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We have been using baby gates on our creeper, crawlers and toddlers classroom doors. The baby gates created a safety barrier. The parents wait at the gate and we hand their child to them over the gate. Unfortunately, fire safety laws prohibit them, so we need another way to keep our little ones safely inside the classroom and discourage parents and families from coming in during check in and check out time.
We tried asking parents to knock and wait outside the door, but that created even more problems. Our rooms are small and our little ones gravitate to the door area where the little ones might get knocked over or get their fingers pinched as the door is opening and closing for each drop off or pick up. Plus, once the door was opened for one child, entire families would come into the classroom causing confusion and making it difficult for the teachers to keep an eye on their little ones. Our greatest fear was that a child would slip out of the room under the sea of legs!
We know the gates have to go so we need a safe alternative. What's worked for you?
Lisa B from NC
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| What about a half door. Keep the bottom shut and locked and the top opens for parents to hand kids over and so people can see in for safety. We used these in our last church and it worked great. I think you can get them at any home improvement store (like lowes or home depot). Melissa - NY
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Thanks for the suggestion!
We call those "dutch" doors. We used to have them but they do not meet our state fire codes so we had to take them out.
I'm wondering if they make any that DO meet code.
Lisa B from NC
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| Must be different codes for different states, in NY they are fine. I would ask around at home stores etc. and see if they have anything that would work for you, they might have a better idea for the codes around your area. Good Luck!! Melissa - NY
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| We actually cut our doors in half to create these doors and put a sliding latch on the doors to hook them together. Perhaps they would allow that.
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I checked on cutting doors and found that even adding the view windows invalidates the fire rating. You can get dutch doors that will meet the minimal fire code for our state, so it's definitely something we could do.
Here's something interesting. Our denomination does not recommend dutch doors. The quote was that they allowed too much distraction. However, if you are only going to open the top half during drop off and pick up time, I can't see how that would be a problem.
Thanks for all you help and suggestions!
Lisa B from NC
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| Lisa, Prior to working here at Group I worked for a church that had regular doors for teachers to come in and out, but these doors were kept shut and locked (from the outside) during class and during drop-off and pick up. Then we had a check-in window that functioned similiarly to a "dutch door" except that the bottom was a wall. The kids were handed through the window to their parents. The nice thing was that the glass in the windows was a one-way mirror so parents could walk by during class and check in on their kids without the kids seeing them. But that part isn't really necessary, it was just a nice perk. Not a cheap option if you don't already have it set up, but I figured I'd put in my two cents just in case you can get the budget to do it. Good luck finding something that will work with your state's fire codes!
Ali Thompson
Curriculum Editor
Group Publishing
970-292-4365
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Thank you Ali! We WILL be building in the near future and this idea makes a lot of sense! Thanks for sharing!
Lisa B from NC
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| The church that we were previously had a nursery area much like the one Ali described. We had a Oneway window on one of the walls, a door used only by the volunteers and a large wall with a counter where the children were checked in and out. The room also had another half wall in it that helped seperate the infants and toddlers. It had a half door that allowed the workers to move between the two areas when needed. It seemed like a pretty nice set up. Stephanie
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