It's possible that the teachers at the center in question are great, loving people as some parents have pointed out but that they are human and that humans make mistakes.

In my opinion this WAS NOT A SIMPLE MISTAKE. It was an issue of the director or the teachers not following proper procedures.

At our daycare, there are always at least two teachers whenever a group of students go out and they absolutely cannot leave the playground.

If there is an emergency or if someone needs to get their diaper changed or go to the bathroom either a floater is called to help out or if none is available EVERYONE goes back inside. This is a pain obviously and can be annoying for the students but it all but guarantees no one will get lost. The other rule is that the teachers are always supposed to be standing up during recess and facing the children. The teachers take these rules very seriously.

When I first visited I thought it was kind of like they were guards and jokes about it to my husband but that's exactly what teachers should be doing on playgrounds!

We started at this daycare after we left a different one in our area that lost a child.

Anyone know what happened to the director? In the case I know about, the teacher was let go (although she blamed it on a different teacher and I actually think the other teacher who stayed was at fault) but the director is still there and there are still sloppy procedures that have led to other issues, including injuries of children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bright Horizons does this. They have a transition sheet any time children move to a different room or to the playground. I assumed this was a regulation they were following. This is in DC.

The kids shouldn't have gotten out.
They're absence certainly should he been noticed, but what do you think these people do all day? Perhaps the staff were busy changing diapers, preparing a meal or a snack, setting up a learning activity, attending to a child that was injured or sick, playing one on one with a child, one staff member may have needed the restroom, or maybe, the staff was busy filling out required paperwork when the kids got out. And maybe, just maybe, they were attempting to do all of the above at the same time.

In any business, SAFE environment is most important, but specially a DAYCARE. We, parents, don't care what you do, you need to keep them in safety and alive. And if you after couple of min didn't realize that 4 kids are missing, that means you do nothing. I know that from my own experience, I worked in the daycare before.

"We, parents, don't care what you do, you need to keep them in safety and alive. And if you after couple of min didn't realize that 4 kids are missing, that means you do nothing."
Please, before telling me what you do or don't care about, and before telling me what you think I need to do, please, read my post more carefully.
Why do you assume I'm NOT a parent? I am.
And why do you assume that I work at the daycare? I don't.
I was expressing my own opinion to the question 'how could this happen?' and my own opinion that transitioning sheets and other required paperwork are NOT the answer to keeping the kids safe. The staff and the physical environment (gates, fencing, door locks, etc.) are what keep the kids safe.
I was also stating my own opinion about what daycare workers are doing all day.
If you read my very first comment it was that the kids shouldn't have gotten out. In other words, that they should have been safe. This was followed by my statement that the missing children should have been noticed.
I was not attempting to make excuses for anyone. I was stating, in a round about way, that daycare workers are required to do more than sit and stare at the children.
While you may have worked in daycare before and know what daycare workers are responsible for during the day, many parents do not know.