| Many Centers |
For Kids' Sake |
| Enroll children based upon openings; Limited consideration if they
can properly staff the center with care givers. Some staff fully during
am & pm dropoff/pickup times and the college kid of the week is gone
during the core of the day. Others use the kitchen helper to 'cover'. |
We check both room space and our staffing levels to ensure
any child enrolled has proper care. We ensure we are staffed all
day long, with staff who are committed to child care. |
| TVs: Used frequently; often many TVs in the environment, with cable
connection. |
TVs: Rarely Used. There is one TV for the center
and it is primarily use for the classroom cameras. No Cable
connection for the TV (not even an antenna for 'local' channels.
Used for educational videos and very rare occasions. |
| Staff Benefits; None or very few for Full time employees. Part
time employees have even less benefits. |
Staff Benefits: Paid Vacation; Paid Holidays; Paid Snow
Days; Paid Personal Days; Paid 'family' days for funerals and serious
illness of direct family members; Company pays 75%+ of employees medical
& Rx insurance costs; Employees have a discount for child care - %
increases with Employees years of service; Bonus program tied to
performance and enrollment; Support for continued education including
flexible scheduling and
TEACH program; |
| Staff Turnover: 33% - 50% per year, every year. |
Staff Turnover: 12% per year and many years less.
Staff turnover is a key factor in quality child care. If staff are
constantly looking for a new job or new they are not focused on your
child or don't even know your child. |
| Industry average Length before changing employers: depends on source of information
ranging from 6 mth to
2 yrs. |
Average Length of Service at FKS: 4 years. 50%+ of our
staff have been with us for more than 5 years. |
| Parents Meetings: Some do; many have none. |
Parents Meetings: 7 to 8 per year; Topics include any suggestions
dropped in the office box; up coming happenings; interactive discuss to
identify and resolve any concerns and to add new programs desired by
parents. |
| Parents Night Out: Not offered or rarely offered by other
centers |
Parents Night Out: We offer a evening service for
parents to go out (6-10pm care) every other month. Children have
Pizza or another kid favorite dinner; an art project; pop-corn and a
movie. Some kids have even come because they had so much fun
before and their parents don't have adult plans! |
| Monthly Special Events: Not offered or rarely offered by other
centers |
Monthly Special Events: We have at least one special
event each month; parents and family members are welcome to join us for
the fun if they can. Grandparents day circle time; Back to School
Night with Moon Bounce; Halloween Parade; Thanksgiving Feast; Holiday
Sing-A-Long; Art 'show'; .... |
| Family Events: Not offered or rarely offered by other centers |
Two Chuck-E-Cheese Nights. October & March.
We call a week ahead and find a night when there are no parties; we
publish the date. Many times the are only 2 or 3 families that are
not FKS families. Your children have buddies to run around the
place with; about 30% of the staff comes for the fun of it; you get to
meet other parents and we all have fun. Although I do recommend
adults snack before they come, unless you really like their food.... |
| Family Events 2: |
Support your center days (2 per year). We offer
parents the opportunity to put in ideas of things they want to change
and to help around the center. Last year, we painted a classroom,
made a painted kid size foot print path to the playground, and planted a
flower and vegetable garden (which the kids had fun weeding and eating
from!!). We also picked out of a hat to give away a free week of
care; 50% off a week of care and a free parents night out. We were
amazed by the number of volunteer parents who showed up. I wonder
what ideas the parents and staff will come up for this years events??? |
| Family Support Programs: |
Free Lead Screening; Optional Visiting Nurses Vision,
Hearing & Speech tests, Fire safety with visits by fire company & fire
truck - the kids love to get to climb on and see the fire truck!! |
| Pictures: often pay before you see and you get what comes.
Photo company designed packages. |
Pictures: Taken twice a year. Parents sent a proof
and an order sheet. After reviewing the proof Parents pick the
number of each size sheet they want (_ 8/x10s; _ pages of 5x7's, __
pages of 4X6's, __ pages of large wallets,....). Parents purchasing more
that x sheets can purchase a DVD with the photo for their digital
collection and to allow them to make reprints.
