Come See the Difference

	A child care & learning center dedicated to meeting the cognitive, emotional, and physical needs of the children we serve and children everywhere.
	THE WEBSITE IS BEING UPDATED. PLEASE EXCUSE THE 'MESS' AS WE UPDATE!

The For Kid's Sake Difference!!

For Kids' Sake Child Care & Learning Center is here for families and care providers. Our approach to providing excellent care for children is different. It starts with the beginning: this center was founded because the owner (a parent) could not find quality care for her son. The owner did not come from the child care industry and was therefore able to "think out of the box" to do things in ways that are more family-friendly and flexible than many competing centers. Below is a list of some of the differences.

Many Centers	For Kids' Sake
Enroll children with limited consideration for whether or not they can properly staff the center with teachers. Some centers are only properly staffed during am & pm drop-off /pickup times; with inadequate staffing during the core of the day.	We check both room space and our staffing levels to ensure any child enrolled has proper care. We ensure we are staffed all day long, with staff who are committed to child care and offer parents a wait list option when we do not believe that we can adequately staff the classroom.
Frequently use televisions (cable, VCR or DVD).	We have one small TV on site which is kept in the office and used for educational enrichment and rare special occasions to show a children's DVD.
Offer few or no benefits for full time teachers and even fewer for part-time staff. Leading to unhappy staff and high turnover.	Staff Benefits: Paid Vacation; Paid Holidays; Paid Snow Days; Paid Personal Days; Paid 'family' days for funerals and serious illness of direct family members; Company pays 75%+ of employees medical & Rx insurance costs; Employees have a discount for child care - % increases with Employees' years of service; Bonus program tied to performance and enrollment; Support for continued education including flexible scheduling and TEACH program;
Have high staff turnover: 33% - 50% per year, every year. The industry average for length of service in a child care facility, depending on source, ranges from 6 months to 3 years.	Staff Turnover: 12% per year and many years less. Staff turnover is one of the key factors in quality child care. Staff members who are consistent are more likely to work well with their coworkers, spend more time working with the children (less time learning the ropes) and appreciate the uniqueness of your child. The average length of service at FKS is 4 years with more 50% of the staff members employed at FKS for more than 5 years.
Have no active parents' organization.	Parents Meetings: 7 to 8 per year; topics include any suggestions dropped in the office box; upcoming events. Opportunities are provided to identify and resolve any concerns and to add new programs desired by parents.
Monthly Special Events: Not offered or rarely offered by other centers	Monthly Special Events: We have at least one special event each month; parents and family members are welcome to join us for the fun if they can. Grandparents day circle time; Back to School Night with Moon Bounce; Halloween Parade; Thanksgiving Feast; Holiday Sing-A-Long; Art 'show'; ....
Staff Education Level: PA requires 1 staff member to have a college degree for every 45 children enrolled. The director is required to have a college degree in Early Childhood or related field. Many centers struggle to kept 2 or 3 degreed people on staff.	Staff Education Level: The director has a BS in Psychology with certification in Education; 4 staff members have BS degrees, 1 staff member is actively pursuing an ECE degree and 1 is pursuing a CDA (Child Development Associate - equivalent of taking 45 college credit with all credits being in child related courses). Many studies show that staff education levels greatly improve the quality of care. We have many staff who have degrees and certifications that would allow them to work in school system. They are in child care and preschool because they want to be - it is certainly not the hours or pay (even with our better than average pay and benefits). They are here because they choose to be, even with economic and work hour sacrifices.
Have many teachers who are not qualified to be left alone with the children. (The state defines staff members who have less than 2048 hours of child care experience or staff without a HS Diploma as an 'Aide'. The majority of centers have almost 50% of their staff qualifying as aides.	'Supervisors' vs. 'Aides': We generally have no more than one Aide on a staff of 16 We believe on a staff of 16, no more than 2 staff member should be aides - ie have less than 2048 hours of experience working with children.
Very high child care costs, with little or no payment flexibility.	We are one of the lowest cost child care centers in the area. We work hard to keep our costs down while we provide high quality care.
Limited communication with parents	Parent Communication: We send out email reminders each week, publish a calendar of events and post information on the center doors.
Offer only optional parent-paid extra activities	Gym: We have a 3rd party company come in every other week and spend 45 minutes with each age group (30mins with the 1s). The program is included with the full time rate; is $2 for part time children scheduled on gym days; $4 for any drop in on gym day (types of care). The staff stay and help with the program. Music: We have a musician come in and hold bi-weekly music classes with the children. The children love the program and the infants even visit, when possible. There is no cost for this program.

Send mail to pat@forkidssakecc.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: 12/07/09