The Child Care Directors Chair ep.1 When Becoming a new Director...

Good morning. It is a chilly February morning here in New England. It is super bowl day. For those of you who are football fans today, I wanted to introduce our new series called the Child Care Director's Chair. I am joined today with Derek Rodriguez, who is our cameraman. And we're going to talk a little bit about some things in the schoolage world. So we got our first question of the day.

I have just become the director of a local after school program. What are some tips or steps I should take to get off to a great start?

Well, that's a great question. The interesting thing is I was looking online a little bit earlier, before we shot today, and there was a lot of information about becoming a child care director, but nothing specifically around school age that I could find. They are definitely two different distinct.

Programs and there are some things that are certainly similar and some things that are a little bit different. So we'll talk about that today. But the first thing which is very simple, but it's often overlooked, is introducing yourself. Now, many times a director may come in and be somebody who has moved throughout the program and was currently in a and now has been promoted to a director. And sometimes those people will not really introduce themselves because they feel like everybody already knows them. So there's a few things that you have to make sure that you do. The first is you want to introduce yourself to families. You want to do that in more than just a letter, but multiple ways. So if your school uses an app, if they use a bulletin board, and beyond your job description, beyond what you'll be doing, beyond, you know, you have your degree from this college, etc. They really should know about you, what are your interests, what are your likes, what are your Hobb. In addition to that, what they can expect from you as a director. I think that that is one of the things that maybe makes people a little bit leery when someone new comes in. Are they going to change everything?

Also, you want to introduce yourself to the schools that you work with. Now, some after school programs may be inside of school and some are set off site. So you want to really figure out what relationships you have there, who you need to know in those schools. Our particular program, we service 14 schools, so that's 14 principals and secretaries that I need to know. So sending out a letter or making a phone call to all of those, those people is certainly very beneficial. Some programs are non profit, so you may work with the board and they may not know you or they may, some of them may have been part of your hiring process. But if you do not know all the board members for your after school program, make sure that you make it a point within your first week or so to send out a card, reach out through email, whatever of communication that you have. In addition to that, many programs have a social media fan base that may not be people who even attend your program or have children that attend your program, but just community people who are interested in what the work is that you're doing. So make sure you reach out to them through social media, send a photo and a little bit about yourself and try to show your personality. I've read many of them and they tend to be very dry. Like I've been in the fields for 20 years, you know, I got my PhD from such and such school. But they really tell a lot about you. So make sure that that's really important. Funders of your program. Many after school programs are funded, maybe non profit. So who are the agencies that fund your program? What are those sources and how do you connect with them? So I would get all of those emails and phone numbers and names as soon as you can, as quickly as possible. And then last but not least, who your licensing worker is. That is critically important for you to know. The first time that you meet your worker, you don't want it to be on a call, you don't want it to be when they come on a visit, you know. So to make that relationship as soon as possible, send them out a note and tell them that you're looking forward to working with them.

So when you say introduce yourself as a director, I mean, as far as these people know, I've already been working with them for years. I mean, in what ways would you suggest are different than the introductions I've already given?

I think that the most important thing when you're making introductions is making sure people know what to expect from you and making sure that you are letting everyone know that you are open to their feedback and communication style. I think what tends to happen is when somebody's new, you're really excited about a job and you want to go in and you want to fix everything, you want to change everything. And as soon as you, you get in there, you're like, oh, this needs to be different, that needs to be different. I just caution you, I think it's important to listen and observe before you make changes. Maybe ask questions as to why they're doing things the way that they are. Have they tried in a different way and it didn't work and why. So I think the most important Thing when you're introducing yourself to people who already know you is you are in a different position now, and it's a different role. And so you may look at things a little bit differently. Another thing that will happen is sometimes when you're working with co workers who now you are their supervisor, that can lead to many challenges. I would suggest that you take some training around that, get some resources as far as books, look at webinars, to just make that transition as smooth and respectful for you and for your staff members.

Now, fully understanding my roles and responsibilities, you know, where would somebody, you know if. Where would somebody go to, you know, if they didn't fully understand those responsibilities? Is there a website? Is there people, you know, where would. Where would somebody connect for something?

Yeah. So the first thing is, especially if you've been at your program for a long time, they may have revised your program's policies and procedures. So if there isn't a current policies and procedures binder in your office, I would make one. I would get a copy of the parent handbook, anything that goes out to families, anything that goes out to funders, so you can fully understand what they're going to be looking for from you.

Now, would that be, you know, in state regulations, is that somewhere where you can, you know, find.

