The teachers and staff of Creative Kids Learning Center welcome you and your child. As a parent, your input is very important in helping us make the days your child spends with us safe, happy and an exciting place in which to grow and learn. Please read the Parent Policy and Procedure Agreement carefully and keep it for reference.

Mission Statement

Creative Kids Learning Center will provide a full-day, year round learning program in which children can experience new things, explore, and develop to their full potential. Creative Kids Learning Center wants for the family the same things we want for the child--security, healthy development, high quality of life. We care about the entire family; and the services we provide and the program practices in place reflect our caring about the family, not just the child as an independent entity.

Accreditation

Creative Kids Learning Center is Accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The development of NAEYC’s Accreditation System is for High-Quality Early Childhood Programs. Since 1997 we were the only full-day program in Livingston County, and the first ever in Brighton to have received this honor. The criteria that are the basis for the entire accreditation system are as follows:

Interactions among Teachers and Children
Curriculum
Relationships among Teachers and Families
Staff Qualifications and Development
Administration
Staffing
Physical Environment
Health and Safety
Nutrition and Food Service
Evaluation

Early Childhood personnel who choose to work toward accreditation for their programs demonstrate a professional commitment to self-evaluation and self-improvement. Programs accredited by the NAEYC achieve professional and pubic recognition as providers of high-quality care and education for young children.

Operations

Creative Kids Learning Center provides child care. The center is open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, throughout the year, with the exception of the following holidays: New Years Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. Creative Kids Learning Center is also closed the Friday before Labor Day for Staff Training. The week between Christmas and New Years will be closed. During the year, refer to your yearly school calendar for any changes or additional closings. A full week’s tuition is charged for weeks observing a holiday. No tuition/fee adjustments are made for days on which the program is closed due to a holiday.

Other emergency closures may be made in instances of bad weather, power outages or outbreaks of communicable diseases.

Non-Discrimination

Children are enrolled on a first come, first serve basis, without regard to race, religion, nationality, sex, or handicap.

Tuition

The $50.00 application fee is non-refundable. A half month’s tuition is held as a deposit, to be paid upon enrollment. The last month your child attends Creative Kids Learning Center, the deposit is applied to the final month’s tuition. Tuition is payable and due on or before the first day of each month (no exceptions). We accept check, money order, cash, visa or mastercard. We cannot reserve a child’s placement unless the tuition is paid for the month. A late charge of $25.00 is added if tuition is received after the 5th day of the month. Checks returned for any reason are subject to a fee of $25.00. If a check is returned, you will be required to pay by cash or money order. A 15% discount is given for two or more children in the same family. The discount is based on the lowest tuition fee. Please refer to the “Tuition Rates” form for specific tuition rates.

Parent Participation and Conferences

Our Center offers the opportunity to participate in and observe the activities of the center. Parents wishing to participate in activities (such as field trips, family nights, parties, etc.) or operations of the center should discuss their interest with the Director.

Parent-Teacher conferences are held once a year during the month of May, with specific dates being set by your child’s teacher. Teachers must make evening appointments available to the parents at least one night. Individual Assessments of Developmental Progress will be used for Toddlers and Pre-School.

Absence & Vacation

To maintain a quality program and licensing regulations, we are required to engage staff based on the number of children enrolled. The Center is not responsible to reduce or refund tuition for daily absences due to weather, holidays, illness, or vacation. It is not our policy to allow for “Make-up” days. Please inform Creative Kids Learning Center by 9:00 A.M. any time your child is going to be absent and when he or she is expected to return. For children attending the Center full-time (5 full days), an extended absence of one week is granted, only after 3 months of full-time continuous care and with advance notice. The extended absence allowance for vacation is limited to 1 week per year. Your vacation time can not be broken up into individual days. Vacation time is intended to be used for the purposes of preplanned family vacations and is not intended to be used for sick time. If your child is absent you are still required to pay the stated monthly tuition. This week of paid vacation time cannot be applied towards tuition once a 30-day notice of resignation has been given.

