University Child Care

Policies/Procedures

Morning Arrival

Parents are requested to have their children at school as close to 7:30 AM as possible, unless negotiated and agreed upon in advance with the Director. Arrival should never be later that 9:00 AM. Exceptions to this policy have been made for families with elementary school age children at home who need to wait for a school bus with their child, parents who are school crossing guards, parents whose children are attending special schools and require that their parents drop them off at a specific time, etc.

Parents are requested to phone in advance if their child will not be attending class of a given day.

Parents are requested not to take their children out of school during nap time hours*. It is very difficult to create enough calm and quiet to get this many children to sleep. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

* Please see "nap time" link.

DROP-IN CARE

We do not offer any type of "drop-in care", only pre scheduled care. Families are expected to arrive no later then 9:00 A.M. (Please see page 3 of our contract, #2, under "Terms and Conditions") We know from experience, that the earlier a child arrives (we open at 7:30 AM) the easier it is for them to become integrated into the classroom. Coming early they have time to play, explore, etc. before our more structured part of the day begins with Breakfast. Please note that both of our Two Year Old Classrooms eat before 9:00 AM: our Yellow Twos eat at 8:30, and our Red Twos/Threes eat at 8:45.

POTTY TRAINING

There is a $3.00/daily charge for diapering. Diapering charges are automatically charged to each child under 36 months of age, OR until they become trained, whatever age that might be. By seven weeks after enrollment or re enrollment for the next year (regarding those children who are only 40 week children), the classroom diapering documentation should indicate that your child has shown progress, and is now taking him/her self to the bathroom when they sense that they need to do so.(The Lead Teacher documents the child's potty training progress for seven weeks. If your child has been successful (including during naptime for seven weeks) your child's teacher will determine whether or not your child is potty trained* and accordingly authorize/or not a credit to be posted to your account.

Families supply us with adequate numbers of LABELED diapers, wipes, ointment, etc. We do not use Pull-Ups here at all in any stage of "training". Pull-Ups typically do not absorb enough liquid, and we end up washing clothing, linen etc. We ask that parents support us in not using pull-ups at home and also continue to provide us with pampers. When we change your child if he/she is still dry, and the velcro is wearing out, we will simply masking-tape the diaper back together, regardless of how many times it happens a day.

If you come in and your child's diaper is covered w/masking tape, it has been a GREAT DAY!

*Training is defined as the stage of development when your child alerts him/her self to stop what he/she is doing, to go and use the bathroom. Nap time is also a time when children need to be able to arouse themselves to get up and use the bathroom. We certainly will ask your child many times throughout the day, and always before nap time if they would like to use the bathroom, but they have to be "ready enough"/"motivated enough" to take themselves there. Being ready/motivated involves personal readiness, which also involves time, maturation. We are not toilet training teachers here to get children to the bathroom in time--rather, we are teachers assisting families in toilet training their children.

It makes no sense to force a child who isn't ready to "go potty". Ask them, suggest, yes...but force, no. It will backfire, and your child will react.

Evening Arrival

Late Pick-Up Fees

The Center will assess a $15.00 late fee for every 15 minutes late, beginning promptly at 5:31 pm. Late fees are assessed based upon the parents arrival time in concert with the main wall clock in the front, main office, and will be applied to your account from the Bursar's Office.

You may always request that additional days of service be negotiated, and we will help you out if we can. The number of days contracted for, however, may not be reduced.

Parents must make an unannounced visit in conjunction with our application process. The process of considering your applications will not proceed until you have made an unannounced visit. You are welcome to visit at any time w/your child, except nap time: nap time occurs in different rooms at different times but essentially runs from 12:30 through 3:00 daily. (An unannounced visit typically involves looking at all classrooms, Children's Library, Kitchen, Playground etc. If you choose to come without your child, you are welcome to come during nap time with the understanding that our ability to roam into classrooms as access is severely limited by the number of children on cots in a classroom. The best time, we strongly suggest, is early in the morning (7:30-9:00) when families are arriving, and when you would have the opportunity to ask other parents what they think about their choice of us as a child care option.)

Involvement with the larger university

We are a university-affiliated program. Observations, participation, interactions, and volunteering obligations assigned by various university professors/advisors occur here by students in all groups, everyday. Depending upon the subject matter, these interdependent exercises may occur in buildings other than the Center. Children are always accompanied to these classes by their Teachers and/or Teacher's Aides. University classes are led by professors who have been working with the university and the Center. We are very comfortable having our children in these particular settings.

Our Teachers also spontaneously decide to take their children to other spaces especially if the weather is/has been keeping us indoors, or if the children seem to need a change of pace. (Large, open spaces have an incredibly positive effect upon children who have been "confined" for too long.) The Towson Center and the Auburn Pavilion are two such close-by spaces.

Your child's acceptance into our program is contingent upon:

• The availability of space in what the Center considers to be the appropriate age group
• Your agreement to comply and conduct yourself within Center policy and procedures
• Your cooperation in establishing all university required information for the process of creating billing processes etc. if you are not already a university affiliated family.
• Your cooperation in securing all innoculations, tests, and medical forms required by law for a group setting in the State of Maryland.
• Resolution of all prior financial obligations to the university
• Our ability to be able to explain to you what is involved in having your child be one of us. If language is an issue for either of us, thereby causing a barrier between us, you will need to provide us with the support to be able to adequately communicate; we, unfortunately, only speak English.

Availability of space and classroom placement is determined solely at the discretion of the center's director. This is the case in both initial entry into the center, and in movement between classrooms after children have been enrolled. Children do not automatically move on their birthdays. We must have the room for someone to move. Typically, no one moves before June, in any given year. Many years the "moves" stretch out over the summer, and some can not even be considered until late August, as children must be leaving to open up new spaces, and late August early September is when schools typically start.

We would always give priority "movement wise" to a family who is here all summer over one who is gone for the summer, or only here intermittently over the summer. It takes time to adjust, and we want the adjustment to have the maximum opportunity to "settle in", and not be disrupted.

The Center reserves the right to determine, at any time, that our cumulative skills and experiences do not meet our understanding of you child's needs or requirements. This decision will be made in consultation with your child's Lead Teacher and the Director of the Center. If such a determination is arrived at, you will be given up to 30 working days to locate and place your child in another setting. If such a determination is made, the family will also not be held responsible for the balance of the semester's charges dating from the first school day beyond the last day of the child's enrollment at the center, through to the end of that specific cycle of enrollment..