We require all of our Teachers to reach a Step 7 in the registry within the first 6 months of employment. To reach Step 7, the staff member must either have early childhood education college credit that is enough to satisfy the requirements for Step 7 or have 120 hours (10 hours in 12 different categories) of CEUs. We require all of our Aide 2s to reach a Step 3 in the registry within the first 6 months of employment which requires a total of 35 hours of CEUs in 5 different categories or the equivalent college credit. After our teachers have reached Step 7 in the registry and Aide 2s receive Step 3, they are required to take 18 hours of additional CEUs per year with 8 of those hours being in child development.

All of our staff are also required to hold current First Aid and CPR cards and Food handlers cards. In addition to that, they are required to take.

■ Introduction to Childcare Health and Safety
■ Safe Sleep for Oregon’s Infants
■ Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect
■ Prevention is Better Than Treatment
■ Foundations For Learning (during their second year of employment)

We always want to encourage our staff to go above the training that is required of them. Something that is unique to our facility is that we pay for a subscription for a website for each of our staff that provides them with a library of over 200 online continuing education courses that they can access at any point through their entire employment. In addition to this, we offer paid CDAs for all of our teachers who wish to achieve one!

What training do your staff have?

We provide 3 nutritious meals a day that meet USDA standards: Breakfast, Lunch, and Afternoon Snack. For infants, we provide formula, pureed baby food, rice cereal/oatmeal, and puffy snacks. We allow parents to bring their own meals for their children as well. If you wish to bring your own meals, we do not heat any food up in our kitchen other than the food we cook. Parent provided food must be served cold. If we notice that the meals provided to the child are not meeting healthy standards, we may provide our lunch on the side in addition to the food provided to ensure that each child is receiving nutritious meals every day. We are able to accommodate most dietary restrictions. If you have questions about any specific dietary restriction, please reach out and ask!

Do you provide meals?

We follow all state guidelines for ratios. For children 6 weeks until the day before turning 2, the ratio is 1:4. For children 2 years until the day before turning 3, the ratio is 1:5. For children 3 years until the Summer before they start Kindergarten, the ratio is 1:10. For children from the Summer before they start Kindergarten until 12 years, the ratio is 1:15.

What are your ratios?

Each age group has their own curriculum that is tailored to meet the educational needs for that age group. In addition to the fun and educational activities that are on the curriculum, the classrooms are also equipped with tons of toys from sensory toys, to dress up and imagination play, to transportation, to manipulatives and many more. The children are also brought outside to play in their designated playground twice a day if weather permits.

What do the kids do all day?

We offer a discount of 15% off of the oldest child’s tuition.

Do you offer sibling discounts?

Parents/guardians are allowed to drop in and visit children at any time. We have an open door policy. We will never tell you not to visit, but our teachers may indicate when they think that having the parent visit in the middle of the day is making it hard emotionally for the child. If this does happen and the parent is still wanting to check on the child, they may be encouraged to call and ask how the child is doing, ask the teacher for picture updates, or stop by and just observe their child through the window in the door.

If your child is breastfed and you would like to stop in throughout the day to breastfeed, we encourage you to do so as many times as you wish throughout the day!

What are your visitation policies for parents?

Our locations check pricing of childcare locations surrounding them to ensure that our prices are always more competitive than other childcare centers around
them. For this reason each location’s pricing differs slightly.

You can find Beaverton Center's pricing here.
You can find Gresham Center's pricing here.
You can find Hillsboro Center's pricing here.

What are your prices?

Our designated drop off times are from center opening until 10 am. If your child will need to be dropped off between 10 am until 11:30 am, we require a phone call. If we have extra staff on any given day, they are sent home at 10 am. For this reason, we do not accept children after 10 am unless the parent calls ahead and let us know. We also do not allow drop off after 11:30 because that is when most of our classrooms begin nap time and we do not want to disturb the children who are trying to sleep.

