An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 21 – Child Care Centers/Preschools

G. S IGN I N A ND S IGN O UT P ROCEDURES Preschools must develop, implement, and maintain a written procedure to have parents or guardians sign their child in and out of the child care center. 2947 At a minimum, the person who drops off or picks up the child must sign his or her full legal signature and must record the time of day of the drop off or pick up. 2948 This sign-in sheet is in addition to the preschool’s duties to have parents sign-in their child after the preschool inspects the child for illness. 2949 Preschools must keep the signed sign-in and sign-out sheets for at least one month and must make them available for review by DSS upon request. 2950 LCW Practice Advisor

Title 22 is silent as to whether a preschool must have separate sign in sheets for regular child drop off and the required daily inspection for illness. To address this issue, preschools should ensure their written daily inspection for illness plan states that all children will be inspected for illness when they arrive at the preschool. If the child does not exhibit obvious signs of illness, the parent may then sign in the child on the regular sign in sheet.

H. C HILD ’ S P ERSONAL R IGHTS Each child attending a child care center has legally established personal rights. Preschools must ensure each child is accorded those personal rights. 2951 The personal rights include:

 The right to dignity in personal relationships with staff and other persons;  The right to safe, healthful, and comfortable accommodations, furnishings, and equipment to meet his or her needs;  The right to be free from corporal or unusual punishment, infliction of pain, humiliation, intimidation, ridicule, coercion, threat, mental abuse or other actions of a punitive nature including but not limited to: interference with functions of daily living including eating, sleeping or toileting; or withholding of shelter, clothing, medication, or aids to physical functioning;  The right to be informed, and to have his or her authorized representative informed, by the preschool of the law regarding complaints, including, but not limited to, information on confidentiality and the address and telephone number of the DSS complaint unit;  The right to be free to attend religious services or activities of his or her choice;  The right to not be locked in any room, building or center premises by day or night, although the preschool may lock exterior windows or doors to protect children;  The right to not be placed in any restraining device; and

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 653