Open Discussion Forum

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

We had a very similar issue in December.  One of the aides was actually advertising her babysitting services in the classroom!  Apparently this had been an accepted practice for years.  I had just become the director in November.  Previously I was director at another preschool for 9 years and had never come across this babysitting by teachers issue.    I spoke with the aide and told her she couldn't do that.  I drafted an amendment to the employee handbook, got it approved by our Preschool Oversight Committee, and sent it out to the employees.  I had one very irate parent.  He tried really hard to get me to change my mind, but I firmly stood my ground.  There is such a big liability issue involved in this practice.  If the child gets hurt, the school can be held responsible.  The other things you mention, Jessica, are true as well.   That parent did not want to accept these things as valid reasons, but that was on him, not me.  I haven't had any other repercussions on the matter since December!
The addendum is attached to this reply.

------------------------------
Catherine Awong
Mililani HI
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

First, I recognize that there's a liability issue. However, as a long-time classroom teacher, those no-babysitting policies are incredibly frustrating to me and I think another perspective needs to be considered. Teacher wages are low. We're not in this for the money, and many of us have to have other/side jobs. Families need babysitters from time to time, and trustworthy caregivers can be hard to find. 

At our center there was a statement/paper that said that babysitting wasn't recommended, but not banned, and that a family agrees that they cannot hold the center liable for anything that would be happening when we're not at work. That took care of the liability piece without banning us from additional income as situations arose.

As far as losing teachers goes... that's, again, often because of our wages. I get that as the directors you want to keep your employees, but banning them from a side job because they might want to make it a full time job is, in my opinion, an absurd level of control you need to let go. I know much of it is out of your control, but better wages, benefits, and support is a much better way to keep teachers than trying to ban them from babysitting.

------------------------------
Lydia M. Bowers
Sexual Health Consultant
www.lydiambowers.com
NAEYC Affiliate Advisory Council
Cincinnati, Ohio
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 03:25 PM
From: Catherine Awong
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

We had a very similar issue in December.  One of the aides was actually advertising her babysitting services in the classroom!  Apparently this had been an accepted practice for years.  I had just become the director in November.  Previously I was director at another preschool for 9 years and had never come across this babysitting by teachers issue.    I spoke with the aide and told her she couldn't do that.  I drafted an amendment to the employee handbook, got it approved by our Preschool Oversight Committee, and sent it out to the employees.  I had one very irate parent.  He tried really hard to get me to change my mind, but I firmly stood my ground.  There is such a big liability issue involved in this practice.  If the child gets hurt, the school can be held responsible.  The other things you mention, Jessica, are true as well.   That parent did not want to accept these things as valid reasons, but that was on him, not me.  I haven't had any other repercussions on the matter since December!
The addendum is attached to this reply.

------------------------------
Catherine Awong
Mililani HI

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

Thank you everyone for you suggestions, examples of policy verbiage, etc. All so, so helpful!

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2019 07:16 AM
From: Lydia Bowers
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

First, I recognize that there's a liability issue. However, as a long-time classroom teacher, those no-babysitting policies are incredibly frustrating to me and I think another perspective needs to be considered. Teacher wages are low. We're not in this for the money, and many of us have to have other/side jobs. Families need babysitters from time to time, and trustworthy caregivers can be hard to find.

At our center there was a statement/paper that said that babysitting wasn't recommended, but not banned, and that a family agrees that they cannot hold the center liable for anything that would be happening when we're not at work. That took care of the liability piece without banning us from additional income as situations arose.

As far as losing teachers goes... that's, again, often because of our wages. I get that as the directors you want to keep your employees, but banning them from a side job because they might want to make it a full time job is, in my opinion, an absurd level of control you need to let go. I know much of it is out of your control, but better wages, benefits, and support is a much better way to keep teachers than trying to ban them from babysitting.

------------------------------
Lydia M. Bowers
Sexual Health Consultant
www.lydiambowers.com
NAEYC Affiliate Advisory Council
Cincinnati, Ohio

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 03:25 PM
From: Catherine Awong
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

We had a very similar issue in December.  One of the aides was actually advertising her babysitting services in the classroom!  Apparently this had been an accepted practice for years.  I had just become the director in November.  Previously I was director at another preschool for 9 years and had never come across this babysitting by teachers issue.    I spoke with the aide and told her she couldn't do that.  I drafted an amendment to the employee handbook, got it approved by our Preschool Oversight Committee, and sent it out to the employees.  I had one very irate parent.  He tried really hard to get me to change my mind, but I firmly stood my ground.  There is such a big liability issue involved in this practice.  If the child gets hurt, the school can be held responsible.  The other things you mention, Jessica, are true as well.   That parent did not want to accept these things as valid reasons, but that was on him, not me.  I haven't had any other repercussions on the matter since December!
The addendum is attached to this reply.