Any time a child is disenrolled, his/her place may be filled by someone on the waiting list. For a child to be re-enrolled, an opening must be available. A registration fee will be charged if the child does not return within two months.

Withdrawals/Change in Attendance Schedule

We require one month’s written notice if you intend to withdrawal your child from the program. Your security deposit will apply to your final month’s balance. If the Director does not receive 30 days written advance notice, whether you have started or not, your deposit will be forfeited. Creative Kids Learning Center reserves the right to disenroll a child who had developmental, behavioral, health, or discipline problems which causes him or her to harm other children or disrupt the program. Habitual absenteeism, failure to pay fees, or inappropriate parental behavior will also result in disenrollment.

Changes in schedule may be made on occasion. You may increase your child’s days, mid-month, but you cannot decrease your days until the first of the month. Schedule changes are subject to availability.

Nutrition

Staff supervision during the serving of lunch and all snacks promotes a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. Our snacks and meals are planned to meet all requirements of the State. Food is never forced upon a child. Weekly menus are posted in the Center. We provide children with a wholesome mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack, and juice/milk. (Hot Lunches are catered in through RTD Food Services located in Farmington Hills for an additional $2.40 per day). Please do not send candy or gum to the Center. Special treats may be sent for birthdays and holidays. However, please make arrangements with the staff before sending any food items to the Center.

Bad Weather Conditions

Creative Kids Learning Center will do its best to remain open regardless of weather conditions. Please call the Center or listen to WHMI 95.5 FM before leaving from home to ensure opening status. When the Center closes early due to inclement weather conditions, you will be notified. Please come for your child as soon as possible for everyone’s safety. There will be no tuition refund for bad weather closings.

Medical Records

A health history and record of immunizations are required from a licensed physician certifying that your child’s health is satisfactory for attending Creative Kids. All physicals are due within 30 days of enrollment. Physical Evaluations must be made for children every 12 months until the age of four. Children four years and older are required to receive physical evaluations every two years. Medical records are a requirement by Michigan Law and Creative Kids Learning Center.

If your child contracts a communicable illness, please notify your Director immediately. We must post any incidences (two confirmed cases) of contagious illness to alert other parents. Upon the return of a child absent due to a contagious, or any other illness, a signed statement from a licensed physician stating that they are no longer contagious, or stating what they have, must be provided...no exceptions please. Sometimes, a doctor’s note will be overridden in cases of known communicable diseases where other cases have been confirmed. Examples of this may be chicken pox, hand, foot and mouth disease and impetigo.

A child who becomes ill during the day will be separated from the other children whenever possible. You are asked to come for your child within one hour. Please make arrangements in advance to have a friend, relative or baby-sitter available in the event that you cannot pick your child up. Any child that is picked up later than one hour, the late pick-up fee will be in effect. The cost is $1.00 per minute.

Creative Kids will not provide your child with Tylenol or any other over the counter medication. Any medication given must be prescription only, in the original container, clearly labeled with the child’s name, physician’s name, date and instructions for administering medication. Prescription medication will be administered to full day children only, at 12:00 noon only, and upon completion of the medical authorization form. A child in need of long-term medication is required to have written statement from his/her physician identifying the purpose, type, time and dosage of the medication. To
protect your child and others; please do not leave any medication in your child’s belongings, cubby or classroom. Medicine is to be personally delivered to a teacher.
**If your child has asthma, or in special need of medication, we will be willing to work out alternative medication schedules.

Sick Child Policy

It is Creative Kids Learning Center's policy to temporarily exclude children from care who may be infectious or who demonstrate physical symptoms that require continual one-to-one care.

