Daycare in school: KinderCare | Child Daycare Centers & Early Education Programs

Should Public Schools Provide Teenage Parents with Daycare?

The debate over sex education in public schools has now been extended to the question of what schools should do after students choose to have sex. 

According to recent reports, teen pregnancy is on the rise across the entire country.  In fact, as Martinsville Bulletin reports in “Teen Birth Rates Soar,” the national birth rate among teens aged 15 to 19 has increased by 1.4 percent from 2006 to 2007.  In total, this equates to 42.5 births for every 1,000 females in this age group. 

With the rising rate of teenage pregnancy, many communities are being forced to debate over whether or not public schools should provide day care programs for teen parents.  Many teenage parents, especially teenage moms, choose to drop out upon giving birth to their child.  Therefore, some leaders assert that public school daycare programs can help decrease the propensity for some teen parents to not reach graduation.   On the other side of the argument, many public leaders and community members believe that day care only encourages irresponsible sexual choices.

The Pros of Public School Day Care

As the Martinsville Bulletin further reveals, in areas of lower income and employment rates, teenage pregnancy rates tend to rise.  For example, Henry County, located in Virginia, experienced a startling increase from 33.8 children for every 1,000 females to 40.9 children for every 1,000 females (under the age of 20) over the course of just one year (2006 to 2007).  To combat this rise in teen pregnancy, public schools are one of the first and primary programs striving to implement changes to deter this trend. 

This CNN news clip illustrates the issue.

In areas with high teen pregnancy rates, many school officials assert that the community must strive to prevent teens from dropping out of school.   Many leaders argue that teenage dropouts lead to a great number of economic and social problems in the community, as teenage dropouts and teen parents are more likely to become unemployed or work for lower paying jobs. 

One of the central solutions to overcoming this trend, some argue, is by providing support services for teen parents in public schools. Day care programs are not common but are typically only offered at the high school level.  With high school daycare programs at various schools, teenage students/parents are able to bring their son or daughter to school with them, leave them with caretakers, and attend classes as scheduled. At the end of the day, teen parents pick up their child and then resume their parental caretaking responsibilities. While the system is controversial, many leaders argue that it is the best plan to reduce teenage dropouts and a pattern of terminating education.          

The Cons of Public School Day Care

While some leaders argue that public school day care programs help offer support and solutions for teens who are struggling, many school leaders and community members contrarily believe that these programs are simply encouraging irresponsible choices.   Instead of making the life of a teen parent easier, some community members believe that teens should, instead, be provided with more abstinence and safe sex prevention programs. 

In addition to these programs, many assert that public school day care is simply too costly, and inevitably takes funding away from more deserving students.  Since day care programs have to employ caretakers, the cost of running a public school day care can be quite high—and the funding for this support comes directly out of the school budget.   In recent months, amidst a recessionary economy, many public school day care programs are faced with the reality that their resources will most likely be cut or shut down. 

Here is a look at a day in the life of a teenage mother.

An example of at risk programs is seen in the Gotham Schools system, located in New York City.   With a teen parent support program established in 1982, Gotham Schools have provided extra support and day care assistance for teenage parents for nearly three decades.  Yet, with an anticipated budget cut for the 2009-2010 school year, the New York Civil Liberties Union has argued that the Department of Education should find its own source of funding to continue to provide day care support. 

However, Gotham Schools’ new funding crisis only represents a small example of a nation-wide problem and debate.  As the cost of day care is considered to be relatively high, some school and community leaders feel that these support programs should be the first to go in order to protect the educational focus of the non-parent students in schools.  On the other hand, supporters of daycare for teen parents believe that this support is critical for keeping students in school and posited for future productivity.

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Calling ‘Daycare’ ‘School’ Professionalizes Early Education

Education

What the linguistic shift indicates about the state of early-childhood education

Jim Young / Reuters

September 27, 2016

Chelsea Clinton made headlines recently as she campaigned for her mother—not for the policy proposals she defended, but for the fact that she did not accompany her not-quite-2-year-old daughter Charlotte to the first day of her Manhattan “school.” While detractors were quick to berate her for missing this defining event in her child’s life, supporters rushed to her defense by noting that the child’s father, who took Charlotte to school together with the family nanny, is perfectly capable of taking the lead. But what’s missing from the discussion is an objection to the controversy’s premise—since when has “school” started at age 2?

