You plan to enroll your child in a New Paltz daycare center and want to make sure it’s a quality program. First thing; you should check that staffers wash their hands after changing diapers and before serving meals. You also need to verify that at least one staff member has first-aid and CPR certification.
Here are other, less obvious things to look for and some important questions to ask your New Paltz daycare center:
What is the student/teacher ratio? The recommended ratio accepted by most states is to have one teacher for every three or four children under age 2, and one caregiver for every 4to 6 toddlers.
How many staff are long-term employees? New Paltz daycare jobs tend to have a high turnover. Research demonstrates that more than one-third of child-care providers will quit their jobs after less than one year.
A good New Paltz daycare has at least a few teachers who have worked there long-term.
“If you find out that none of the employees has lasted longer than a year, that’s a bad sign,” says Mon Cochran, Ph.D., a professor of early-child development at Cornell University. “For their emotional development, it’s important that toddlers and infants have stability and continuity in care.”
Does the New Paltz daycare have enough space? You want to see that the children have plenty of room, both indoors and out. “Kids have enormous amounts of energy and need room to run around,” says Marian Edelman Borden, author of the recently released Smart Start: The Parent’s Complete Guide to Preschool Education.
The N.Y.S Dept. of Health recommends that day-care centers have at least 35 square feet of indoor playroom space per child, and 75 square feet per child of outdoor play space.
A spacious New Paltz daycare will keep your child engaged and provide lots of opportunities for physical exercise.