St. Matthew Early Childhood Center strives to offer the highest quality care to each individual child and family; however situations may arise that cause a parent to be concerned. In this event, parents are encouraged to first talk directly to the staff involved in the situation, asking questions to clarify what happened and why. If is further encouraged that parents work with staff towards resolution. If parents are not satisfied with the results or if the concern is serious enough to warrant immediate attention of an administrator, parents are encouraged to contact the Director. Again, with quality as our goal, every effort will be made to work with families to resolve any issues brought to our attention.
The St. Matthew Early Childhood Center is committed to providing quality services to all of our children and families, including empowering children and families to access available resources. We have access to a variety of resources available to both parents and teachers. The resources range from handouts and pamphlets to services through Grant Wood Area Education Agency, including the Parent Education Consortium. Please contact your child’s teacher or the Director if you are interested in utilizing any of these resources.
We are very proud of our program at St. Matthew and encourage all parents to visit our center at any time. By visiting during the day, you can get a better picture of what your child’s day is like. We never require prior notification and you are free to come and go as you wish. Each parent will be provided a white security card that will gain you access to your child’s classroom. If you are visiting during a time that you would not normally be picking up or dropping off, we ask that you check in with a member of administration in order to receive a visitor’s badge. During pick up and drop off, we request that all parents go directly to their child’s classroom.
Every classroom has a copy of each child’s pick-up authorization form as well as his/her Emergency Medical Consent form which lists all the people that are authorized to pick up the child. Staff members are required to acknowledge any adult that enters the room. Staff members are also required to check the forms for any adult that is not recognized by the staff member in the room that attempts to pick-up a child that is not their own. Those adults will also be asked for identification to cross-reference the information. If the person is authorized to pick up the child, the staff member will release the child to that adult. If the person is not authorized to pick up the child, a staff member will escort the adult out of the building.
Any individual who is not a member of administration, staff member, substitute, or registered volunteer, parent, guardian, or persons with custodial care shall NOT have unrestricted access to the children in care at St. Matthew Early Childhood Center.
All staff members, substitutes, and volunteers (including parents, guardians, and other relatives) MUST complete the following before being allowed to have unrestricted access to children (beyond visiting their own child) in our care: Federal Criminal Background Check, State of Iowa Criminal Background Check, and FBI Fingerprinting. A volunteer will NOT be able to volunteer until all three documents have been returned with a positive outcome.
All volunteers, including parents, guardians, persons with custodial care, and other relatives must speak with the St. Matthew ECC management prior to their desired date of volunteering in the child’s classroom. The members of administration will decide if a volunteer, parent, guardian, or other relative will need unrestricted access by determining the following:
1. Is the person counted in ratio of adults to children?
2. Is the person charged with care, supervision, and guidance of a child?
3. Does the person have access to a child alone?
If a parent would like to spend time solely with their child, ECC staff will not place this visitor in charge of any other children (i.e. staff will not ask this visitor to give care, supervise, be left alone with or give guidance to any other children). This parent will be asked to read and sign a statement detailing the limitations of their visitor work within the ECC classroom. Members of administration will clearly state that at all times an ECC staff member will be in proximity and supervision of the volunteer and all children, so that the staff member is able to intervene to give the children care and guidance.
All staff will refer parents and all other visitor/volunteers to the office where administration will give the parents and all other visitors/volunteers a copy of this policy, talk through the responsibilities expected, and determine their level of supervision during this visitor/volunteer activity.
Any person who has been convicted of a sex offense upon a minor who is required to register with the Iowa sex offender registry shall NOT be permitted on the property of St. Matthews without written permission of the center director, except for the time reasonably necessary to transport the offender’s own minor child or ward to and from the center.
Written permission shall include the following conditions under which the sex offender may be present, including:
Before giving written permission, the center director shall consult with the center licensing consultant. The written permission shall be signed and dated by the center director and the sex offender and kept on file for review by the center licensing consultant. The St. Matthew Early Childhood Center director is not OBLIGATED to provide written permission. This will be completed on a case by case basis.
We value the unique contributions individuals have to offer our programs and we welcome all opportunities for persons to visit our center and/or volunteer their services. To ensure the safety of our children and the quality of our programs, ALL volunteers must receive prior approval from a member of administration, schedule their services in advance, and will be required to fill out several volunteer forms such as the following:
1. Confidentiality Statement
2. Communicable Disease Statement
3. Federal Criminal Background Check including FBI Fingerprinting
4. State of Iowa Criminal Background Check
5. Virtus Training Certificate
Any individual that places the safety of our children at risk will NOT be allowed to participate in our programs. All volunteers, including parents, guardians, persons with custodial care, and other relatives must speak with the administration prior to their desired date of volunteering.