The question highlights recent changes in the favored everyday lexicon of parents to refer to programs for their babies and young toddlers—programs that were once simply called “daycare. ” Whether consciously or subconsciously, though, educators, psychologists, and parents themselves are noticing that parents are increasingly swapping out the term for the more in-vogue “school.” Parents’ “first day of school” photos on Facebook feature children not just in uniforms, but in onesies.

Technically, a school should meet the defining standard of serving as an institution whose primary goal is education. For under-2s, though, when everything from drinking out of a cup to peeing on the potty is technically educational, that distinction becomes more difficult to make.

Sarah Fader, the CEO of the mental-health nonprofit organization Stigma Fighters, noted that guilt may be one of the causes behind the more liberal use of “school.” New parents often struggle to reconcile the pressure to return to work with the guilt or sadness they may experience when separating from their child. Mothers without famous last names may not have their parenting decisions scrutinized in tabloids, but they are certainly scrutinized by their peers. “Calling it school distracts from this harsh reality,” Fader said. “The children are learning something every day. Their environment is enriched.”

As more American children enter formal childcare programs at earlier ages and for longer hours, that need for legitimacy becomes even stronger. Although formal education in the United States typically starts with kindergarten at age 5, the average American child under age 3 spent more than 30 hours weekly in childcare, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports that 30 percent of American children under age 2 attend some sort of formal childcare. To accommodate these numbers, there has been huge growth in the number of childcare facilities in the United States: As of 2007, there were a total of 766,401 childcare facilities, up from just 262,511 in 1987. If parental guilt is indeed one of the elements contributing to the linguistic trend, parents sending their children to childcare programs can at least take comfort that they are in good company.

Still, the change in semantics is significantly more complex than a guilt-reducing linguistic flourish. Dismissing the cadre of parents describing their diaper-wearing, bottle-drinking children as going to “school” would be ignoring an important underlying cultural phenomenon: Early-childhood education experts agree that something has fundamentally changed about American childcare in the past decade, and that the change in terminology reflects that shift. The switch is not a coincidence; childcare programs are, indeed, becoming more educational.

Children are often rushed from one activity to the next … [and] that approach can be counterproductive to childhood development.

Gina Lofquist, the senior director of teacher education for the American Montessori Society (AMS), agreed that “what parents are searching for, and what schools are trying to provide, is a way to provide education in a childcare setting that looks different than it has in the past.”

Parents are no longer simply selecting the closest child-care center with spots available, but are instead participating in a two-way selection process to find the right fit for their child and the educational philosophy that best matches their own. In this context, Montessori, Reggio Emilia, and Waldorf schools—progressive models for education—have become household names as they emerged as leaders in efforts to unlock effective and holistic approaches to early-childhood education.

But not all schools, even ones with fancy titles, are so carefully structured, and the profit motive behind the linguistic trend is impossible to ignore. The average cost of care for a non-infant preschooler at an accredited childcare center is $11,050 yearly, according to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. With so much money at stake, providers are eager to give parents what they want. That ongoing courtship entrenches the dynamic: Parents, eager to give their children a head start, select programs that seem more educational for their babies and young toddlers. In turn, the programs continue to market themselves in a way that conjures up an especially educational image.

That, says the University of Delaware professor Roberta Golinkoff, can be dangerous under the wrong circumstances. Changing the sign on the door to say “school” instead of “daycare” may be innocuous, but there are signs that the linguistic changes correspond to a rise of a more structured, scheduled day reminiscent of schools for older children. Children are often rushed from one activity to the next, explains Golinkoff, without sufficient time to play and explore at their own pace. For babies and toddlers, that approach can be counterproductive to childhood development.

“There’s an extreme overemphasis on content for American kids,” said Golinkoff, who recently co-authored the book Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells Us about Raising Successful Children. “It’s, like, all that matters is getting information in kids’ heads, and that’s unfortunate,” she said. “Content is crucially important, but it’s not the only thing that matters. It’s not just all about memorizing the ABCs, which unfortunately these schools are probably going to torture little kids to do,” Golinkoff joked.

So what else should childcare providers focus on? According to experts: plenty of free play, plenty of opportunities to socialize and be part of a community, and plenty of exposure to new experiences. “A good preschool tries to help children gain self-confidence, become more independent, and develop interpersonal skills,” writes the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) in the book Caring For Your Baby and Young Child. The AAP also acknowledges concerns about programs that are created to cater to parents’ fear or guilt rather than children’s needs: “Be wary of programs that claim to teach academic skills or ‘speed up’ children’s intellectual development. From a developmental standpoint, most preschoolers are not yet ready to begin formal education, and pushing them will only prejudice them against learning.”