Our designated pick up times are between 2:30 pm until 6:30 pm when we close. If your child will need to be picked up before 2:30 pm, please let us know ahead of time so that we can collect their belongings and have them ready to go and waiting for you so that we do not disturb the children that may still be sleeping. If your child is picked up after 6:30, there is a fee associated with picking your child up after closing time.

Your child is allotted 10 hours per day for care. If your child is in care for more than 10 hours on any given day, there is a fee associated.

What are your designated pick-up and drop-off times and is there any flexibility?

Potty training is one of the main focuses in the 2 year old classroom. In the two year old classroom, as soon as the child seems interested but not later than 2.5, the child begins sitting on the toilet after every diaper change. When the child begins going on the potty, a sticker chart is given to that child to put a sticker on every time they successfully go on the potty. When the child begins showing that they are going on the potty at least once or twice a day, we begin sitting them on the potty every hour. This helps children to learn the cues of their body. Potty training only works if parents are participating in it at home. Unfortunately, potty training will not work if they are only working on it at daycare. The teachers will communicate with the parents when they feel the child is ready to move to the next step in the process. If you as the parent feels it is time for your child to move to the next step, we also encourage you to reach out and talk to your child’s teacher about this as well!

How does your center handle potty training?

Depending on the scope of care needed, our staff are trained on basic medical needs. We are willing to accommodate special medical needs and work with
parents to ensure that the child is properly taken care of while in our care. Because more complicated medical conditions aren’t very common in childcare settings, we ask that you ensure that upon enrollment you inform the director of your child’s specific medical needs. This allows us time to train the staff who may be working with your child on how to properly care for your child. For example, not all of our staff may understand how to take a child’s blood sugar. If your child has diabetes and this may be part of their daily routine, it is important for management to have time to properly train the staff on how to do that.

How do you handle medically needy children?

We go through the discipline procedure outlined in our handbook which you can find here. If we find that a particular child is having an exceptionally hard day with their behavior, they may be required to be picked up that day. If we find that a particular child is having repeated issues with these same behaviors, we will offer resources to the parent to help ensure that the child is receiving the care they need. We also have specific training available for our teachers to specifically address bullying behaviors in the classroom. Should we find that a teacher is struggling with a child having these behaviors, we would encourage the staff member to take these online trainings to help bolster their knowledge of how to handle these behaviors in the classroom.

How does your childcare center handle bullying or other behavior issues?

Each family is given 2 weeks of vacation per year. We require a 2 week notice to use a week of vacation. A week of vacation is Monday-Friday and may not be broken into separate days. If your family requires more than 2 weeks of vacation per year, each additional week is given at 50% tuition to hold your child’s spot in the classroom as classrooms frequently have waiting lists. If your family is wanting to disenroll for the whole Summer, for example, and it is not within your budget to pay 50% tuition for that whole time, we do allow for a child to disenroll and re-enroll at a later date for a $200 re-enrollment fee if there is still remaining space available. If you inform the director of the exact date you are planning on returning, every effort will be made to ensure that there is an open available space on that date, but it is not guaranteed.

Do you allow parents to not pay tuition while on vacation?

We do not offer part time enrollment aside from our after school program. While that program may only have part time hours, it is still a 5 day per week program. Tuition is charged regardless of attendance in all age groups unless vacation weeks are requested.

We do not traditionally accept any drop in care. We will occasionally make exceptions for older siblings, previously enrolled children, or foster children who
are in need of emergency care for the day. The availability of drop in care is subject to space availability in that classroom and properly filled out paperwork for that child. In this type of an instance, the child may be billed a daily rate of ⅕ of the weekly tuition for that age group. It must be paid prior to that day’s attendance.

Do you do part time or drop in enrollment?

For children who are 6 weeks- 2 years, daily reports are sent home indicating the food they ate, the times they were changed or went on the potty, and any communication the teacher needs to provide such as if they are running low on diapers.

In all age groups, teachers will post a paper called “what we did today”. This is a way for the teacher to communicate with the parent about the projects and activities that your child participated in that day in care.

All weekly menus and meal substitutions are available for viewing in the entryway of our facilities.