Deciding when a child is infectious is sometimes a matter of opinion; however, the guidelines we have established have been done under consultation with several health advisors and to be in compliance with licensing regulations. These are the guidelines that we use, even if they differ from the opinion of your pediatrician. Although we are sensitive to the fact that as a working parent you have responsibilities at work, we must make our first priority safeguarding the health of all other children in the Center. Remember too, if you bring your child in sick today, so you can go to work, next week five or six other employees will have to take time off with their children who became sick from your child. The child care environment provides quality care, and in spite of all the health procedures we employ, the most effective means of minimizing the spread of infection is to exclude children from care who may be infectious.

Guidelines for Excluding Children

Fever- A temperature of 100 degrees or more is usually an indication of infection. Do not send your child to the Center with a fever. If you suspect your child is not feeling well, please take his/her temperature before coming to the Center. Do not try to bring your child’s fever down with aspirin or Tylenol and then bring them to Creative Kids Learning Center. If he or she is ill and infectious, lowering the body temperature will not change the fact.
Nasal Discharge accompanied with another symptom- nasal discharge that is thick with a yellowish or greenish color usually indicates infection.
Vomiting and/or Diarrhea- Children who are vomiting and/or have diarrhea should not be in the Center. Not only because it may be contagious, but it also may be embarrassing or uncomfortable for the child. A child can return to group care 24 hours after vomiting and/or diarrhea has stopped. Do not bring a child in the morning and tell us, “he threw up twice during the night, but seems fine now”. That is not enough of an interval to decide if the child is truly well.
Eye Discharge- Eyes that are bloodshot, watery and/or have discharge are usually infectious.

Rash- Any unidentified rash should be investigated by a physician to determine the cause. Chicken Pox is a highly contagious disease characterized by a skin eruption featuring crops of darkened, raised spots which blister and then become scabs. A child with chicken pox can spread the disease to others from 1-2 days before the onset of the rash to 5-6 days later when all spots have dried up as scabs. Any moist sores are contagious, as well as the discharge from coughing, sneezing and blowing the nose. Hand, foot and mouth disease is not contagious when the blisters have disappeared.

When a Child Can Come Back

Usually a child can come back to group care under any of these circumstances:

1) The child’s temperature has been below 100 degrees for 24 hours without Tylenol/aspirin/Advil.
2) The child has been on antibiotics for 24 hours.
3) It has been 24 hours since the last episode of vomiting or diarrhea.
4) The nasal discharge is not thick, yellow or green. If the child has been on an antibiotic for 24 hours, this does not apply.
5) Eyes are no longer discharging.
6) Rash has subsided or the physician has determined that the rash is not contagious.

Time off from work with sick children is a fact of life for working parents. You may want to have an alternative plan which will enable you to take your child home when we call you. Please do so as soon as possible (certainly within one hour). This is a difficult situation for the sick child and for the Center since it takes the child and one teacher away from the group. There is a late pick-up fee of $1.00 per minute for any child that is picked up after one hour from the time the parent phone call was made.

You can help us by 1) arranging for your child to leave as soon as possible and
2) not bringing in a child whom you know to be sick, only to be sent home.

Of course, deciding whether or not your child is well enough to attend Creative Kids Learning Center is a judgment call on your part. We realize that you can’t always tell about a child the first thing in the morning. We ask that you do take the child’s temperature if you are suspicious, do not bring in a child who has just vomited and adhere to our guidelines. Thank You.

Children with Special Needs

Creative Kids does not discriminate any child on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion or disability. Because of this, you at some time may find that we have a child with special needs in our care. Before admission to the program, Creative Kids will have assessed the needs of the child and thought through objective criteria to decide whether or not the program is able to adequately accommodate the child’s needs. Each child will have been evaluated on an individual, case-by-case basis. Your Director, along with the teachers and parents, will assess the child’s needs and find the most effective ways to accommodate the child.

