Current Regulations

Current regulations require strict supervision of children under 10 using actual sight and sound supervision.

8VAC20-780-340. Supervision of children.

F. Children under 10 years of age always shall be within actual sight and sound supervision of staff, except that staff need only be able to hear a child who is using the restroom provided that:

1. There is a system to assure that individuals who are not staff members or persons allowed to pick up a child in care do not enter the restroom area while in use by children; and

2. Staff check on a child who has not returned from the restroom after five minutes. Depending on the location and layout of the restroom, staff may need to provide intermittent sight supervision of the children in the restroom area during this five-minute period to assure the safety of children and to provide assistance to children as needed.

New Proposed Regulation

8VAC20-781-260 Supervision of children

F. For children under 10 years of age, the licensee shall ensure sight and sound supervision by staff who are always physically present without separation by a physical barrier, except that staff need only be able to hear a child who is using the restroom provided that:

Our Proposal

1. For children under preschool age, the licensee shall ensure sight and sound supervision by staff who are always physically present, except when a child is in the restroom.

2. For preschool children and older, the licensee shall ensure sight and sound supervision by staff who are always physically present, except for short periods staff need only be able to hear a child who is in a safe location (such as a child who is using the restroom or retrieving a backpack from the hall) provided that:

   1. Video equipment, intercom systems, or other technological devices shall not substitute for staff being able to directly see or hear children.

   2. There is a system to assure that individuals who are not staff members or persons allowed to pick up a child in care are not present in the area with the children;

   3. Staff check on a child who has not returned within five minutes. 

3. School age children shall be within sight and sound supervision of staff except when the following requirements are met:

   1. Staff are nearby so they can provide immediate intervention if needed;

   2. There is a system to ensure that staff know where each child is and what they are doing;

   3. There is a system to ensure that individuals who are not staff members or persons allowed to pick up children in care are not present in the areas where children are not under sight supervision; and

   4. Staff provide sight and sound supervision of the children at variable and unpredictable intervals not to exceed 15 minutes.

Why?

Teachers regularly use the separation of a physical barrier while supervising children by sight and sound. Imagine a high quality early childhood classroom, got a picture? Do you imagine a child pulling on a teacher’s leg and trying to get in the trash can as the teacher is changing a diaper. If not, probably because there is a gate separating the changing space from the play space and still designed in a way that the teacher changing a diaper can see and hear the other children. Do you imagine children banging on the cribs of other children while they are sleeping? If not, that’s because there is probably a gate designed to protect the sleep of children while teachers are still able to see and hear other children. Teachers are regularly supervising by sight and sound and physically present while separated by a physical barrier.

Children do need supervision at school but they do not need policing. If you have children, you know that by age three most children can perform small tasks out of sight. You no longer need to follow preschoolers the way you did your crawling and toddling little ones. This separation is actually an essential part of learning and growing. Children in our public schools, their homes, and any other context are not required to be under constant sight and sound supervision of an adult. We can trust early childhood educators to make value based decisions to allow children’s growing independence in a safe environment. 

When the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is visiting for accreditation their expectations allow preschoolers to be in sound only supervision for up to five minutes provided the other safety measures are in place. This would allow preschoolers to perform tasks such as getting a book from a classroom across the hall or retrieving a special item from a hallway backpack.  This flexibility to allow children over three into sound only supervision for short periods would make a difference for children and for their adults. It is safe for teachers to scaffold preschooler’s growth and learning in the protected context of our early childhood environments. 

Children in our public schools use hallway bathrooms, go to the nurses office, or go to take things to other classroom and yet when they are in licensed summer camps they must be supervised with the same intensity as a toddler until age ten. The purpose of these regulations is safety, we can loosen these requirements and still provide safe environments, it is happening in every other environment children are in. 

Supervising children is essential and how we regulate programs that has a dramatic impact on how children are supported. The language around supervision is extremely restrictive and prevents teachers from scaffolding children’s learning to handle tasks out of direct sight supervision. Please change 8VAC20-781-260 to allow children preschool aged and above reasonable freedom of movement at school and remove the absurd addition preventing reasonable use of gates that do not impede sight and sound supervision.