Do you provide daily reports for the parents to know how their child’s day was?

In order to reduce the spread of disease to other children, we do not provide care to sick kids. If your child looks sick at drop off, the teacher may ask you to wait to drop off until their temperature is taken. If your child is acting sick throughout the day, they may be required to be picked up. For most conditions, your child will be required to be 24 hours symptom free without the use of fever reducing medication or have a note from a qualified physician indicating that they are not contagious. For a more comprehensive list of diseases/symptoms that your child will be excluded from care for, we encourage you to read the illness policy in our parent handbook that can be found here.

Do you provide care for sick kids?

The timing from nap time varies slightly from classroom to classroom. The infant classroom does not have a designated nap time as children under 1 are allowed to make their own sleep schedule. In general, nap time involves lights being turned off and curtains closed. Nap time calming music is played. Each child is provided their own mat or cot to rest on. Parents are required to bring their own blankets from home. If a child forgets their blanket, the center has extra blankets that are washed after each use. During the rest time, the teacher may pat or rub the child’s back to help them relax. If the child does not seem tired after a little while of the teacher rubbing their back, the child may be provided a quiet activity to do on their mat such as looking at a book, doing a puzzle or coloring. Children are not required to sleep but they are required to stay on their beds and allow the other children who do want to sleep to be able to do so. The restroom is not restricted during nap time. Although every child is asked to use the restroom (if potty trained) prior to nap time, if a child wakes up in the middle of nap and needs to use the restroom, they will never be restricted from doing so unless a child of the opposite gender is currently in the bathroom or there are no available stalls.

How do you handle nap time?

We ask that no matter the age of your child that you bring a set of extra clothing. Accidents happen. These aren’t always potty accidents. Children fall in mud, spill cups of milk, or despite using protective smocks and washable paint, they may get really messy doing art. These are all parts of daily life for children in childcare. We ask that you always ensure that an extra set of clothing is available for your child for this reason. In addition to an extra set of clothing, we also ask that you bring a blanket for nap time. Your child is also allowed to bring a special comfort item for nap time as long as it is not disruptive to the classroom (please do not bring stuffies that make noise or things similar to that).

If your child is not potty trained, we require you to bring your own diapers. We provide generic unscented sensitive wipes. Despite this, some children’s skin is so sensitive that they must use a specific brand or type of wipe. If your child requires special wipes, we require you to provide those as well. If you would like our teachers to apply diaper rash cream as needed, you would be required to provide this and fill out a medication form giving permission for the teacher to do so.

If your baby has a sensitive stomach and is unable to tolerate the formula provided by the center or if your baby is breastfed, you would be required to provide your own formula or breast milk. If you wish to have your infant on a different diet than the purees/puffy snacks provided to the babies, you would be required to provide your own.

What items are parents required to provide?

Toys are sprayed down with a very mild bleach and water solution twice per day and left to completely dry before children play with them. This specific concentration of bleach and water is approved by the sanitation department to kill germs and bacteria while remaining completely safe for children should they come into contact with it.

Each classroom also has a dirty toys bucket that the teacher may put toys in that need additional cleaning. This might be the case for toys that a child put in their
mouth, sneezed on, or coughed on. These toys are run through our dish sanitizer in the kitchen or our washer and dryer if it is a soft toy.

All soft toys are run through our washer and dryer once per week.

If an illness is going around the daycare, all classrooms ramp up their sanitizing procedures and are required to run all toys through the dish sanitizer or washer and dryer as well as wipe down all surfaces within the classroom.

How often are toys sanitized?

Our staff are trained to administer medication. Parents are required to provide all medication and fill out a medication authorization form.

If your child has a severe allergy that requires an epipen, you are required to bring an epipen and fill out the proper documentation for it. Our staff is trained in how to administer an epipen if needed. We are unable to keep expired epipens on site even if a new and unexpired epipen is no longer available. Parents are responsible for ensuring that the epipen that is present in the center is always unexpired.

Is your facility able to administer medication and/or emergency allergy treatments?