Constant changes at DD's daycare

[Halfasianmomma]

hi mamas, I don't know if this is the right place to post. Mods, please feel free to move the thread.

DD is 2.5 years old. She has been in a large daycare center (80 kids) for over a year now. The place is very new, big, clean, organized, and they've been great in terms of working around DD's milk protein allergy. There was some movement in the administration, but now things are settled down again, and there is good communication with the new director.

The problem lies with DD's group. Since she has been there, she has lost 4 teachers in a row. The first one was a young woman, right out of college, whom DD had trouble connecting with at first, but then loved. The woman had a nervous breakdown and quit. After her, there was an older lady who seemed like she hated the job; she left within 3 weeks.

Then, there was a young man, who had a very different approach (less educational stuff, lots of music and dancing); I didn't click with him at all, but DD LOVED him. Recently, he announced that he was leaving to go pursue his musical career and tour Europe...he also said that he'd be back occasionally as a temp. Needless to say, I was mad. DD was devastated when he left.

Two weeks ago, a new girl came in and totally changed everything in the organization of the group. DD's group only has 6 kids and the other group in the class has 7. She and the other DCP merged the two groups together and wrote up an extensive educational plan, with activities, dates, etc. I was impressed, to say the least. Last week, she was "sick" for a day, and the next day, she announced that she's leaving to go work in a bank.

Through the grapevine, I find out that she's worked at that daycare before and left without notice. Then recently, she came crawling back, begging for work after losing her job, her apartment and her boyfriend. And now she's gone again.

Now the daycare says they're interviewing for another teacher for DD's group! When will this instability end?! I was hoping to leave DD there for another year and then to transfer her to a pre-K immersion program in an elementary school...but now I'm not sure.

I don't know whether to blame the daycare and their poor hiring policies (they're applying to be a government sponsored center which means they're supposed to only hire DCP with a 3 year college degree)...or blame the industry for paying the DCP so little.

Suggestions/input?

[poorlittlefish]

Wow, that stinks. I guess I would probably find something else for her--more stable.  Potentially a home daycare or do some research on other centers.   That is just what I would do but that sounds hard.

[purplepaperclip]

I've found that with older, more established centers, you can often find less turnover. For example, at dd's preschool, the director has been there 20 years and the lead teacher in her classroom has been there 10+ years. A turnover rate as high as yours would really bother me and I would probably be looking for a different school. (I know that probably doesn't help your current situation though.)

[One_Girl]

I think you should ask the manager why people don't want to stay in that position and what they are going to do to try to keep the next person hired.  If they seem to lose a lot of staff then ask them what they are changing to make their staff feel like staying.  Make it clear that you are looking at other options if they don't have a plan. 

High turn-over is common with daycare, but that is because on top of caring for children all day you also have to deal with snotty managers, policies that change from day to day, little to no time for a break, constant shift changes, not being able to take time off when you are sick because you must cover yourself (and nobody wants to work more shifts in daycare), etc...  Many of these things can and should be addressed by supervisors.  Working in daycare has nice parts too which is why people switch from daycare to daycare instead of from daycare to another type of job, but addressing the issues that affect the quality of the workplace can help retain staff who would otherwise switch to another daycare when they reach their limit with how much they are willing to put up with from their supervisor.

[Halfasianmomma]

I spoke with the manager yesterday afternoon and we discussed the situation at lengths. It made me feel better. Though there has been a lot of movement in DD's group, the caregivers in the other groups have all been stable since the daycare's opening. It seems like the 18 to 36 month age group is either just unlucky or rather difficult on the caregivers. Come to think of it, the issue seems to be the hiring of very young DCP, some right out of college, who have no idea how exhausting the job can be.

I'm crossing my finger that the new person they've hired, who is older, more experienced and has children of her own, will stay there for a long time. She starts on Monday. In the meantime, I'm looking at other options though I'm reluctant to do so given that DD likes her group so much...

[CarrieMF]

If it is only this group which seems to have many changes I'd leave her in there.   At 2.5 she is almost done with this age group & will be moving up & then she's only going to be there for a couple of more months until you take her out & go to the pre-k.

Also, other than when the male teacher left, has your dd had any problems adjusting?