How would you handle this incident?
With two educators in a classroom of 17 four year olds, one educator informs the other that she's going to take a 15 minute break away from the classroom during individual choice time. Prior to leaving the classroom, the educator failed to inform the other educator that she had allowed two children, a boy and girl to take markers and paper into the loft area to work on their stories of the day.
Over the last last few weeks, both teachers had a desire to rearrange the loft area. Both agreed to make the loft more cozy for the children, yet the rearrangement made the entire loft area less visible from the main floor of the classroom.
During the educator's 15 minute break, two children were missing from the classroom headcount. The present classroom educator presumed that the children were still in the classroom because the alert that notifies the educators when someone comes and goes into the classroom, had not motioned.
Upon the other educator's return to the classroom after her break, it was noted that the two children were actually still in the loft. The children had taken off their bottom clothing, including underwear and had drawn on one another's genitalia. The two educators began blaming one another for the incident in the presence of all the children in the classroom.
Within the coming weeks, the children's parents had dis enrolled their children, there was an investigation conducted by the State Licensing, and the school administration had placed both teachers on leave during the investigation.
Years later, the educator who had gone on a break, is still working in the field of early childhood education and the other is now a registered nurse.
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Crystal Darlene Sanford-Brown
Early Childhood Consultant
Ashance Associates
Bloomfld Hls MI
Member of the Naeyc Governing Board; Vice-President
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-20-2019 10:43 AM
From: Chris Amirault
Subject: Examples of Conflicts in Early Childhood Settings
Hi there!
My colleague, Christine Keena Snyder, and I have been presenting workshops on conflict in early childhood settings for several years, including sessions at both NAEYC national conferences, the HighScope conference, Zero to Three, and more. We're interested in gathering some fresh examples of how conflicts play out in our workplaces: between colleagues, especially, but also between faculty and parents and between teachers and children.
Can you share some examples with us? Let us know what happened/s and any reflections you have. Please do keep them anonymous, of course, not using people's names and other specifics. That said, details are often the most important part, so if they're relevant please do share 'em!
Thank you in advance!
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Chris Amirault
School Director, Tulsa Educare
Member, Affiliate Advisory Council
Tulsa OK
camirault@naeyc.org
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