Communicable Diseases: St. Mary’s Preschool follows all health/ communicable disease policies as outlined by the Department of Children and Families. Parents are required to pick up an ill child within 30 minutes of notification by phone. If a parent is reached, but cannot pick their child up within 30 minutes, it becomes the parent’s responsibility to arrange for alternate pick up with someone listed on the child’s emergency contact form. The staff will not continue to call those listed on the emergency contact list once a parent is reached. If a parent cannot be reached, the staff will begin to call the people listed on the emergency contact form, until arrangements can be made for the child to be picked up.

Children will be excluded from participation in the program if they exhibit symptoms of any communicable disease. They will not be permitted to return to the program until they are no longer contagious. Guidelines for determining the contagious period for a specific illness are based on the recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Children must present a doctor’s note state they are no longer contagious and can return to the program if they miss 3 or more days. St. Mary’s Preschool reserves the right to refuse to allow a child to return in the preschool director or designee believes the child to be too ill to participate in the program.

Children excluded from the program due to a fever may not return to the program until they are fever free, without fever reducing medication, for a full 48 hours. If your child is sent home due to a fever, he/she is not permitted to return to the program the following day at a minimum. A fever is defined as a temperature reading on a thermometer of at least 101 degrees Fahrenheit or more taken under the arm.

Children are required to be excluded from the program for lose bowels, diarrhea, and vomiting. Children may return to school once the child is symptom free for a full 24 hours.

Safety: The safety of our students and families is very important to us.
* All of our classroom doors remain locked throughout the day
* The back and sides of the property are fenced off
* Our campus is not visible from the street; therefore most people do not know there is a school associated with the church unless they are on campus for school business
* All of our teachers are CPR and First Aid certified, receiving recertification every 2 years
* Staff to child ratios are kept low so there is adequate supervision provided
* Our teachers are continually training on the latest early childhood research. Attending a minimum of 10 hours per year.
* All teachers have been trained on the use of a Fire Extinguisher. Extinguishers are serviced annually.
* All teachers go through an extensive level 2 background check before starting work and rescreened every 5 years this includes local and federal screenings.