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Happy Steps Preschool Parent Handbook Updated August 16, 2024. Copyright 2022 - Current. PAYMENTS Payment is due for the month, by the 1st of that month, even if your child is not attending that day, or a $50 late fee will be charged each day the payment is late, due immediately and before your child returns. If you need until the 3rd, please contact Lindsay before the 1st to request it. We prefer Venmo, check, or cash, and Lindsay always writes a receipt for tuition paid. The monthly tuition at Happy Steps Preschool is due in full, whether or not your child attends the entire time – this includes your family going on vacation or otherwise temporarily not needing care. We don’t pack multiple children into one spot, nor take drop-in students (ensuring consistency and a far more peaceful environment for the children), and our expenses stay the same while your child is gone. So, reliable tuition is necessary to keeping the quality of our program intact. For parents enrolling after the 1st of a month, the tuition amount will be prorated for that first month, and is due by the day your child begins. Deposits to hold a spot are taken out of the first month’s tuition, and are non-refundable. The deposit gives Happy Steps time to find someone new if there are changes that prevent your child from attending our school. Lindsay provides a receipt each time a payment is made. Lindsay also provides tax documentation in January, for the previous year. It includes all of her tax and contact information that you’ll need, a list of your monthly payments, and the total amount you paid that year. If parents/pick-up people arrive late, a $1 per minute fee will be charged and must be paid in full before the child returns. Please be aware that we offer multiple schedule/tuition rates to our families – if your pick-up time is earlier than our closing time, we need you to pay if you’re late for your pick-up time (as it can cause us to have to ask a second teacher to stay later than expected AND be paid for that time/possibly overtime). We will begin calling emergency contacts at your pick-up time, if you haven’t arrived and can’t be reached. Please be on time: too many late pick-ups may jeopardize your child’s enrollment here. Our teachers have their own busy lives, after work. Thank you! We reserve the right to open at our set time, even if families have arrived earlier. If you arrive early, please wait outside. (PLEASE share our policies with any other people in your life who will be dropping off and picking up, thanks!) CLOSED DAYS We are closed on federal holidays: New Year’s Day MLK Jr Day President's Day Memorial Day Juneteenth Independence Day Labor Day Indigenous Peoples’ Day Veteran’s Day Thanksgiving & Black Friday Christmas Day We are closed for two professional training days, on Fridays, each year. This allows staff to deep clean Happy Steps, restock inventory and update our supplies room, develop curriculum, discuss observations and the development of the children, attend online trainings (we complete 15+ hours of classes annually in addition to renewing CPR & 1st Aid, food handler’s card, Central Background Registry, etc.), and more. We are closed for Winter Break from December 20th – January 1st. We are closed for Spring Break the last full week of March. We are closed for Summer Break during the first two weeks of July. Please note that our closed days are included in your child’s monthly tuition so staff can have paid days off to recharge our batteries - it dramatically increases the quality of our program's performance and helps us avoid the high turnover rate that is so common in child care centers. Closed vacation times greatly contribute to your child's teacher's mental health and well-being. Thank you! ♡ OUR HEALTH POLICIES Parents must submit complete immunization records (OR exemption records) before children may begin care. Following state requirements, children who have exemption or incomplete records, will not be allowed in care when anyone on the premises is found to have a communicable disease that immunizations would otherwise prevent (i.e., measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, etc.). Parents will be notified if this ever happens, and again when their children may return. We don’t require a flu or covid-19 shot for your child, but ask that you keep them home for 48 hours after their fever has ended without the help of fever-reducing medication, or if anyone in the family is experiencing these as they are far worse than a cold, and are fatal to some. Parents are also notified when their child may have been exposed to a contagious illness here, such as bronchitis, the stomach flu, influenza, pink eye, etc. A record of our more recent illness is listed on the parent wall for parents to see any time. *As soon as you know that you or your child (or someone in the home/family) is sick with a communicable illness (like the flu, pink eye, lice, bronchitis, etc.), PLEASE let Lindsay know ASAP so other families can be informed on what is going around. We don’t name the family, just alert others of a possible exposure. Sick children and Happy Steps staff are required to stay home until 48 hours AFTER a contagious illness has subsided/fever has ended; the exception to this rule being the common cold and/or mild lingering cough. IF Norovirus is suspected/diagnosed, we require children and staff to quarantine away from Happy Steps for five school days, as it is FAR worse, lasts a lot longer, and is contagious for longer. Giving children Tylenol or other medications to hide their fever/symptoms is frowned upon, as they are still contagious in those circumstances, and would jeopardize their spot here. If family members are experiencing a highly contagious illness or pest in your home, such as the stomach flu or lice, please consider keeping your child home or with family for a few days to make sure they won’t bring it here. It isn’t just the other children here that can be negatively affected by these things, it’s also our staff members, their own children, and the older grandparents (with potentially compromised immune systems), and all the family members of the children enrolled here. Thank you so much! We follow the requirements of the Oregon Health Authority: Children and staff must stay home (or, if children get sick here, they must rest in a secluded-from-other-children chair/cot until a parent or emergency contact comes to pick them up) if they:
