Working with Teachers Who Don't Care

Yesterday, G23 mo. walked right of the classroom and into another room. I was comforting a hurt child. The lead teacher was in the room working on lesson plans standing by the door. She did nothing to stop the girl from walking out of the room and made me go retrieve her.

Today, we had 8-9 children in a classroom that has a 1:6 ratio according to NJ state law. The same teacher kept leaving the room to grab things, call a parent because of a biting incident (we have a phone in the classroom and/or someone from the front should have been sent in to cover). When I told the teacher "you really can't leave me alone. I'm out of ratio," she just commented that she had things to do and needed to leave. [Meanwhile another teacher got mad at me for leaving her "out of ratio" when she had 10 2.5-4 year olds. At a minimum her ratio is 1:10; if she had enough kids who are 4, the ratio would actually go UP. I was dealing with an issue in my classroom that happened as I was on my way to the other room].

I also asked where the separate soap and water/bleach and water solutions were since there is a two-step procedure for cleaning. Of course, we only have one mystery solution available. I don't know if it's supposed to be used to clean or sanitize, but of course, the other teacher in the room just doesn't care.

[Snowmom]

I think you should probably bring up your concerns to the director.

[Jo123ABC]

That's why I prefer a small family daycare setting. It's tough enough caring for kids and working with parents who may have different opinions and values let alone having co-workers you disagree with while caring for kids. I like to be able to control my/my kids' environment too much for that! In this case though, I would also bring my concerns to the director as previously suggested by a dcf member.

They said that they are pretty lenient about things like letting the kids run out of the classrooms etc.

Same girl ran out again when I was alone comforting a newbie who was getting upset as others were getting picked up. Fortunately, the three girls were excellent. I told them to come and they came right to the door. They were all rewarded with personal thank yous and high fives (the runaway was not happy that she didn’t get a high five.)

But as I’m having a full blown panic attack because this girl is allowed to run down the hall or because I’m with 9 kids and I look up to see the other teacher left without telling me, nobody cares.

[flying_babyb]

can you put a child safety on the door? You know one of those cup type things that you have to press just so to open? I have a similar issue as a toddler teacher. Our gates been broke for almost two weeks and the kids run into our kitchen area (no stoves, just sinks, microwaves, changing area, things to climb ect) or out into the other classroom if the doors open. I ended up duct taping the gate shut friday cause I was alone with 4 kids (Ratio for under 2 Is 1:4 here)

Nope.

There's another new teacher in the center who had the same reaction to the child running out the door (we were actually told by the owner to keep the door open to allow for airflow). She, too, has worked in a larger nationwide daycare chain where a child running out of the classroom means instant termination.

Today, for the start of the "school year" we had 14 children in our class. They are all roughly between 21 and 27 months of age, so they all fall in the 1:6 ratio. When we got numbers 13 and 14 and I saw the director I told her that we were out of ratio and needed a third teacher.

"The ratio for this room is 1:7."

No. None of the children are over 2-1/2, so they are ALL in the 1:6 ratio range. Therefore, none of the children bump the ratio up to 1:7. She claimed that since several of them are two that it bumps the ratio up (like at 18 months it's 1:6, at 21 months it's 1:7, at 2 it's 1:8, 2 years, 3 months it's 1:9, etc.) I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that.

Now, it's possible that back in JUNE before the summer session started, there were several children who were 2-1/2 in the room which would have bumped the ratio up to 1:7, but those children have since moved up into another class. I suspect that this is what happened when I was told that the 2-1/2 year old class was a 1:8 ratio. It's possible that there were children in that class who weren't 30 months old; that would have pulled the ratio down temporarily. That's why you can't just rely on memory to remember what the ratio is for a classroom as they can fluctuate slightly. It doesn't matter that there were enough older children in May/June to bump the ratio up; this isn't the case anymore.

I also had to remind the assistant director that we needed two teachers in the room during naptime. Naptime ratios are higher, but our class is a 1:12 ratio during nap, and we had 14.

I'm not sure if the director is completely ignorant of the law or if she's just ignoring it and trying to gaslight me into thinking I'm crazy.

[satcook]

Which state are you? It's crazy how your ratios fluctuate! Ours are set in stone for each room

[racemom]

I would ask for a meeting with the director and tell her all your concerns. Bring the state regs with you to show her where you are not following state regs. Let her know your concerned about the kids safety letting them be out of ratio, eunning out of rooms unattended, etc.

I'm in NJ. Our rates are based on ages. The groupings are (for the preschool/daycare ages)

0-18 months (1:4)
18 months to 30 months (2.5) (1:6)
2.5-4 years (1:10)
4-5 years (1:12)
5 years (1:15)

If you have a mixed age group, you average out the ratios. For example, if you have 10 kids in a room with 4 of them between 2.5 and 4 and 6 between 18 and 30 months, you take 4*10 and 6*6 which is 40 and 36 which is 76 and divide by 10 (number of children) which gives you 7.6. That means that ratio for the room is 1:7.

For the most part, the classroom ratios are pretty set, but there are some classes that have some fluctuation. For example, the class I primarily work in is a class of 2 year olds. Between November and January, most of the children will turn 2.5. Because 2.5 is a new ratio bracket, that could bump the classroom ratio up because it would be considered a mixed age group.

On the other hand, if we move kids up to the 2.5 year old classroom in January and there are a few who aren't going to turn 2.5 until the end of the month, it could drop the ratio down a little for a few weeks.

I have tried to talk to the director, but she is very dismissive. She refuses to answer direct questions when I ask them.

I am looking for something else, but that's mostly because I really don't like working in a daycare center; I'd rather work in more of a nanny type role.