------------------------------
Catherine Awong
Mililani HI

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

I was given legal advice that we cannot forbid an employee from accepting babysitting jobs from center families. What we COULD do was require or ban certain behaviors in the workplace, so they were not allowed to advertise, pursue or discuss this on the job. We also had a "strongly discouraged" statement in the employee handbook, and a statement in the parent handbook that teachers are not insured by or representing the center outside of their work hours. That wouldn't necessarily protect us in a lawsuit but at least it was there (we never did have problems, though). Unfortunately, staff are paid little enough that it was hard to discourage these side jobs; I was also aware that having the continuity of your daytime caregiver be your evening babysitter is a really great idea, in theory.

------------------------------
Alison Myers
Compliance Specialist
Ore Assn of Relief Nurseries
Corvallis OR
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 03:25 PM
From: Catherine Awong
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

We had a very similar issue in December.  One of the aides was actually advertising her babysitting services in the classroom!  Apparently this had been an accepted practice for years.  I had just become the director in November.  Previously I was director at another preschool for 9 years and had never come across this babysitting by teachers issue.    I spoke with the aide and told her she couldn't do that.  I drafted an amendment to the employee handbook, got it approved by our Preschool Oversight Committee, and sent it out to the employees.  I had one very irate parent.  He tried really hard to get me to change my mind, but I firmly stood my ground.  There is such a big liability issue involved in this practice.  If the child gets hurt, the school can be held responsible.  The other things you mention, Jessica, are true as well.   That parent did not want to accept these things as valid reasons, but that was on him, not me.  I haven't had any other repercussions on the matter since December!
The addendum is attached to this reply.

------------------------------
Catherine Awong
Mililani HI

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

Good Morning!

Many of our teachers babysit on their off time, I have never, in my 18+ years, had an issue. I'll admit that I don't like the idea, but, I would rather my staff supplement their income than leave. Have a fabulous day!

------------------------------
Tiffany Helms
Director
Trenholm Road UMC Preschool
Columbia SC
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

I was a teacher and now am a direct at my school. We allow teachers to babysit families outside of work.  We have a paper that both staff and families sign that states that they are not working for our school when you have them babysit, therefore we are not liable.  We've never had an issue with that and the staff like that they can make extra money and the families like that it's someone they know and trust.
   We did have an issue a few years ago where a family ended up offering a teacher a nanny position and they took it. Since then we have it written in out parent handbook that if they pull a teacher from us they have to pay us a penalty....I think it's like $2000. That helps protect us and if someone does leave, the family had to pay which helps cover a temp until we rehire.  We haven't had an issue since this was put into practice.

------------------------------
Sarah Disch
Education Director
The Goddard School
Chanhassen MN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

I agree with the need to limit the liability of the center, but for many families who have no local support system, the resource of familiar and reliable teachers and after care staffers can be invaluable.  We make it clear to families and to staff that the school cannot be involved in any part of the arrangements for outside care, but also use the availability of after care staff and summer camp counselors during professional development days and other school closures as a selling point for our program. It serves a dual purpose of providing additional income for our staff and acknowledging that the school year schedule is not always convenient for full-time working parents. Our current policy is below:

BABYSITTING:
We appreciate your confidence in our staff members and understand your desire to have them babysit.
However, St. Martin's cannot be responsible for outside arrangements made with staff members and all such
arrangements must be made in advance to avoid interrupting staff at work. St. Martin's cannot be responsible
for messages left on voice mail regarding babysitting. Please note: any individual arrangements are strictly
between the parent and the individual. St. Martin's Episcopal School and/or George Cottage at St. Martin's are
not responsible in any way for these individual agreements.

------------------------------
Holly Dalferes
Director
George Cottage at St Martin's Episcopal School
Metairie LA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

What an interesting topic of discussion!  I know several early childhood teachers who do supplement their income by caring for children after hours in their homes.  It is a great fit for the teachers, the children, as well as the parents because the relationship has already been established and a level of comfort and trust is in place.  I can also see why the center would be concerned about liability; however I think that a policy statement signed by both parents and teachers who choose to enter into these private arrangements should satisfy the liability issue.  Wages being what they are in our industry as well as the difficulty in recruiting high quality early educators, it seems counterproductive to penalize those who need to enter arrangements to supplement their income.   