Medications must have your child's name on them, be in the original bottle only, and parents must sign a medication permission form for them on which staff keeps track of how much and how often the medication was given. We keep medications under child-proof lock. INJURIES & LIABILITIES While the staff members here are devoted to the safety and well-being of all children, young children can naturally trip, fall, collide, etc. Happy Steps Preschool, and all staff members, will not be held liable for any bodily injuries or damaged/lost possessions. Upon enrolling at Happy Steps, the parents agree to waive holding Happy Steps liable for any injuries or loss of possessions. If an ambulance had to be called for a child, the child would be taken to Riverbend Hospital, and parents and/or emergency contacts would be notified immediately. Parents/legal guardians are 100% responsible for paying for any emergency medical services for their child. An injury report will be written, shown to the parents for signing, signed and dated by both the present staff member and Owner & Director Lindsay Swanberg, and kept on file in your child’s record. Parents are always welcome to ask questions about their child’s day here, see their child's paperwork on file, or request a copy of the paperwork. ASSISTANT TEACHERS & SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS All staff members working with children will first have their criminal history background check done, on the Central Background Registry, or CBR. They will remain current on their CPR and 1st Aid certifications, food handler’s certification, awareness of reporting neglect and abuse as mandatory reporters, and all of the other required trainings of the Oregon Division of Child Care. They go through a 2.5 – 3 hour orientation with Lindsay, before or at the beginning of their employment, to thoroughly understand all of the many state rules we follow, our safety policies, how we support and guide the children, what we don’t allow with the children, how we feed them, how to follow our schedule and curriculum, the individual needs of our students, and how we accommodate students with medical, behavioral, or other needs. Regular staff meetings are also held to discuss curriculum, individual needs of students, things we need to update or improve, peer interactions, and more. They also train with us under supervision for at least 60 hours, to thoroughly understand our program and philosophy of care before working alone with the children. This also provides time for them to bond with our students, get to know them, develop trust with each other, all while being in an environment where the children are also supported by the teachers they already know and love. Lindsay addresses any areas that need improvement before new staff work unsupervised with any of our students, and conducts 90-day and 120-day probationary periods, followed by six month and annual reviews. Concerns are not overlooked, but addressed with staff, if/when they arise, to ensure the children are having their best experience here! (We’re very proud of this policy because other centers throw new teachers into a classroom with no training, no familiarity with the children and families, and typically no supervision outside of a co-teacher!) They will also be approved of by the state licensor before working alone with any children. All teachers attend additional child development/education classes every year! Lindsay is open to feedback and concerns from parents, and is happy to talk in private with families, if anything ever comes up. Please contact Lindsay by email to reach her privately. RESPONSIBILITIES OF PARENTS
PARENTAL DISPUTES While we do not deny parents from having access to their children (unless there is a custody order or restraining order stating sole custody), we are required and prepared to prevent anyone who may have a detrimental effect on children from being on the premises. Parents/family members/others who have exhibited threatening, disrespectful, and/or problematic behaviors here will not be allowed inside. We reserve the right to call the police, if deemed necessary. Parents/guardians of the child will be informed if this happens. (Problematic/dangerous behaviors from people associated with the child’s family could jeopardize your child’s enrollment in our program. We prioritize keeping this a safe and positive environment for everyone here.) VISITORS People who haven’t been approved on the Central Background Registry will NOT have unsupervised access to any of the children at Happy Steps Preschool. Aside from parents and family members/emergency contacts who are picking up or dropping off their children, all visitors MUST sign our visitor log by the front door. Visitors will not be left alone with any of the children. In the event of an emergency, the children will stay with qualified staff members until they can go with their families. EMERGENCIES & LOCKDOWNS In the case of an emergency, we will notify