kids, but other than that, the phones stayed put away.

bumpuser10331514 · November 2014

This would definitely bother me enough to ask about it. Hopefully it's justified, but if not, I would probably ask the director to change their policy. Even if it is justified (i.e., checking kids in and out), I might ask the director to change the way they do things for all of the reasons PPs mentioned above. I want the teachers focused on the kids, not distracted with administrative stuff. Have a cellphone handy for emergency use, but keep the administrative stuff to what they can do during naptime.

MickeyM04 · November 2014

I would just echo what everyone else said. In 9 months at our center, I have never seen any of the teachers on a cell phone. That being said, each room has a tablet like device (sort of the size of a Kindle) that they use for electronic reporting purposes (arrival time, bottle/meal time, nap time, departure time) along with picture taking of the kids. So I routinely see the teachers on the tablets, especially at drop off to log arrival, last bottle time, etc. So if she's on her phone I wouldn't just assume it was because she was texting someone.

blessed2585 · November 2014

I am sorry, I can understand your frustration. Have you heard back from the director at all about it?

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Sarbs81107 · November 2014

UPDATE: Director was super understanding about my concern. Their policy is that teachers can use their phones to text the director if they need her (which I suspect they were not doing). She assured me she would follow-up to see that the teachers were sticking to that guideline.

I appreciate everyone's input. I agree that if they were using the phone to play music, take photos of the kids, update information about their day that would be shared with the families, then the use would be justified. However, unfortunately, since I never saw any such output, I would guess that the use was more personal than child-related.

I plan to keep an eye on it. Even though I am only in that center for a few more weeks (before we move), I am pregnant, and therefore hormonal and want to make sure that future children that go there don't miss out on the attention they deserve while in a child care setting.

I feel a little like a tattle-tail, but oh well, in general I am glad I nipped it in the bud without attacking. Just asking "what the policy is" because I found the behavior "bizarre" and "different from other daycare centers" was enough to get the message across (hopefully).

ASmallWonder · November 2014

They check them throughout the day, I think and I don't have any issue with that. But at busy times like drop off, pick up, lunch? No. I don't care when the kids are napping but throughout the day it shouldn't be more than a quick text check in or something.

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