8VAC20-781-10 Definitions

"Incident" means an event in which a child is injured or in a situation where injury is likely to occur.

• Lack clarity. How will "likely to occur" be measured, and who will determine that?

 “Programmatic experience” means the supervision of children in a structured setting. Experience shall be calculated based on full-time work. 

• This will prevent any counting any hours that a person worked part-time, even if permanently employed.

8VAC20-781-40 Required policies and procedures

• Writing procedures for all policies is an unnecessary and burdensome (i.e., procedures for stock epinephrine or for drinking water when the Code of Virginia only requires policies for each).
• In some cases, it is also redundant (A.4. (i) how staff will engage in the active supervision of children   A,5, (i) methods of active supervision of children). 

8VAC20-781-50 General recordkeeping

C. The licensee shall keep all records required by 8VAC20-781-60 and 8VAC20-781-70 in locked files or a secure electronic file.

• Staff also need children's records immediately available to for emergency contact information or to check on adults designated to pick up a child and custody paperwork.
• 781.50 requires centers to keep all children's records confidential. Having all information concerning children in a locked or secure file is not only burdensome, but it will make it impossible for staff is to have necessary food allergy or other medical information on each child available.

8VAC20-781-90 Health provisions

B. 1. 1. The center shall obtain documentation of a report from a qualified licensed physician, or a licensed nurse practitioner or licensed physician assistant acting under the supervision of a licensed physician, of a comprehensive physical examination...  

• This standard lack clarity. The term comprehensive is open to interpretation.

8VAC20-781-140 Orientation training

B. The center shall provide orientation training to all staff who will work with children.

• All staff who work with children will include bus drivers, cooks serving food, etc. Please rewrite and clarify that this type of orientation is to be required only of those involved in the direct care and education of children.

C. The licensee shall ensure that all staff who work with children, within 30 days of the staff member’s date of employment, complete an overview of first aid and CPR skills.

• Please clarify what an overview of CPR and first aid involves.
• What qualifications does the person giving the overview need? 

8VAC20-781-220 Building maintenance

B. 2. The heating system shall (i) be installed to prevent accessibility of children to the system and (ii) have appropriate barriers to prevent children from being burned, shocked, or injured from heating equipment. In addition, proper supervision shall be available to prevent injury.

• This standard needs to be rewritten to clarify that additional staff is only required in situation when children have potential access to the heating system. 

8VAC20-781-240 Areas

G. Infants, toddlers, and twos shall have a separate outdoor play area or shall not occupy the outdoor play area at the same time as preschool and school-age children.

• To separate twos from preschool children on the playground create a both financial and programmatic hardship for centers who do not care for children under age two. These centers will have the expense of not only providing a separate play area, but also providing additional play equipment for that area. 
• This standard may cause centers to choose to divide the outdoor play time between the twos and preschoolers which would decrease the amount of active outside play for each group of children.
• Centers that do care for infants and toddlers will now face a financial hardship of providing additional play equipment on that play area that is suitable to two-year-olds as well as infants.
• Also, this is a safety issue. It is much better for a two-year-old child to play with a 4-year-old child than to have him play with a 6-week-old child. Not only would the infant face potential harm, the two-year-old would not be challenged with growth opportunities.
• I suggest either 1) rewriting this to give twos the option of playing with toddlers or preschoolers, or 2) leaving the standard as before and requiring only infant and toddler to have a separate play area.

8VAC20-781-280 Staff-to-children ratio and group size requirements

A. The maximum group size limitations specified in Table 1 shall be followed whenever children are in care.

5. School age eligible through 12 years     100 

B. The staff-to-children ratios specified in Table 2 are required whenever children are in care.

5. School age eligible through 12 years     1:20   

C. In accordance with Part V of 8VAC20-820 and with approval by the Superintendent, a center may temporarily alter the staff-to-child ratios (ii) by two children for groups of children school age eligible through age 12. 

• This proposed ratio and group size creates a safety issue for young children. Now, one staff member could.be alone with 20 children ages five to twelve. This includes not only the classroom, but also on the playground. 
• Five staff members could now be responsible for 100 active children, while monitoring restrooms, talking to parents, helping with homework, and dealing with individual needs and personalities.
• With approval five staff members could be responsible for 110 children ages five through twelve.
• I have many years of experience with school-age children and suggest that the ratio for children who are school age eligible be 1:18 or less. There are times that school age children are invovled in group activites and one staff can watch a large number of children. However, the more varied the age, the greater the need for supervision.
• Also, watching children and caring for children are not the same. When the group becomes too large, children are watched and not cared for.