Illegal Preschool Director

[Unregistered]

I work at a privately owned preschool in south florida and my co workers and I have many issues with the director at my school. The owners of the school are not around and therefore there is no one above my director that I can go to. In short, she allows sick children to stay in school, she favorites one specific child, she allows children to come to school without paperwork, she does not have her employees clock in or out and takes careless care of their hours, she overworks people at times with 9 hour days with no breaks, she starts drama and lies among her employees, never takes responsibility and tries to pass off her responsibility to her employees, she is rough & careless with the children. My list could go on for days.
If anyone has any kind of advice or place that i could make a complaint to I would really appreciate it.
Thanks!

[kidcentric]

As the operator of child care programs that are not near me, I would definitely want someone to let me know if there were problems at my facility. If it is possible for you to contact the owners, I would recommend that you do so. It's unfortunate that they are no more involved than they appear to be, but what you are describing is a huge liability to them and they should know what's happening.
Additionally, you should contact your local child care licensing agency and file a complaint. Allowing sick children into the program endangers the health of all the other children. Children attending without proper paperwork can also endanger health and safety and make it very difficult to contact someone in case of an emergency with the child. Not having employees sign in or out presents huge problems with licensing, not to mention a potential nightmare with the wage and hour folks, including potential lawsuits. And, of course, being inappropriate in any way with a child is never acceptable.
If things don't change immediately, it sounds to me like you should find a new job. There are much better programs out there.

[MissLisa]

I feel for you dealing with such issues... however, as an owner .. I will never be an absentee owner. I have learned over the years that it will cost you. If the owners are there for the children then they will appreciate the fact that you were watching their backs and you came to them and told them the issues. I am present at both of my centers almost daily... but I can't be everywhere and see everything even with our security cameras so I explect my staff to be loyal and let me know if there is an issue. Some of the actions are on that border line of neglect for children and unfair labor practices. I would start with the owners and if you don't get any help there, call your licensing rep and leave an anonymous complaint. But also include that you want to be sure that the owner is notified to handle the complaint otherwise the director will handle the visit from the state. But you can't sit back and do nothing.... or you are contributing to the problem not the solution. I know because my center has had as high as 23 women employees at one time... :eek: That was PMS on a daily basis...lol
Please... Make the call... the lady has got to go. We just bought a center from an absentee owner and things were being done ALL WRONG... thanks to a former director that trained the new director under the old absentee owner....