Staffing requirements for certified centers

A staff person must be 16 years of age or older before providing direct, unsupervised care to a child. Supervised care means an individual is within sight or hearing to the extent that the individual is capable at all times of intervening to protect the health and safety of the child served by the certified center.

Legal authority: Minn. Stat. 245H.08

Certified centers in a building with license exempt, licensed, and/or other programs cannot mix children from separate programs.

For example, if a school district has a licensed program for preschoolers, a license-exempt school readiness program for preschoolers, and a certified program for school ages all in one building, the children in these various programs cannot combine. They would be able to use shared spaces such as a gym or outdoor playground, but would need a schedule to ensure they are not using  the shared space at the same time.

Certified centers under one certification holder cannot mix children, except under certain circumstances. The certification number is site specific. Wherever you are operating and children are attending, the child needs to be enrolled/authorized to be at that location. For example, if a school district has five certified centers at five separate locations and they want to combine into one location for summer, they would need to enroll all the children from the other four locations at the one location for summer. This would involve notifying CCAP to change authorization information for any child that is changing locations.

During hours of operation, a certified center must have a director or designee on site who is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of program participants and supervising staff and volunteers.  The designee does not have to meet director requirements, but does need to know that they are responsible in the absence of the director. The designee does not need to be the same person each time the director is not present.

The director must be 18 years of age or older and have completed at least 16 hours of training per requirements listed in 245H.08, subd. 02.

The certified center must complete director information in the Provider Hub.

Legal authority: Minn. Stat. 245H.08, subd. 2

Certification standards do not require that certified centers maintain attendance records, however Minnesota Statutes 119B.125, Subd. 6 requires all child care providers that receive child care assistance payments to keep daily attendance records at the site where services are delivered for children receiving child care assistance. Certified child care centers must make records available immediately to the county or the commissioner upon request. The attendance records must be completed daily and include the date, the first and last name of each child in attendance, and the times when each child is dropped off and picked up. To the extent possible, the times that the child was dropped off to and picked up from the certified child care center must be entered by the person dropping off or picking up the child. The daily attendance records must be retained at the site where services are delivered for six years after the date of service.

Having a system for children being signed into and out of your center will clarify when a center is responsible for a child and when the child is the responsibility of another program or service. For example,

• A child who attends swimming lessons through another program (with parent permission) in the middle of the day after being dropped off at the certified center. It is recommended that the certified center sign the child out and sign the child back in so as to have documentation regarding where the child is at and who is responsible at that time.
• A child who goes directly from one program to the certified center without parent or legal guardian drop off. Typically, until the other program delivers the child to the certified center, the certified center would not be responsible for the care of the child. It is recommended that when the child arrives, the child is signed into the certified center to clarify who is responsible at that time.
• If your certified center is transporting a child, the child is considered in attendance during transportation.

Kindergarten includes a child of sufficient age to have attended the first day of kindergarten or who is eligible to enter kindergarten within the next four months.
 

Beginning August 1, 2023 certified centers may serve a child older than 13 years old if either the child remains eligible for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) or if the center serves only school-age children in a setting that has students enrolled in no grade higher than 8th grade. If middle-school-age children are enrolled and combines with elementary children, the Risk Reduction Plan for Certified Child Care Centers must be include policies and procedures to ensure adequate supervision when the children are grouped together.

Legal authority: Minn. Stat. 24H.08, subd. 4 & 5, 24H.13, subd. 7

Maximum group size is the maximum number of children that can be involved in a group activity at any one time. The maximum group size applies at all times except during

• Group activity coordination time not exceeding 15 minutes
• During a meal, outdoor activity, field trip, nap and rest
• Special activity including a film, guest speaker, indoor large muscle activity, or holiday program.

Maximum group size applies to instances where all children are participating in one activity. This would not include having more than the maximum group size in a space participating in different activities. For example, 90 school age children could be in one cafeteria space as long as they are participating in three or more separate activities (note exceptions above).

Legal authority: Minn. Stat. 234H.08, subd. 4

Ratios

Ratios must be maintained based on age category.  When combining age categories, the ratio for the age category for the youngest child in the group applies.

Examples of mixing children in different age categories:

• If a certified center mixes 20 preschoolers and 30 school age children together in one group, the certified center would need 5 staff (1:10 ratio). If they are not mixed, the center would need 2 staff for the preschoolers (1:10 ratio) and 2 staff for the school agers (1:15 ratio).
• Children in different age categories can be in the same space, but not mixed in some instances. For example, lunch is being served in a cafeteria space. Preschoolers can be in one area and supervised only by the staff responsible for the preschoolers while at the same time school age children are also in the cafeteria space in their own area and only supervised by the staff responsible for the school age children. However, if preschoolers and schoolagers are together in a space mixed and participating in an activity together, they are considered mixed. For areas like outdoor playground or large muscle activities in the gym, a schedule is recommended if the center desires to not mix the children.
• Certified centers can mix children in different age categories for all day or part of the day as long as the center is following ratio and maximum group size requirements for the youngest age category present in the group.
  
  Legal authority: Minn. Stat. 245H.08, subd. 5

The certified center is required to maintain a personnel record for each staff person that contains:

• The staff person's name, home address, telephone number, and date of birth
• Documentation that the staff person completed training required by section 245H.14
• Documentation of the date the program initiated a background study for the staff person
• Documentation of the date the staff person first had direct contact and access to a child while supervised, and the date the staff person first had direct contact and access to a child while unsupervised.

Annual inspections of certified centers are scheduled with the center operator prior to the announced visit. Personnel records must be entered in the Provider Hub for all staff persons.

Legal authority: Minn. Stat. 245H.16