Pleasant Run Parent's Handbook

The philosophy of Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool is to encourage and support each child to grow to his or her full potential in all areas of development, thus enhancing a positive self-concept and a strong foundation for succeeding in life. Each child is an unique individual and should be treated as such. It is our responsibility to care for the whole child and also recognize the special characteristics that each child possesses. Their interests and goals shall be observed and activities shall be created to enhance their abilities.

It is also the philosophy of Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool to create a loving environment for each child. We realize that the first years are the most critical years to help develop a child’s self-esteem and security. Our primary mission is to provide a rich, warm and supportive environment in which the child may develop socially, emotionally, physically, and intellectually.

Hours of Operation

Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool is open Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. The following holidays will be observed each year.

New Year’s Day
President’s Day
Memorial Day
Fourth of July
Labor Day
Thanksgiving and the following Friday
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

If one of the above holidays falls on Saturday, Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool will be closed the preceding Friday. If the holiday falls on a Sunday, Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool will be closed the following Monday.

Vacation

Once your child has attended Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool for six months, your child is eligible for one week of vacation per year. There will be no charge for the week that your child is on vacation. Vacation days must be used in five consecutive days and must be used within the year or they will be forfeited. The child may not be in attendance during the week. Please notify the director two weeks before your vacation.

Finances

A non-refundable registration fee of $40 will be assessed upon the enrollment of your child to our child development center.

Payments are due by 6:00 p.m. of each Tuesday or the first day of the week your child attends. There will be a $10 fee for late payments and a $25 fee for returned checks. If an account goes unpaid for two weeks, that following Monday the parent will be asked to pay for that week’s care and all subsequent weeks care in cash or certified check until the account is current. If payment is not made, the child/children can be expelled.

There is also a $25 charge for parents arriving after the 6:00 p.m. closing. At 6:15 p.m., parents will be billed another $25 for every additional 15 minutes their child is in the center.

Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool does provide a discount to parents with more than one child at the center. We offer a $15 discount per week for the second child and all subsequent children enrolled at the same time for full time children.

Parents will be responsible for payments regardless of their child’s attendance, closing of Pleasant Run due to holidays, or electrical breakdown. Part –time students can not exchange days when their regular schedule includes a holiday.

Contracts can be broken or changed with two weeks written notice from parent. Contracts are renewed annually.

Snow Days

Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool will close due to inclement weather. If District 186 closes due to severe weather such as ice or snow, Pleasant Run will close too. Pleasant Run will NOT close, however, if District 186 closes due to severe wind chill and they cannot run their buses.

Security

Because Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool considers the safety of the children a top priority, a security system has been installed in all of the doors. The main entrance shall have a keypad entrance that the parents must enter a code in order to enter the building. Once the parent and child have entered the building, they will then sign in the child using the computer at the front desk.

Then they will sign in the child manually at his/her room.

Arrival/Departure

Again, because we are so concerned about the safety of the children, Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool requires that the parents must notify the office if someone other than a parent is going to be picking up or delivering the child.

The person will then be asked to show their identification once they arrive to pick up the child.

Late Pick- UP

As stated before, if a child is not picked up by 6:00 p.m., there will be a $25.00 fee applied to the parents account. If the child is not picked up by 6:15 p.m., another $25.00 will be applied. This procedure will continue in 15 minute increments.

In addition, if a child is not picked up by 6:00 p.m., we will contact the parents by phone. If we cannot contact the parents, then the emergency contacts will be contacted. If the parents or emergency contacts cannot be reached by 6:30 p.m., then the local authorities plus DCFS shall be contacted

Health

Another main goal of Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool is to keep the children as healthy as possible. In order to do this, DCFS requires that each child have a physical within six months prior to admission. This medical evaluation is valid for two years but immunizations must be kept up to date.

When a child shows symptoms of being ill, such as vomiting, chronic diarrhea, and/or fever of 100 degrees or higher, the parents shall be called to take the child home. If a child is sent home with a fever or conjunctivitis (pink eye), he/she may not return until they are symptom free for 24 hours. Any child that returns before the 24 hours will be sent home.

In addition, any time an illness prevents a child from participating comfortably in activities or requires more care than the teacher can provide without compromising the health and safety of the other children, the ill child will be sent home.

Medications

In order to insure the safety of the children, the following steps must be taken in order for the staff to administer medicine to your child.

