questions to ask

[mysticmomma]

We are going for a visit at a preschool tomorrow. It is at our In-law's church. What should I ask? My daughter will be in the three's class, but will turn four about 2 months later. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Have you ever hit a child?

Have any of the teachers ever hit a child?

How is discipline handled?

What kinds of things may warrant (whatever they said was discipline)?

How is the building secured?

Who has keys?

How are the teachers screened?

What about other people with access to the building? (janitors, etc).

What is the ratio of childrenchers?

How are snacks handled?

Bathroom breaks?

[LynnS6]

Grrr... I just lost a long post, I'll see if I can recreate it.

I'd start with more general questions:

What's your curriculum like? What's your educational philosophy?

What's your discipline philosophy?
What do you do when children are aggressive with each other?
What do you do when children say mean things?
What do you do when children act out or throw tantrums?
What do you do when children talk back or are aggressive with the teachers? (I've seen all of this happen in preschools, so they should have reasonable answers.)

What's a typical day look like?
What do you do when a child doesn't want to participate in an activity?
What do you do when a child has a hard time sitting still?

What training do your teachers have? What's their background? What kind of continuing education do you do? What's the teacher-student ratio?

Who else might be around the school or in the classroom? Volunteers? Staff? How do you keep the school secure? How do you keep the children safe? What training do these other people have?

What's your sick policy? When do you exclude children? Call parents to come get them?

What do you do in case of an emergency?
Do you have a disaster plan, and if so, what is it? (Around here, it's earthquakes we're worried about, I have no idea what it would be where you are.)

What makes your school a great place to be? (You want them to be enthusiastic and energetic about 'selling' it to you -- if they don't want to be there, then you don't want your child there!)

What parenting books would you recommend? (that gives you insight as to what their discipline/learning philosophy is -- our preschool would recommend something like "How to Talk so children will Listen").

What haven't I asked that I should know?

Above all -- go with your gut. If you feel uncomfortable, see if you can figure out why. If not, then I'd be OK with it.

[kmeyrick]

I doubt very much that anybody hits the children, since that would be lawsuit central. They may also misinterpret your questions as being litigious or they may, if they would never dream of hitting kids, get offended. You ought to ask how they handle discipline, and ask for examples. Such as, Timmy hit Jimmy and had to sit in time out. Lilly and Rose fought over the dress ups and now they must move to another play station.

I won't add much, since LynnS6 seems to have covered what I would have said.

Well, there's a few more I'd add-

Are the staff certified?
Does the building/Church have a state permit to hold a preschool?

[mysticmomma]

have either of you read protecting the gift by gaven debecker? If not you need to. Never ignore your gut. If I feel uncomfortable, I'm not going to try to find out why, or talk myself out of it. I"m going to listen to the mama instinct and NOT put her in that school. It's not OK just because you can't logically come up with a reason. Intuition is not based on logic. I appreciate the questions you added, but I'm not concerned with offending someone by asking if they hit kids. How they answer will give me loads of information. I'm concerned with my childs safety. Have students been struck by children in school before? YES. Could that by my child's school? YES. THerefore, it could be my child. It could have been her teacher.

[mommy68]

I think the questions are covered. How about asking to spend a day in the class observing. That will give you a lot of your answers. It would be even better if you can take your child with you.