Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  Do you love your admin. team?

    Posted 02-11-2020 03:08 PM
    Hello! We're reviewing our administrative structure and considering alternative models for next year and beyond. Does anyone know of any resources that describe different admin./management structures for center-based care? Our nonprofit program has about 25 total staff members and 110 families enrolled (~65 children each day), to give you a sense of the size.

    Education coordinators? Program coordinators? Pedagogical directors? Enrollment specialists? Administrative assistants? Executive directors? Business or finance managers?

    What has worked really well in your experience? Or, what do you think would be ideal?

    Thank you,
    Stephen

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    Stephen Karmol
    Executive Director
    Wild Lilac CDC
    Pronouns: he/him/his
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  • 2.  RE: Do you love your admin. team?

    Posted 02-12-2020 06:33 AM

    Ours is kind of a conglomerate; however, our state regs somewhat impede how we'd like to have it set up. In Delaware, everyone has to have the 18 required PD hours annually. However, they are limited as to what's offered & accepted. For example: our owner has to take the same offerings as our teaching staff. Our CACFP coordinator: same. Our resource & referral admin: same. It gets very frustrating when you try to set up as such. 


    We're going through the NAEYC accreditation process, and it has the option for a business admin & a pedagogy admin; however, our state doesn't allow for delineation. Your admin is your admin & you can't have two. 


    In all of that, I'd say find out what works well (I think our conglomerate does for us), establish clear boundaries, job responsibilities, set up chain of contact/command, etc., and fix it when/however you need to.



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    Toni Dickerson

    "Children are not things to be molded, but people to be unfolded." - Jess Lair
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  • 3.  RE: Do you love your admin. team?

    Posted 02-12-2020 06:47 AM
    We are almost exactly the same size that you are.  We have a Director, Assistant Director, and Administrative Assistant.  The director handles the big picture things, hiring and staff concerns, employee paperwork,  ensuring all regulations are being followed, goal setting, budgeting, coordinating with maintenance, etc.  The assistant director does scheduling, keeps track of children's files, helps in the classroom as needed, and assists the director as needed.  The administrative assistant keep track of the families financial accounts, does our paperwork for CACFP, helps our families with CCDF and tracks CCDF payments, etc.  All of us overlap in our roles somewhat, but this structure has seemed to work well for us.  I'm curious about what others say as well.

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    Elizabeth Weller
    Director
    Park Place Children's Center
    Anderson IN
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  • 4.  RE: Do you love your admin. team?

    Posted 02-12-2020 10:20 AM
    We have 104 families and 112 children (75 or so children per day) and I am the only admin. My title is Director. I do all the enrollments, licensing requirements, new staff orientation, staff files and HR policies, tuition, payroll, etc. 

    I do have a Teacher Aide that comes in twice a week for about an hour and a half to help with filing and some reports (vision/hearing, health, etc.) and I have a Teacher that is a Master Trainer that helps plan and organize Professional Development throughout the year and she gets a stipend for that. 

    I don't know if that helps, but that's what we do. 

    Jamie Hartley 
    Methodist Day School

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    Jamie Hartley
    Portland TX
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  • 5.  RE: Do you love your admin. team?

    Posted 02-12-2020 10:59 AM
    Hi all- 

    Our schools are a little odd in terms of set-up but it seems to work fairly well for us. We have three schools in the Portland area, two play-based schools, and a Montessori school. Each school has a school leader(director) and an assistant director. They perform the big picture and small picture tasks of the school respectively. On top of that, each of our schools have two program coordinators, one for infant/toddler and one for preschool. This is an experienced teacher who has been with the school for a while and has shown impeccable leadership capabilities. They are the "go-to" person for the teachers throughout the day to day, if they need an additional potty break, help with lesson planning, etc. They also step into the classrooms so that teachers can do check-ins with the admin team as well as step in for them so that the teachers can go to coaching. 

    Attending to all three schools is our Student Services Coordinator (that's me!) and our Education Coordinator. I work primarily with challenging behavior and students on IFSP's, promote inclusion and equity, provide coaching to staff monthly and lead professional development training. Our Education Coordinator helps classrooms with pedagogy, materials, lesson planning, and other aspects of the curriculum building piece. 

    There are a lot of moving parts to ensure that all of our schools have their needs met but it is a well-oiled machine for the most part! ;)

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    Elizabeth Nash
    Endeavor Schools
    Portland OR
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