------------------------------
Tawanda Brown
Family Child Care Home Provider
Crestview FL
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2019 10:33 AM
From: Holly Dalferes
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

I agree with the need to limit the liability of the center, but for many families who have no local support system, the resource of familiar and reliable teachers and after care staffers can be invaluable.  We make it clear to families and to staff that the school cannot be involved in any part of the arrangements for outside care, but also use the availability of after care staff and summer camp counselors during professional development days and other school closures as a selling point for our program. It serves a dual purpose of providing additional income for our staff and acknowledging that the school year schedule is not always convenient for full-time working parents. Our current policy is below:

BABYSITTING:
We appreciate your confidence in our staff members and understand your desire to have them babysit.
However, St. Martin's cannot be responsible for outside arrangements made with staff members and all such
arrangements must be made in advance to avoid interrupting staff at work. St. Martin's cannot be responsible
for messages left on voice mail regarding babysitting. Please note: any individual arrangements are strictly
between the parent and the individual. St. Martin's Episcopal School and/or George Cottage at St. Martin's are
not responsible in any way for these individual agreements.

------------------------------
Holly Dalferes
Director
George Cottage at St Martin's Episcopal School
Metairie LA

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

I have conflicting feelings. I've asked my teachers not to babysit on weekends or evenings during the school year and to maintain professional boundaries, but when we are closed (over spring break and during the summer month of July) I don't feel I have the right to restrict the parents and teachers from connecting over child care needs.  I have, over the years, had many teacher with second jobs - waitressing, selling insurance, house cleaning, etc...  Our wages are low and people need to make ends meet. This is a tricky subject.

------------------------------
Carol Murray
Bard Nursery School
Red Hook NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2019 11:12 AM
From: Tawanda Brown
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

What an interesting topic of discussion!  I know several early childhood teachers who do supplement their income by caring for children after hours in their homes.  It is a great fit for the teachers, the children, as well as the parents because the relationship has already been established and a level of comfort and trust is in place.  I can also see why the center would be concerned about liability; however I think that a policy statement signed by both parents and teachers who choose to enter into these private arrangements should satisfy the liability issue.  Wages being what they are in our industry as well as the difficulty in recruiting high quality early educators, it seems counterproductive to penalize those who need to enter arrangements to supplement their income.


------------------------------
Tawanda Brown
Family Child Care Home Provider
Crestview FL

Original Message:
Sent: 05-17-2019 10:33 AM
From: Holly Dalferes
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

I agree with the need to limit the liability of the center, but for many families who have no local support system, the resource of familiar and reliable teachers and after care staffers can be invaluable.  We make it clear to families and to staff that the school cannot be involved in any part of the arrangements for outside care, but also use the availability of after care staff and summer camp counselors during professional development days and other school closures as a selling point for our program. It serves a dual purpose of providing additional income for our staff and acknowledging that the school year schedule is not always convenient for full-time working parents. Our current policy is below:

BABYSITTING:
We appreciate your confidence in our staff members and understand your desire to have them babysit.
However, St. Martin's cannot be responsible for outside arrangements made with staff members and all such
arrangements must be made in advance to avoid interrupting staff at work. St. Martin's cannot be responsible
for messages left on voice mail regarding babysitting. Please note: any individual arrangements are strictly
between the parent and the individual. St. Martin's Episcopal School and/or George Cottage at St. Martin's are
not responsible in any way for these individual agreements.

------------------------------
Holly Dalferes
Director
George Cottage at St Martin's Episcopal School
Metairie LA

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

Hello all,
I have many years experience working in the field as a teacher, director, trainer, consultant, and writer.  I am emphatically opposed to allowing staff babysit for currently enrolled children. Legally is it s conflict of interest. There are so many more potential issues to consider than those listed in the other responses to this post. When a staff member cares for a child in his/her own home, it changes the relationship with both the child and his/her parents. It often results in the staff member showing preferential treatment and favoritism towards that child in the group environment.  It can also change the staff member's relationships with the other children when they become aware she/he has spent time with their classmate in his/her home. Confidentiality is a huge problem--it can be very difficult to refrain from disclosing confidential information to a parent in the privacy of the parent's home.  Because care is being provided in the child's home, it can be very difficult for the staff member to defend him/herself if there was any kind of altercation with the parent and/or there is a false accusation of inappropriate behavior, for example using poor judgment, not following directions, touching the child inappropriately, stealing, etc.  I have known of numerous situations when when babysitting for current clients resulted in that person being fired or sued (or both!)  I have never known of employees quitting their job because they were not allowed to babysit for current clients, nor have I known anyone who refrained from quitting their job because they were babysitting for current clients; There are plenty of other and better ways to supplement their income.  As a trainer/consultant, I often hear comments from teachers and support staff that they don't feel respected by many parents who treat them "like a dumb babysitter."  If we want parents to recognize early educators as knowledgeable, competent, respect-worthy professionals, then it just doesn't make sense to babysit.                        


