We keep fire codes and square footage in mind as much as possible, also taking age-appropriateness and ratios into account. For example, we would be more likely to allow 30 elementary kids in one room as opposed to 30 toddlers, but we would maintain strict adherence to  state licensure and NAEYC requirements as to child:adult ratios, even though, as a church, we are not required to. It makes staffing more demanding, but I would rather work harder on that end of it.

If we have a packed house, so to speak, I do instruct our Room Leads to at least make them aware of our “over-populated” conditions, and offer parents the choice to stay with their child, take them with to service, or to go ahead and add to the surplus population (as Ebenezer Scrooge would put it). At the very least, we try to maintain those all-important ratios to heighten safety, which is paramount.

We actually planned for this as we built our building; planning for at least two rooms for every age group, according to NAEYC and state requirements.  Granted that is a luxury that many don’t have, and we didn’t always have it when we were doing our first stint in the local high school. That’s when the above measures really applied, but we do have times now when things get mighty tight.

I think “Customer Service” is always a key factor in communicating things like this to parents. We want them to trust us with their precious little ones, and how we communicate it is every bit as important as what we do to address the challenge (which is a great one to have, by the way!). As in all matters of communication, it’s timing and delivery, baby – timing and delivery.

Danise

Lisa B from NC

Hey Larry,

The simple answer for us is that the capacity of our rooms id mainly directed by the number of staff. Most of our cl could hold many more then we actually put in them so we make determinations based on staffing ratios. Here are the ratios we use:

PROGRAM                               WORKERS                                     CHILDREN

Infants                                                  1                                              2-3

One Year olds                                       1                                              3-4      

Two Years                                             1                                              4-6

Preschool – 1st grade                           1                                              6-10

Grades 2-6                                            1                                              10-12

Grades 7-12                                          1                                              12-20

By the way, we do not count younger teens in this ratio. For the ratio to count the volunteer must be at least 18 years old. We have many younger teens volunteering and some even as very effective lead staff, but their still must be a mature presence in the room for oversight.

As far as communicating this to parents we have signs in our toddler and under classrooms and if we approach our max capacity we will inform parents that we cannot take in any more children unless either they as the parent come in the room to help or until extra staff shows up. We do have alternates who typically will come down from the main service if paged. Hope this helps.

Mike

 

Lisa B from NC

This forum is the largest blessing I have ~ the most important tool that I have in ministry right now!

This week every topic that has come through: Check In System, Room Capacity and laceName w:st="on">Multi-SitelaceName> laceType w:st="on">ChurcheslaceType>. I have an email this morning from our Executive Minister that we are now going to begin the consideration process for becoming a multi-site Church and for each ministry to begin to formula our questions…

            So any suggestions here would be appreciated-

Room Sizes:

We are in the stages of renovating/building more space and many (if not most) of the children’s room are too big or strangely shaped- it may have the square footage to hold 40 2-Year Olds- but we would never put that many in one classroom.

Here are the standards by which I have followed:

Preschool & Nursery:

30 sq ft per child- (our architect went as much as 50 sq ft per child) ~ 30 sq ft meets minimum standards of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services for Child-Care Centers – we used this for our Preschool Weekday Program.

So we take the total amount of square feet in a room and take 80% of that- this gives us the “Functional Capacity” for the room- you have to take into consideration furniture/toys ect…

Then you have to consider the age of the children~ regardless the size of the room there is a maximum number of children you would want even in a large room with a lot of adults… What I follow seems to be very much inline with Mike Bulkley’s email below.

Infants: 1/3 (minimum of 2 adults – max per room of 8 infants)

Young Toddlers- 2 Year Olds 1/6 (minimum of 2 adults - max per room of 12 children)

2 – 5 Year Olds – 1/8 (minimum of 2 adults max of 12 children per room)

Kindergarten – 5^th Grade: 1/10 (minimum of 2 adults max of 18 children)

This past Sunday, we had 18 Elementary children in our Children's Church... in a room designed for 6-10.  We also had 13 Two's in a Room designed for 6-8.  Our attendance was over the top!  

We had lovely weather so the cl made good use of the Great Outdoors, but we are scrambling for space and teachers for this coming weekend. 

With too many children in a room, you diminish your effectiveness and frustrate both children and teachers. The words "mobile classroom" has come up again after this incident.  Bottom line, we must respond quickly, ever vigilant to provide safe and sane ratios!

Lisa B from NC

Have a blessed week,

Denise