DAILY SCHEDULES AND ROUTINES

Daily schedules are vital to ensure the day is organized and flows well. The classroom is required to have a basic daily schedule and to follow it as closely as possible each day. Use your schedule as a guide. By remaining on the same daily schedule, you will find the children will be more organized as they become accustomed to the routine. You will also discover that transition times are more organized and flow smoother.

Enclosed you will find a sample daily schedule. When developing your own daily schedule, Creative Kids Learning Center requires you to have a mixture of small groups, large groups and independent individual activities. Head Teachers are responsible for the development of their own daily schedule (your director can assist you with this); however, input from all staff members in the room is vital.

Daily routines are events that occur at the same scheduled time. They need to be well planned and consistent. Theses routines should be included in your daily schedule, however, the events that occur during these routines will not change from day to day.

SAMPLE DAILY SCHEDULE

HEALTH CARE SERVICE PLAN

INFANT AND TODDLER DIAPERING POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

STORAGE AND DISPOSAL OF FORMULA, MILK AND FOODS: INFANTS

MAINTENANCE OF SLEEPING EQUIPMENT

CLEANING AND SANITIZING PROCEDURES

GENERAL WASHING PROCEDURES

INFANT AND TODDLER TOYS

HAND WASHING POLICY

DETERMINING THE GENERAL HEALTH OF A CHILD

Through routine observation and interaction, if/when a child complains that she/he is not feeling well or a child appears to be acting/looking out of character, the caregiver will:

ADMINISTRATION AND STORAGE OF MEDICATION

DAILY HOUSEKEEPING PRACTICES

1. All infant/toddler toys are washed, sanitized, and put away.
2. All floors are mopped and vacuumed.
3. Counter tops, tables, chairs and shelves are washed with disinfectants.
4. Bathrooms are cleaned and disinfected every day.
5. Kitchen area is cleaned everyday; all dishes are washed and sanitized.
6. Use of shoes exclusively worn in the infant/toddler room and/or no shoes at all is recommended.

The above plan for health care procedures is acceptable for daily practices at Creative Kids Learning Center and it is subject to the rules and regulations of the Michigan Department of Social Services.

OSHA GUIDELINES FOR BLOODBORNE PATHOGENS

There are four basic infection control guidelines that should be followed:

1. HANDWASHING is critically important to be done after diapering a child or wiping a child’s nose, before preparing or eating foods, after using toilet facilities, before and after treating or bandaging a cut, after cleaning toys, wiping down surfaces, cleaning spills or any other housekeeping, and after being in contact with any body fluids from another person. Hands should be washed regardless of whether latex gloves were worn during the contact with body fluids.

2. LATEX GLOVES should be worn by all child care workers when they come into contact with blood or blood containing body fluids, or when the child care worker has cuts or scratches on his/her hands. Specifically, gloves should be worn during the diapering, if the child has blood in his/her stool or bloody diaper rash (gloves are not necessary otherwise for diapering). When administering first aid for a cut, a bleeding wound or a bloody nose; and when administering injections to a child, if applicable. Gloves should never be re-used, and should be changed between children being handled. If body fluid does not contain blood, gloves are generally not necessary.

3. CLEANING WITH A DISINFECTANT should be done on a daily basis on all changing surfaces and in the children’s play area, and on an “as needed” basis on any surface that has come into contact with blood. Expensive disinfectants are not necessary; a basic bleach solution is generally sufficient for daily cleaning and disinfecting. Efforts should be made to clean children’s toys with this solution also, or to wash them in the dishwasher, if appropriate.

4. PROPER DISPOSAL OF INFECTIOUS MATERIALS is also required. Any disposal materials that contain liquid, semi-liquid or dry, caked blood will have to be disposed in a separate, securely closed trash bag. The bags should be securely tied each time they are removed and thrown away. Cloth items that come into contact with blood, such as towels, handkerchiefs, or diapers, should be washed separately and kept away from other children until they are washed. Broken glass that caused a child or staff member to bleed must not be picked up manually, use a broom and dustpan.