parents and their emergency contacts by phone. Our attendance records and emergency contact forms are located in our “outside emergency bag,” and will be brought with us during emergencies. When picking up, the parent/guardian/emergency contact must sign the child out with a staff member. We will stay with the children until they are reunited with their families/emergency contacts. In the event of an evacuation, we will bring the “outside emergency bag” which contains a basic first aid kit and emergency contact info. If we have to shelter in place, or lockdown our facility, we will move the children into the Happy Steps bathroom, lock and barricade the door, call 911, and notify the parents. School doors and windows are always kept locked. During an earthquake, we will drop to the floor, cover our heads and necks with one arm, and get under our table, holding onto it with our other arm. “Drop, cover, hold!” We conduct regular drills to familiarize the children with how to protect themselves safely. In an evacuation due to fire, hazards, or natural disasters, we will make sure children are evacuated safely by having them line up to go outside, conduct roll call, and walk safely to our evacuation site: River Road Elementary School’s grassy field near their parking lot (or outside, for our fire drill). We will ensure the needs of toddlers are met during an
The kids and staff members here will be familiar with our fire drill, earthquake drill, and plan for emergency evacuation. We practice a drill every month. If a child here must be rushed to a hospital, we will call an ambulance (paid for by the parents/parents’ insurance) that will take the child to Riverbend Hospital. The EMTs or hospital will be given the child’s name and the parents’ contact info. Please keep your insurance info updated with us. By enrolling my child at Happy Steps Preschool, and as their parent/guardian, I understand that I authorize all staff members to obtain medical treatment for my child as necessary, including -but not limited to- calling an ambulance, and at my expense. Happy Steps Preschool and staff members will not be held liable for accidents, injuries, nor for seeking medical attention for my child. BAD WEATHER CLOSURE POLICY With the climate changing, over the years, we have now experienced winters where cars couldn’t drive on streets – including ambulances being unable to get to some areas. Many of the houses have lost power for days. Trees have collapsed on many streets. If children had been with us during this time, it may have made it impossible to pick them up from us, for us to get them medical attention if the need had arisen, and to keep them warm, fed, and safe. For this reason, Happy Steps will be closed when the 4J school system closes the schools down due to bad weather. If they open the schools on a delay, we will, too. This is in the best interest of keeping our children, staff, and parents as safe as possible. If this occurs while 4J is closed, Lindsay/Happy Steps staff will err on the side of caution. After weighing the financial hardships of having to be closed, for both our staff members and our families, following is the list of reasons why we have chosen not to reimburse families if we have a bad weather closure:
Please be prepared for closures (winter storm/smoke/wildfire/hazard closure, etc.), as these seem to be happening more frequently than in years past. Please have back up care or time off planned for being home with your child, in case we must close. CULTURAL POLICIES Happy Steps is a secular preschool child care program. We respect the importance of families teaching their children of their own religious choosing, so we refrain from any religious teachings here. We ask all families to honor this policy when visiting our school. We celebrate holidays like Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas (and include books about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa at story time), and are happy to learn about other holidays that are significant to your family to incorporate here. Please contact Lindsay. We actively teach anti-bias. We aim to provide a culturally inclusive environment! SUPPORTING YOUR CHILD The foundation of care provided at Happy Steps is based on love and empathy. Children thrive in environments that are full of love, patience, joy, creativity, fun, attention, warmth, and consistency. Children also need routines, experiences that expand their understanding of the world and encourage the exploration of their (safe) environments, and people in their lives who show them regularly that they are valued, competent, trustworthy, respected, and loved. This is how children come to believe these things about themselves! And this is how children get their best first start. Therefore, we spend a lot of time playing and laughing, exploring arts and crafts, enjoying nature and outside play, reading new books along the interest lines of the children in care, and learning to be kind, reliable, and friendly with each other. OUR CURRICULUM Our play-based curriculum is a blended and fluid one, as the ages in our group fluctuate, along with the interests of the children. It's based on the philosophy that children learn best through experimenting, imagining, practicing, repeating, and playing! We base our curriculum on the understanding that children need to feel trusted and adequate in completing age-appropriate tasks, as well, and that they learn best when they're curious and joyful in their experience. We learn and grow through hands-on play and exploration, through being encouraged to try new things, through observing and interacting with our peers, learning healthy forms of communication, developing conflict resolution skills, discovering