Prospective Parents

Prospective Parents

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Ottawa Opportunity School! The Board of Directors and Staff are proud of our school

and

hope that you choose to visit and enroll your child is our preschool program. We look forward

to getting

know your family.

Our staff believes that parents and family play a vital role in their child's growth and development.

recognize the family as the child's first and most important teacher. For that reason, we

encourage

family

involvement during your child's learning experiences at our school. We hope

you will interact

daily with

your child's teachers, and volunteer in the classroom as well as attend

special events.

We, in turn, will do our best to provide a safe, nurturing, developmentally appropriate environment

that

your child may become a confident and competent learner. Please feel free to visit at any

time

and/or call

(815-433-2731)with concerns, questions or information you may want to share.

Sincerely,

Peggy Baxter, Director

Staffing

The Director conducts the overall operations and procedures of the school. She/he shall hold a Bachelor's Degree with

training in Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education or a related field.

Lead Teachers plan, teach, organize, supervise and are responsible for a group of children. Lead Teachers must have a

minimum of 60 hours of college credit with 18 semester hours in courses related to the field of Early Childhood Education.

All Opportunity School Lead Teachers exceed these qualifications.

Support Teachers assist the Lead Teacher and help to teach, supervise and be responsible for a group of children.

Support Teachers must have a High School Diploma. All Opportunity School Support Teachers exceed these qualifications

and many have two to four year degrees also.

The Opportunity School director and each staff member participate in 15 hours of professional growth training per year. In

addition, staff attends CPR and blood borne pathogens training yearly. Red Cross first aid certification is renewed every

three years.

All employees of Opportunity School have a background check and health clearance on file before beginning to work with

the children.

Substitute Teachers/Student Teachers/Volunteers

Substitutes and student teachers have the same personal, health, administrative and professional qualifications required

of staff for whom they substitute, including completion of a background check. Substitutes receive orientation and training

by the director before they are called for duty.

Volunteers whose duties require contact with children on a regularly scheduled basis of more than once per month meet

the same personnel qualifications required of other staff including orientation and training.

Volunteers or guests who have not had a background check will never be left alone with a child or have supervision of

a group of children.

Child/Staff Ratio

The number of children in a group is limited in accordance with the Department of Children and Family Services Licensing

Standards and National Association for the Education of Young Children Criteria to facilitate adult-child interaction and

constructive activity among children.

GROUP SIZE

6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Ages

groups

1:7 1:8 1:9 1:10

Opportunity School strives to keep smaller than recommended group sizes and lower staff-child ratios because it allows for

more positive interactions among staff and children and enhances developmentally appropriate curriculum.

MANDATED REPORTERS

The director and staff at Opportunity School must report instances of "suspected" abuse or neglect of a child to the Child

Abuse/Neglect Hotline as required by the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

In the event that Opportunity School is informed that a formal child abuse/neglect investigation has commenced relating to

an employee/volunteer of Opportunity School, that employee/volunteer will be on leave with pay, pending the outcome of the

investigation.

All records concerning reports of child abuse and neglect and all records generated as a result of such reports shall be

confidential and shall not be disclosed except as specifically authorized in the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.