Hellobee

Through my hunt for a preschool, I came up with some essential questions I made sure to ask when touring each school.  I don’t want to be “that” parent, but I want to know what I’m investing my hard earned money into!

1.  What is the school’s educational philosophy?  Mrs. Jacks wrote a great blog post a while back about the different types of preschool programs out there.  The most popular ones in my area were play-based, Montessori, and JCC (religious).  I don’t know if I didn’t look hard enough, but I did not encounter any Waldorf or Reggio Emilia based schools.  I think it’s very important to know what type of academic setting the school will be promoting and how they plan to educate your child before you decide on a school though.

2.  Do you offer rolling enrollment or do you enroll based on semester/season?  Many schools enroll only in the fall and carry it through an entire academic year, but the preschool I chose offered rolling enrollment, so I thought it might be good to know what kind of criteria the school has for admission and how strict they are with it.

3.  What are your rates and hours?  Always good to know if a school is within your budget and if the hours fit your schedule!

4.  What is your student/teacher ratio?  There is usually a minimum state requirement for this.  In the state of California, the requirements are listed here.  California requires a 1:6 ratio for those in the 18-36 month age range, with no more than 12 students in one class.

5.  What kind of credentials do the teachers hold?  Always a good thing to know what the qualifications of the staff are.  I would be hesitant to put my daughter in a preschool that are too loose with their hiring of teachers.  Might also be good to find out what the turnover rate is as children do better with consistency and familiarity.

6.  Do all the teachers have first aid and CPR training?  If something were to happen to my girl, I’d want the immediate adults nearby to all know what to do at the drop of a hat!

7.  Do you help potty train?  This might not apply to those with older kids, but for my budding toddler… I was curious about their bathroom policies and willingness to help potty train.

8.  How strict is the school about dropping off and picking kids up by a certain time?  Some schools have extremely strict policies on this because too much tardiness can disrupt a class.  Others are more lenient, giving parents a lot more freedom to drop off and pick up when they please as long as it falls within school hours.

9.  Do you charge a fee for late pickup?  Every school I visited charged some sort of fee if parents picked up their kids beyond the closing time of 6pm.  This is understandable because the staff want to go home to their families too!  The fee can vary, so it’s good to know the cost before you risk running late (which can easily happen due to traffic or other unforeseen events).

10.  What are your child release and security policies?  A strict sign-on/sign-out policy is very important to me.  I would not want a school to be too loosey-goosey about who picks up my kid.

11.  What is your policy regarding sick kids?  How sick does a kid have to be to stay at home?  How sick does a kid have to be before the school calls the parents to come pick them up?  Is it at the first sign of a runny nose?  Or does it take a high fever to put them on edge?

12.  What is your policy about giving medication?  Some are ok with giving medication as long as you personally provide it with a consent form, and others won’t do it at all.

13.  What is your discipline policy if a kid misbehaves?  What happens when kicking, biting, hitting, or tantrums occur?  When does the school choose to implement time-outs, and when do they choose to redirect a behavior?

14.  What does a daily schedule look like, and when is nap time?  I always want to know what the general agenda is so I get a snapshot of my child’s day.  Knowing when and how long nap time is is always on the forefront of my mind since I have always been hugely protective of my daughter’s sleep.

15.  What is your naptime policy?  Are the kids required to actually sleep or can they have quiet play as long as they’re within the confines of their mattress?  In California, the children are required to nap with closed-toe tennis shoes on in case of an emergency (that way they don’t have to scramble to put on a dozen pairs of shoes when an earthquake or something occurs).

16.  Is breakfast, lunch, and/or snacks provided?  Some places provide all, some none, and some in-between.  It’s good to know what your preschool fees include.  Some preschools have microwaves so kids can heat up their food, and others require parents to only bring foods that kids can eat as-is.

17.  Do you have field trips?  I want the preschool experience to be enriching and engaging, and field trips make school an even more special place to be!  Whether it’s a short trip down the block to the farm, or a bigger trip to the county zoo… preschool should be both educational and fun!

18.  Would I be able to make unannounced visits to observe classes?  One preschool I visited required appointments in order for parents to observe classes because dropping in unannounced would be “disruptive.”  I liked having the option of dropping by unannounced though, so teachers wouldn’t be “expecting” me and be prepared for it.  I want to see the class in it’s natural setting, not when it’s on its best behavior.

19.  Which holidays are you closed for? Are there additional days when the school is closed?  For working parents, this is crucial information.  I need to know what days I must take off work in order to stay home with the kid.  And if I can’t take days off, does the preschool have a daycare option where they have staff on-site to watch my kid for an additional fee, or would I have to make other babysitting arrangements on those days?

20.  How much notice is needed if I decided to switch preschools or needed to pull my child out early?  When purchasing anything, I always want to know the refund policy!  It’s the reason I almost always buy from Amazon than anywhere else, even if their prices are slightly higher sometimes… because if I have buyer’s remorse in any way, shape, or form, I am confident that they will almost always accept our return.  This situation happened to us, where we decided to switch preschools – luckily the term hadn’t started yet.  We originally enrolled our kid in a different preschool, then changed our minds.  Luckily we read the fine print and knew we just had to give a 30-days notice to get a refund on our one month’s tuition, but our deposit was lost to us forever.

What else would you add to this list?