Retakes are offered for children we could not get a 'good' shot of /
proof. Often we schedule the retake for a evening or weekend to
allow the parent to come; Family pictures can also be scheduled
during this time. |
| Staff Education Level: PA requires 1 staff member to have a
college degree for every 45 children enrolled. The director is
required to have a college degree in Early Childhood or related field.
Many centers our size struggle to kept 2 or 3 degreed people on staff. |
Staff Education Level: The director has a BS in Early
Childhood education; 5 staff members have BS degrees (2 of these staff
members are pursuing Masters degrees) and 3 staff members are actively
pursuing there ECE degrees and 1 is pursuing a CDA (Child Development
Associate - equivalent of taking 45 college credit with all credits
being in child related courses). Many studies show that staff
education levels greatly improve the quality of care. We have many
staff who
have degrees and certifications that would allow them to work in
school system. They are in child care because they want
to be - it is certainly not the hours or pay (even with our better than
average pay and benefits!). They are here because they choose to
be, even with economic and work hour sacrifices.
The state requires us to have 3 degreed staff members (including the
director). We have 5 degreed staff members, with 4 more staff
members actively engaged in gaining degree qualifications. |
| 'Supervisors' vs. 'Aides': The state defines staff members who
have less than 2048 hours of child care experience or staff without a HS
Diploma as an 'Aide'. The majority of centers have more than 50% of
their staff qualifying as aides -watching your own children does not
count as experience. |
'Supervisors' vs. 'Aides': We generally have 0 or 1 Aide
on a staff of 16
We believe on a staff of 16, no more than 2
staff member should be aides - ie have less than 2048 hours of
experience working with children.
|
| Rates: rates vary by location |
Rates: Our rates are giving us an 'image problem'. We
would prefer to be in the 'middle' of average rates for child care in
King of Prussia. We are currently one of the lowest cost (maybe the lowest) cost
provider center based care in King of Prussia. This is a problem, as many parents who visit this web site or who are
even casually referred to us assume our lower than average rates are an
indication of low quality. WRONG!
Since we opened in 2000, we have raised our rates an average of every
two (2) years. When we raise our rates the increase averages 2%-3%
per year. From our surveys most centers have raised their rates by 3-5%
per year and after 6 years we have fallen to the lowest center rates.
As we have no 'extra' fees, we are not sure how to resolve this.
We don't want people not to come see us because we have low rates, but
this is no reason to raise rates...
Our financial goal is to break even, not make a profit. Our
primary goal is to benefit Children... The name says it: For Kid's Sake... Child
Care....and....Learning Center!!! |
| Parent Communication: varies. |
Parent Communication:
Calendar: We publish a calendar each year that show center events
(and great kid pictures from the previous years). We list our
themes, monthly center events, parents meetings, parents night out, help
your center, bi-weekly gym; bi-weekly music class, Chuck-E-Cheese
nights, xtra special events magic shows; reptile show,
vision/hearing/speech optional checks, free optional lead testing,
picture days, 12 center wide special events, progress reports, puppet
shows, weekly themes, ....
Monthly newsletters - reminding us busy parents about the events
listed above and other news and events, and more....
Happenings: Memos to let parents know of illnesses and what to find;
special happenings that won't wait for the next news letter (Ms. ___ had
a baby, reminders of policies (please let us know if you are changing
drop off times so we can properly staff, the parking lot is being
relined on xxx date,....)
Progress Reports and conferences: Age appropriate development
reports. We do at least three age appropriate evaluations of every
child in care. Reports are sent home and we hold parent conference
with any parent would would like a conference.
Parents or staff can request a conference at any time.
EMAIL: If you join the list newsletters, special events, etc emailed
to you.
You may also request a statement be emailed to you. |
| Special Children Programs: Varies, many have extra fees |
Gym: We have a 3rd party company come in every other
week and spend 45 minutes with each age group (30mins with the 1s).
The program is included with the full time rate; is $2 for part time
children scheduled on gym days; $4 for any drop in on gym day
(types of care). The staff stay
and help with the program. Music: We have a musician come in and hold
bi-weekly music classes with the children. The children love
the program and the infants even visit, when possible. There is no
cost for this program.
PC's: Part of our 'regular' program for 3's, 4's & Kindergarten
children. NO Internet access for the children and children are
limited in the amount of time they can spend on the PC. |