“Children are learning continuously. You can’t stop them.”

Not all experts think that the daycare-as-school trend is troubling, though. Others don’t take it too seriously, noting that the trend may indeed be more about semantics than substance. For the psychologist and radio host Stacy Haynes, the shift in favor of “school” is just an innocent linguistic adjustment that can help reluctant youngsters overcome anxiety. “Older children go to school and so younger siblings want to go to school, too,” she said, calling the reference a “play on words” that can instill confidence in children once it actually is time for kindergarten. “Many parents find their children are willing to go to school if they know they have already attended ‘school,’” she explained. For this reason, Haynes recommends that parents refer to outside care as school from the beginning.

Complicating matters further, there are some exceptions in which a more intense educational environment can be beneficial even for very young children, such as federally mandated early-intervention programs or preschool special-education programs, or those for students that may be exceptionally gifted and ready for a more challenging or stimulating environment. Pediatricians can evaluate children or refer them to a child-development specialist who can make specific recommendations for children who may fall under these categories.

Ultimately, whether a child care is titled a “school” or a “daycare,” and no matter how it functions, the American Montessori Society’s Lofquist notes that it is certainly a good sign for children’s futures that parents seem to be increasingly involved, informed, and aware about childcare options. “Parents are becoming more and more savvy, and they realize that their child has that capability of learning, and standards are raising,” Lofquist said. “The reality is, children are learning continuously. You can’t stop them.”

Kindergarten merged with the school. 4 changes awaiting educators

Home/K-magazine/Association of schools and kindergartens. What is dangerous for educators

For the educator

Combining schools and kindergartens. What is dangerous for educators

04/23/2021

In recent years, the reorganization and optimization of educational organizations have been increasingly carried out. Some schools are downsizing and merging with others, as well as creating holdings and attaching kindergartens to schools. Most often, parents and teachers are unhappy: there are fears that salaries will become lower, some of the staff will be cut, and pedagogical traditions will be destroyed. We figure out how dangerous the association is, and how it can be useful.

Why the state unites kindergartens and schools

Most often, kindergartens are attached to schools for financial reasons. Kindergartens that are part of the holding can get more resources, even for the creation of living conditions. Moreover, kindergartens are starting to implement programs that exist at school, for example, to purchase more office equipment and other equipment. The association also helps to reduce accountants, lawyers, and other non-teaching employees – this money should go to teachers’ salaries.

There are also non-economic reasons. Merging into a holding helps to create continuity: children go to kindergarten and start preparing at the age of 6-7 to enter a certain school. They would go for it anyway, since they live nearby, but they will be more prepared for it and they will have less stress associated with adaptation.

How the union will affect caregivers

There are no documents that can describe how the reorganization should take place. But it is clear that in this case other regulatory acts should not be violated: the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, provisions on wages and others. Therefore, focus only on the existing experience and promises of employees of departments and ministries of education.

What mandatory vaccinations should educators undergo?

There will be no layoffs for teachers. If during school mergers teachers or administration can be reduced, then when creating holdings this does not happen: the number of children is not reduced, teachers from schools cannot replace educators and vice versa. Only administrative staff can be fired.

Salaries will increase . Due to the reduction of part of the staff, the money will be released and at their expense the salaries of teachers will be increased. At least that’s what officials say. In fact, much will depend on the willpower of the leader. If he fights for the budget, for maintaining the previous criteria for incentive payments, then employees will expect pluses.

There will be more bureaucracy. Now applications for equipment, cleaning products, etc. will need to be coordinated not only with the kindergarten supply manager, but also with the school management. Perhaps the manager will do this, but more time will definitely pass from the application to the purchase.

Less attention to kindergarten projects. Kindergartens have their own traditions – competitions, participation in grants, intra-group events. Schools can support this, or they can lobby their own projects, while kindergarten schools can censor and ban it.

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School news

Meeting with basketball player Ivan Edeshko

On February 10, Ivan Ivanovich Edeshko, a basketball player, coach, Olympic champion, was our guest. It was he who became the prototype of the hero of the Russian film “Upward Movement”. As part of the legendary USSR national basketball team, which outplayed the US team in Munich, Ivan Edeshko gave a “golden” pass across the entire court three seconds before the end of the match.

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Meeting with veterans

On February 7, a meeting was held at the MIR school with veterans of the besieged Leningrad as part of the “Memory of the People: in the name of peace” project. Witnesses of those terrible events told the children how they fought for their lives, helped the inhabitants and defended the city.