art, and our own naturally creative instincts, building, and so much more. Happy Steps aims to facilitate these experiences regularly as part of an enriching day in school. We also provide a developmentally-appropriate academic curriculum to encourage the learning of the alphabet, phonetics, writing, numbers and counting, Spanish, vocabulary, puzzles, and much more, to help prepare them for kindergarten! WHY SMALL GROUP, IN-HOME CARE IS BEST Small group care in school is an extremely important facet of young children having their needs met. Children do not thrive as well in child care centers and schools that max out the teacher-student ratio, or accept a constant influx of drop-in children who may not know anyone in their classroom, creating a stressful environment for everyone. Here, we work to meet your child’s individual needs with our smaller ratio of children to care providers/teachers. We typically only have eight children per class (occasionally up to 10), sometimes fewer in our toddler’s group. It's also much healthier and more consistent for your child to have the option of being in this home-based preschool for years (with friends their age, for years), rather than moving from one classroom and teacher/care provider to the next, every few months, as is done in big centers. FOOD Nutrition is a critical component in having our healthiest, happiest days! Lindsay has a two-year diploma in medicinal herbs and holistic health, aced the nutrition courses at Lane Community College, and has been studying nutrition and well-being for 25 years. Meals here at Happy Steps -breakfast, lunch, and p.m. snack- are mostly organic, with a focus on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains instead of processed, and local/certified-humane protein choices. We provide eggs, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, turkey, and chicken for protein sources (and beans, split peas, lentils, and quinoa, when we have enough children who will eat them). A typical breakfast here: Whole grain PB toast, eggs, blueberries, milk. A typical lunch here: Grilled cheese sandwich, chicken or beans, green salad, carrots, milk. A typical snack here: Yogurt with apple slices, water. GUIDANCE & DISCIPLINE Children at Happy Steps are guided using redirection, reflective listening, “I messages,” and brainstorming solutions to conflicts. Time out is typically not used, but a safety break or calm down break might be given. If a child is becoming a threat to other children or otherwise clearly needs to take a minute to calm down and feel better, they may sit off to the side of the group, snuggle on the couch with a blanket, or go to the table for a project they can enjoy alone. Being able to attend to the individual needs of each child is why Happy Steps is a small group preschool program; we do that with love and emotional support, not shame. Furthermore, physical punishment is not an option, and Happy Steps (and all staff members) is a mandated reporter of child abuse and neglect. This is how we shape happy hearts and great minds! NO BULLYING/VIOLENCE POLICY For the well-being of all the children in our program, and the emotional stability we provide throughout the day, if a child is found to have any bullying/violent/aggressive/dangerous behaviors, we will notify the family and discuss a plan to work on the possible root cause(s), and needs of the child, to overcome the bullying and help them adjust to our program. We aim to see progress begin quickly. Some behaviors may not be able to be addressed quickly enough for everyone’s safety/well-being. If the behaviors are too severe, the family may be asked to immediately place their child elsewhere. If you suspect this will apply to your child, Happy Steps may not be the right program for your family. We ask that you please don’t enroll your child if they have been participating in bullying behaviors. Please speak with Lindsay if you have questions about this policy. This helps us ensure that families know their child is in a safe and supportive environment, here at Happy Steps. Thank you for understanding. INTOXICATION POLICY As mandatory reporters of abuse and neglect, we are required to inform the state if a child is ever picked up by someone smelling of alcohol, marijuana, etc. It’s a violation of our rules, here, for anyone to be at Happy Steps,’ during open hours, if they are under the influence of alcohol, marijuana, or illegal substances. This includes parents or emergency contacts who are picking up the children. It’s also, as you know, illegal to drive under the influence. Please let your emergency contacts know, if this applies to any of them, that if they pick up and smell of these substances, or seem intoxicated, we are required by the state to report it. We also cannot withhold children from leaving with someone who is clearly under the influence, but we are required to call the police. This is, of course, for the safety and well-being of your children. POLICY FOR WITHDRAWING YOUR CHILD Parents are required to give Lindsay one month of notice before withdrawing their child/ren from Happy Steps Preschool. Please plan on paying full tuition during that one month period, even if your child isn’t here the entire time. A prorated amount will be refunded from the month's normal payment, if applicable (for example, if you give notice in mid-June, you would only pay tuition through mid-July). This helps Lindsay have time to fill the spot with a new child/family that is right for our program, continue to pay employees, and keep everything here running well. Time for children to get to say goodbye and have a smoother transition is also best, when possible.   Comments are closed.
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