Well, yeah, most definitely. So state regulations is something that I would recommend that you have at your fingertips at all times. When you're a new director, you want to use post its, you want to use highlighters, you want to be able to write notes. You really need a copy that's yours that you can really dissect and just write your notes on the side. The other suggestion that I would highly recommend is if you have access to previous compliance visits, whether they're internal or they were done by your state licensing agency to take a look at them and read them thoroughly so you can understand challenges that your program may have had in the past, make sure that those have been corrected, and to make sure that those continue to stay in compliance. So I would, I would say that would be my number one place to start, would definitely be with your rules and regulations from the state as far as your roles and responsibilities within the program, talking with your supervisor who hired you, making sure that you, if you have questions to ask, and sometimes people are very nervous to ask because you're afraid of looking like you don't understand or that you're not competent. But I think that asking questions actually is the opposite of that and makes you very confident.

Now, creating innovative curriculums and programs. I Mean, for somebody who already has programs in place, what are the best ways of finding out if your curriculums are even working? Or is there questions that need to be answered or even asked?

Yeah, that's a great question. I feel like school age programs.

Really serve two purposes and there is certainly a lot of content on there about creating curriculum. But I think for school age programs, there's a couple things just to really keep in mind. One is it should be child focused. Your children are old enough to let you know their interests. Also, you want to talk with parents to see what their expectations are as well and to make sure that your curriculum is both kid approved and parent approved. We, we talk a lot. There's a lot of talk about after school programs supporting academic learning and extending the school day. I do believe that there is some valid points there, but I also feel there are a lot of things in school that children don't get that they used to get. What I mean by that is maybe cooking skills or life skills, or especially when you start working with older children, how to apply for a job, how to open a bank account, how to save money. There's just so many things. And then of course there's the appreciation for the art, language, music.

Theater, movies. All those types of things I think are a very integral part of after school programs. And I want to make sure that those components stay.

So I would say academic learning supports, number one, number two, real life skills, and number three, support of the arts. And then lastly, physical development. Being able to make sure that children are able to get outside to have physical activity, be able to do sports or just enjoy nature, going for nature walks. Those are all things I think are extremely important for after school programming, especially when children have been in a classroom for six hours of the day already.

So now you, you mentioned understanding your staff and understanding your impact on the budget. I mean, how would you. Are there, you know, questions that you could be asking your staff? I mean, as far as understanding them financially and mentally, how would you go about that? What would your advice be?

Okay, so I'm going to rip that apart into two pieces. The first thing, which is one of my favorite is understanding your staff. Staff to me are probably just as exciting to work with as the children. I find passion in both of those equally. The first is I want to know who my staff are as people, not just like, you know, she's a teacher and she comes in and she works a couple, couple hours, you know, a day. I think school age is a very dynamic and diverse population that comes in for employment, we typically get college students, CITs, which are older children in the program who are training to be counselors. We get retirees who are looking for just a place for a few hours a day to kind of make an impact in their community, will get part time homemakers and parents who also work in the after school program, which tends to be a little bit different than the makeup of preschool teachers. Not, not all, but those who work in early childhood education programs tend to be more teachers who that was, that is their career. So sometimes school age professionals are not looked at in the same way as a profession, which I would love to see that change. So hopefully we can all work together on that. But knowing who the people are. So if I have a teacher who goes to school during the day, her needs are going to be a little bit different and she may need a little bit more time off for testing during exams. And so supporting those people in whatever ways you can, I think makes great leadership.

Professional development. Making sure that we're bringing in professional development for the staff is critical, especially if we want to professionalize the field. And then sharing the work with your team is really important as well as sharing the praise. I unfortunately in my time have learned that some leaders will like to take all the credit for work that others do. So make sure that that is not the kind of leader that you become. Being new in the field, you're going to really depend on your staff a lot. So make sure that you care about them as a person. Ask about how their day really listen, you know, know what their needs are outside of work, not just in work. And then it is okay, you know, sometimes the lines become blurred. You don't want to just be their friend, you do want to be their supervisor. You do want to make sure that we're working towards a common goal. So yeah, so that's the first part of that about understanding your staff, the understanding the impact of your budget. As a new director, you need to ask one what is the budget? You have access to the budget. Do you know what's included in that budget? So.

You have to know that. You also need to know where does the money come from that supports your program? Are you privately funded? Are you a private after school program or are you funded through grants? And if you are funded through grants, what's the criteria of that grant? What can you spend the money on? What can you not? How are you using your resources? So there's a couple ways around using the resources. First is how you're spending the money. What requests that you, that you have.

In terms of supply. And then there's also what other revenues can you bring into your program.

And how you, you know, and how you would expand the resources that you currently have.

So you, you touched base a little bit on, you know, understanding your community and, you know, connecting with it essentially. But as far as, you know, what we all know, as far as social media, besides that, I mean, what other ways could you connect with your community besides the basics that we all know and love?

