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Unregistered629 05:30 PM 06-20-2021
Using an unregistered account for "throwaway" purposes.

I work a a small daycare that is under new ownership. The new owner has been a DISASTER. At best, she's having us do things that make no logical sense (like deep cleaning the classrooms in the middle of the day instead of doing it at the end of the day). At worst, she's having us do things that violate licensing.

The previous owner had to get special permission from the state to allow us to have microwaves and mini-fridges in the classrooms. The students are technically supposed to have ready-to-eat foods in their lunches. She even had to fight to allow us to have things like single-serving cereal bowls and other pre-packaged snacks. We are not licensed to serve food.

Typically, we will transfer food to paper plates/bowls from the containers the kids have. We also provide disposable utensils.

Today, at 6pm (which is a time that many families are doing evening routines with young children), the owner sent messages to the families telling them to provide reusable bowls/plates/utensils for their children. My boss wants to be "green" (she wants to save money) by moving away from using disposable dishes/utensils.

These dishes/utensils will remain at the school and we will be required to wash them after every meal/snack.

We do not have a 3 compartment sink available to properly wash and sanitize any dishes. Plus, these items will likely not be labeled which makes keeping track of ownership challenging.

There's no point in reminding her that we can't do this. She takes offense to anybody questioning or challenging her. The other day, she mentioned not needing me to work past 5:30pm. I simply reminded her that it would depend on how many children are in the center at the time. If numbers are low enough, yes, that could work. However, at 5:30 we often have more than 6 children remaining which requires two staff members on site (even if she's in the office and I'm in ratio in a classroom alone).

I already filed a report against her for leaving three children outside alone the other day (she was outside with the children; I was inside cleaning when she came inside to get one child's belongings). I don't want to rock the boat when it comes to my job (mainly because I need the income), but I also don't feel comfortable doing things that I know the state would disapprove of. I still filed the report against her for the incident the other day because I was legally obligated to, but I'm definitely struggling with how to move forward.

[In the past, we've also been forced to do things like leave one adult in charge of 10+ children ages 1-8 in two classrooms (divided by half-walls) so one person can pick up children from the elementary school. In that situation, refusing to leave one teacher alone would mean abandoning 1-2 children at the elementary school. Either way, it's a lose-lose situation]
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