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.
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Lydia M. Bowers
Sexual Health Consultant
www.lydiambowers.comNAEYC Affiliate Advisory Council
Cincinnati, Ohio
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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.
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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?
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Jessica Rowell
Executive Director
Rosa Venerini Early Childhood Center
Schenectady NY
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