1. Tell the caregiver that your child has medicine to take on that day.
2. Fill out a medicine slip with the name of the child, name of the medicine, amount, time needed to be given, parent signature and date.
3. Inform the teacher if the medicine needs to be refrigerated.
4. Please make sure that all non-prescription medicines are labeled with the child’s name. Also, we can only administer prescription medicine according to the label and it must be prescribed to that child (he/she cannot share medicines with siblings).

According to DCFS, over the counter medication can only be given to a child under the age of two years old if there is a prescription written from a physician. This includes all pain relievers and cold medicines.

Clothing

Please make sure that your child has an extra set of clothing in their bin at all times that is season-appropriate and clearly labeled. Also please remember that the children are here to play and should wear “play clothes”.

Sandals may be worn with socks only! This is done to prevent any injury that might occur.

Toys

Although we realize how much children like to bring toys from home, we strongly discourage bringing anything except for “Show-N-Tell”. Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool cannot be responsible for lost or broken toys. Guns, swords, or any violent toys or play are NEVER allowed.

Snacks

We encourage parents to bring treats for holidays and/or birthday parties. However, DCFS requires that the Health Department inspect the kitchen that the treats are prepared in. Therefore, any treat brought to share with the children MUST be store bought. We cannot have homemade treats.

In order to protect the safety of the children with life threatening peanut allergies, we are a peanut-free environment. Pleasant Run does not serve any food with peanuts in them. We also do not allow any treats to be brought in that contain peanuts or peanut products. Thank you for your help in keeping all of our children safe and healthy

Discipline

At Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool, our goal is to prevent as many discipline problems as possible. There are many ways to keep children’s interests high and frustration level low, which create positive behaviors.

Playing, learning, friendships, and respect for others are all behaviors given positive attention while inappropriate behavior is redirected or dealt with in accordance with the incident.

Physical punishment is NEVER used at our center. However, when it does become necessary to manage or control the child’s behavior, and he/she is over 24 months old, time out shall be used. The child will sit for a short time (1 –2 minutes) until he/she is able to talk about what happened. The teacher shall then discuss why the child needed to sit and how next time the child might handle the situation differently.

If a child continues to be unmanageable, the parents may be asked to remove the child from the center temporarily or permanently.

Biting and Other Aggressive Behaviors

When a child is biting or behaving in a physically aggressive manner toward other children or the staff, the Director is to be notified immediately. The child’s parents are to be notified the same day of the behavior and how it was handled.

It is our policy to use a variety of techniques to discourage biting or aggressive behavior depending on the age and developmental stage of the child. They include but are not limited to:

Redirection
Giving more opportunities for oral stimulation (for biting)
Teaching the child how to calm him or herself
Separation from the group, logging each incident to look for stimuli, helping the child communicate their needs/wants
Shadowing the child
Logging each aggressive or biting incident. The log should include the name of each child involved, the time of day, how it was handled, and the cause of the behavior.

If the child persists in the aggressive behavior or biting (one or more times a week) the following are steps that may be taken:

A parent/teacher/Director meeting to discuss the problem and possible solutions
The parent may be required to shadow his or her child
The parent may be required to remove his or her child from the facility for a pre-determined amount of time (i.e. the remainder of the day, week, etc.)
The parent may be required to find permanent and alternative care for his or her child.

Curriculum

In accordance with our philosophy, the staff at Pleasant Run Learning Center and Preschool believes in treating each child as an individual. After assessing the needs and interests of each child, the teacher, along with the support staff and Director, will help create fun and exciting activities to enhance learning.

Learning centers shall be used to help create a sense of choice and exploration for the children. Several areas, such as the block area, kitchen or housekeeping area, writing area, computers, and creative choice area (coloring, cutting, etc.) are just a few examples of centers that are created to help the children grow and learn.

There is also specific routines that are followed each day to help create a sense of security and predictability for the children. An example of that would be calendar time each day. The children enjoy the repetition of counting the days of the week and months of the year.

Through all activities at our center, there are several universal objectives;

To help create security and self-confidence in each child.
To explore learning and make it as fun and exciting for every child.
To create the ability to problem solve.
To develop fine motor and gross motor skills.
To create an environment where affectionate relationships with peers and teachers are created.
To allow children to make choices and experience the consequences of personal decisions.
Encourage children to make good health and safety choices.
To help children distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
Develop a concern for the rights and well being of others.
Develop an appreciation that everyone has his/her own unique characteristics that makes each person different.