So after school programming, actually that's one of our strengths is that we typically do connect with our community. We usually will do different events that we invite the community in, or we'll do events that support our outside community, such as coat drives, food drives, getting involved in advocacy a little bit. I think one of the benefits of having the community come into your program is it certainly helps with diversity and cultural acceptance, especially if you're very strategic in who you're asking to come into your program. Look at what is the dynamic of your neighborhood and make sure that everyone is included when you invite community leaders in. And think about small businesses as well. We typically tend to reach out to nonprofits or schools, but look outside of that. Who are the small businesses that are in your area that you could support through your after school program? And they could support you as well. The benefits certainly are you gain free resources which will help with your budget, you'll gain local support of your program. Especially when there are times where funding is being cut to after school programs, it certainly helps to have some local businesses be your champion. Again, we all know that diversity and inclusion is very important. So by having those other community leaders come into your program certainly supports that all the way around. So it's a win win for the community and the after school program.

Now, would you say connecting with your school, the schools you serve, is a part of connecting with the community, or should you take a slightly different approach to connecting with the schools you serve versus the community?

I think that you have to be.

More intentional when you're working with the schools that you work with on a daily basis, because technically you are working with them on a daily basis. And there are two different ways to look at it. First, if you're an on site in the school after school program, you have shared space. So you really want to understand what are the dynamics of the shared space. What can you do in that space? What are you not allowed to do in that space? Where do materials go after you close down your program? So some after school programs are literally setting up their classrooms every day and breaking them down every day. Where if you have a designated space that is just exclusive for your after school program, such as a private after school program, you don't have that challenge. What your challenge is in that type of dynamic is reaching out to the school administration and figuring out logistics of things such as transportation. What is the communication of school has to close early. Are you open? Are you ready to go? Are you able to transport the children? Are they being brought to you on school buses? I mean, emergencies happen. So you and the school really have to talk about all of these logistical things before emergencies happen. Also, referrals and enrollment. Certainly when new families are moving in to an area, they're gonna ask their school department. You know, who is an after school program? I'm looking for after school programming for my child. And you certainly want to be one of the first referrals from the school department or secretarial principal. So very, very important.

Now, when you were talking about creating dynamic school space, you know, age appropriate or should it be? I mean, where would you go to find this kind of information?

Well, this is a kind of an area that really is maybe a little bit of a thorn on my side. I have one little thing to say about that. Your. Your after school program is not preschool classroom with bigger chairs. It is not. They are very different. The needs of school age children are just as different and unique as the needs would be for an infant program versus a preschool program. So please, many, many programs, they add an additional classroom down the hallway and they say that's our school age program. And it literally has the same toys, the same tables, just bigger chairs. It is not that an after school program needs to be able to grow and evolve with the children that are in that space. It needs to take into their needs of. They're in school all day, they need to get out, they need the physical activity. We need to just make sure that our programming is meeting the needs of our children. The space should be fun, inviting, engaging, allowing access. It should change. Often school age children get bored very easily if they're not invested in something. That's why enrichment clubs that run for eight to 10 weeks are usually very successful in after school programs. So yeah. So please do not make it a preschool classroom with bigger chairs and connecting.

With other school age professionals. Are there websites?

Are there forums?

Howard? I mean, how would you network?

That's great. Well, networking is exactly the right word, Derek. Each state is different. There certainly are forms that are online. I prefer to get out and be able to meet other professionals in my, in my state. See what membership agencies there are. See if you have a local MACI branch. I would reach out to them because they do serve infant to age 8. Especially if you serve a lot of children who are kindergarten, first grade, second grade. I would, I would definitely connect with a, with a state branch of Macy. There's the National After School Association. I would connect with those, those folks and see if you have a state affiliate branch, your state. There is also the After School alliance.

That can help you as well to see if they have a branch. So. And then you can call the center down the street or talk with other child care owners or after school owners.

In other parts of your state. A lot of times, especially if they're not in direct competition with you, we'll be more than happy to share information.

No more silos I think is probably the biggest thing. I think sometimes people will tend to gravitate towards just a small group. So do not be afraid to reach outside of the school age network.

Now, when advocating for children other than, you know, buying your local Girl Scout cookies.

What other things can. You know.

You should really be part of your school board, especially if you're located in a school, be part of the school board, be supportive because obviously schools have lots of different changes and things that they have to deal with. So be supportive of that, advocate for the children and families. Also.

I would say find out what's going on in legislation in your state. Find out what, what rules are they making that will affect your families. You know, whether it's this year or next year. You know, funding is important, but advocacy goes outside of, you know, looking for funding. What is the quality rating in your state and how do you get on board with that? If you have a QRS in your state, be part of the creation of that or you know, the movement of that as it goes through its various levels. We hope you liked our first episode. We'd like to say congratulations on your new position as a school age child care Director. We are sure that you will do phenomenal. If you want more information on school age director or other topics, shoot us a comment below. Be sure to like our page and subscribe to our page called the Child Care Director's Chair. As I said, this is episode one. I promise they'll get better as we go. Please shoot us some questions and we'll be happy to answer them. We will also put some links on the bottom for ways for you to connect to some of the agencies that we mentioned in the video. Thank you very much.