------------------------------
Linda Crisalli
Kirkland WA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
------------------------------

​I agree with this. There are so many things that could go wrong in this situation and I feel it is unprofessional and blurs those boundaries for children and parents. When I was a teacher I would babysit on occasion, but never for students who were in my class. I would never accept a friend request or become friends with parents who have children in my class. Once the child has left my class and center and moved onto grade school there were select few parents that I really connected with as friends and we have remained friends. If a teacher really wants to babysit to earn extra income there are plenty of other places to find clients.

------------------------------
Susan Garrison
Early Education Administration
Lanesborough MA
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-18-2019 06:25 AM
From: Linda Crisalli
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Hello all,
I have many years experience working in the field as a teacher, director, trainer, consultant, and writer.  I am emphatically opposed to allowing staff babysit for currently enrolled children. Legally is it s conflict of interest. There are so many more potential issues to consider than those listed in the other responses to this post. When a staff member cares for a child in his/her own home, it changes the relationship with both the child and his/her parents. It often results in the staff member showing preferential treatment and favoritism towards that child in the group environment.  It can also change the staff member's relationships with the other children when they become aware she/he has spent time with their classmate in his/her home. Confidentiality is a huge problem--it can be very difficult to refrain from disclosing confidential information to a parent in the privacy of the parent's home.  Because care is being provided in the child's home, it can be very difficult for the staff member to defend him/herself if there was any kind of altercation with the parent and/or there is a false accusation of inappropriate behavior, for example using poor judgment, not following directions, touching the child inappropriately, stealing, etc.  I have known of numerous situations when when babysitting for current clients resulted in that person being fired or sued (or both!)  I have never known of employees quitting their job because they were not allowed to babysit for current clients, nor have I known anyone who refrained from quitting their job because they were babysitting for current clients; There are plenty of other and better ways to supplement their income.  As a trainer/consultant, I often hear comments from teachers and support staff that they don't feel respected by many parents who treat them "like a dumb babysitter."  If we want parents to recognize early educators as knowledgeable, competent, respect-worthy professionals, then it just doesn't make sense to babysit.


------------------------------
Linda Crisalli
Kirkland WA

Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

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Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
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Good morning,
This is apparently a hot button issue and I wanted to add my opinion.  I agree on both sides of the issue.  Teachers do NOT get paid enough money and I would rather they supplement income rather than walk away from a career that they excel at.  
I also agree, that it COULD be a liability and fall back on the center/business and as a business owner, that scares me alot!  My center recently went through some drama, with an employee "babysitting" a student.  It became a serious issue in a very short amount of time and I had to put an end to it very abruptly with the outcome being unsettling.  
So, I recently added/changed policy to cover myself and hopefully avoid any further situations.  Here is what I added:

1. Child care outside of business hours: It is the policy of this business that employees should not baby sit, take care of or moonlight for a client/family during weekends or off hours of the business.
   1. Exceptions can be made provided that:
      1. Employees must continue to meet demands of their position with this company, which may include working overtime or occasionally covering others' shifts.
         1. Failure to do so will result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
      2. The caregiver and parent are willing to sign an agreement stating that they will not hold this business or it's owner or employees responsible should anything happen.
      3. Doing so does not pose a conflict of interest with this company.

I hope this helps.  It made me and my staff feel more at ease anyway.  Thanks for listening.


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Shawn Wagner
Owner/Director
Kids' Campus Child Care
Sweeny TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-16-2019 02:21 PM
From: Jessica Rowell
Subject: Babysitting policy for staff

Good morning!
I am the executive director of our organization and I am currently working with a board member who is a attorney to draft a new policy for our early childhood center. We have a few instances of teachers babysitting for kids they have in their class (or in other classes in the center) on their off hours. We have a number of concerns for our organization and our staff, as you can imagine: conflict of interest, teachers leaving our employment to provide private care.
What we've come up with is a policy for staff that expressly states, as an employee of our center, I agree to not accept or offer outside childcare services to families of our center. For the parent handbook, we will say something to the tune of "We do not endorse or insure our teachers outside of the workplace and ask teachers to refrain from accepting or offering outside childcare services to families of our center. 
We have a board meeting tonight so I'd love to have some other ideas to present on this. Have you had experience with this? How have you handled it?

------------------------------
Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
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