Early Childhood Center Policies

Keep your child home if they have any of the following symptoms:

• Vomiting or diarrhea in the last 24 hours.
• A fever of 100.4 degrees or more in the last 24 hours.
• Excessive coughing or nasal discharge.
• Draining sore or rash.
• Strep throat that has not been treated for 24 hours with antibiotics.
• Untreated head lice or scabies.
• Red itchy matter in eyes that has not been treated with antibiotics for 24 hours.
• Symptoms of a possible communicable disease (these usually include sniffles, reddened eyes, sore throat, headache, and abdominal pain with fever).

If your child is sent to school with the above conditions, we will call you to come pick him or her up. For the well-being of your child and the other children in our care, we encourage you to respond as quickly as possible. Until your child is picked up, he or she will rest comfortably in a designated area with a teacher or other ECC staff, away from other children and/or new people entering the facility.

Please note, if your child is too sick to go outside, your child is too sick to be at school. Also, if your child is sick enough that he or she needs a parent’s care, please provide him or her with that care.

Notify us immediately if your child has been diagnosed with a communicable disease.

State licensing requires that all medication must have a doctor’s order, an up-to-date prescription label with the child’s name, and must be in the original marked container. Parents must also sign a medication permission form. Teachers are only allowed to give over-the-counter medicines (e.g., acetaminophen and cough syrups) to children if prescribed by a doctor. A doctor’s signature must be on all forms. If not, parents may come in during the day to give their child the medication.

In the event a child is injured while attending the ECC, first aid is immediately administered. The staff and director will take appropriate steps to ensure the health and safety of the injured child. If it is necessary to call 911, your child will be transported to the closest appropriate facility.

We will keep children and staff inside if any air quality alerts are in effect according to the National Weather Service.

Children go outside daily unless the temperature is below 20 degrees or in excess of 100 degrees. During winter months, please make sure your child has clothing appropriate for the weather including a hat, mittens/gloves, warm coat, and boots.

The ECC strives to be a nut-free center. Please don’t bring nut products to school.

PDF of our COVID Procedures and Protocols.

ECC policy on babysitting requests

The Early Childhood Center makes no babysitting recommendations, nor do we recommend or refer any of our college students or staff for babysitting. If ECC parents are interested in posting a request for a nanny or babysitter, they are welcome to do so on the CSU student employment job site.

The ECC has teaching staff consisting of full-time salaried teachers, assistant teachers, interns, and practicums who teach in seven rooms serving approximately 100 children at any one time. Children at the ECC may be enrolled as infants and continue through pre-school, moving up through the various classrooms and interacting with various teachers.

Based on discussions with CSU legal counsel, it has been determined that conflict of interest does exist, actual or potential, when ECC teachers babysit for ECC families.

Therefore, upon the recommendation of CSU legal counsel the ECC expressly prohibits its teachers from babysitting for currently enrolled ECC families.

ECC policy on conflict of interest

Based on discussions with CSU legal counsel, it has been determined that conflict of interest does exist, actual or potential, when ECC teachers babysit for ECC families.

From time to time ECC teachers may be approached by ECC parents with babysitting requests for children who are currently enrolled in the school. The concern with this is that the employment as a sitter could have an adverse impact on the ECC and its relationship with ECC parents.

The University policy with respect to conflicts of interests contains the following statement:

External obligations, financial interests, and activities of each University employee must be managed so that there is no interference with the employee’s primary obligation and commitment to the University. The mere perception of conflict of interest can cause lasting injury to the reputation of the employee and the University, even when subsequent information shows those perceptions to be unfounded. D.7.7.1

The University policy with respect to conflict of commitment provides further:

Faculty members and administrative professionals owe their primary professional obligation to the University, and their primary commitment of time and intellectual energies should be to the teaching and advising, research and other creative activity, and service and/or outreach of the institution…. A conflict of commitment arises when a faculty member or administrative professional undertakes external commitments which substantially burden or interfere with the employee’s primary obligations and commitments to the University D7.6.1

ECC teachers owe their primary commitment as a teacher to the ECC, its students and parents. Entering into other employment relationships with ECC parents creates at least the perception that the commitment of the teacher to that parent and his/her child is somehow greater than that of the teacher to other parents or children. Further, if there is a dispute or falling out between the parent and the teacher, there may be a perception on the part of the parent that the teacher’s commitment to or treatment of their child while in the ECC is or will be adversely impacted. Either of these situations could interfere with the proper operation of the ECC and injure the reputation of the ECC and its employees.

Therefore, upon the recommendation of CSU legal counsel the ECC expressly prohibits its teachers from babysitting for currently enrolled ECC families.

The ECC grievance policies ensure that parents have an effective way of negotiating difficulties and differences that arise in their interactions with the center or center personnel. Our program policy entails contacting the ECC Director or the ECC Executive Director as the first line of problem resolution. They will then make the decision if the issues involved need to be presented to the Executive Committee of the HDFS Department for further consideration.

Parents may report suspected licensing violations to the Colorado Office of Early Childhood/ Department of Human Services: (303)-866-5958 or:

• Brianna Case, Child Care Licensing Specialist
• Phone: (303)-914-6100  3069
• Email:  case@rrcc.edu
• http://www.rrcc.edu/childcareinnovations/
• Division of Early Care and Learning
• ColoradoOfficeOfEarlyChildhood.com

The ECC provides sunscreen and lotion for all children. “Rocky Mountain Sunscreen” and generic discount store lotion are used at the center. Please bring a labeled bottle of your own if your child is allergic to these brands.

The Department of Human Development and Family Studies occasionally prepares film and videotape materials for educational and research purposes, which may include a visual portrayal of a child or groups of children in our center. The department faculty will, in any such case, protect the integrity of individual children, and ensure that such visual materials will be used in conformity with the highest standards of professional ethics. Photographs and videotapes taken of the children’s activities may be used for instructional purposes in HDFS classes, documentation panels, and for general developmental assessment.

In addition, the ECC occasionally participates in community or university events where local media are present. Photos of children may be taken and published at these times. Parents who don’t want their child to be filmed or photographed can initial the box on the Photo and Filming Release Form that says “Please exclude my child from any filming or photos.”

At the ECC we believe that, when used wisely, technology and media can support learning and relationships. We provide children with a range of opportunities to be creative producers, and not just passive consumers, of technology and media. For this reason, you will see technology used in ways that promote interactive experiences with people and the environment.