Staffing requirements

1. The number of staff members and their responsibilities must reflect program requirements and individual differences in the needs of the children enrolled, and may permit mixed-age groups, if necessary. Service personnel engaged in housekeeping and food preparations may not be counted in the child to staff member ratio for periods of time when they are engaged in housekeeping or food preparation. 2. The minimum ratio of staff members responsible for caring for or teaching children to children in preschool must be: a. If all children in care are children two years of age to three years of age, one staff member may care for six children, a ratio of .167 in decimal form. b. If all children in care are children three years of age to four years of age, one staff member may care for eleven children, a ratio of .09 in decimal form. c. If all children in care are children four years of age to five years of age, one staff member may care for thirteen children, a ratio of .077 in decimal form. d. If all children in care are children five years of age to six years of age, one staff member may care for sixteen children, a ratio of .063 in decimal form. e. There must be at least one director or teacher, in addition to at least one staff member responsible for caring for or teaching children, per group of ten children, if the group includes children two years old. f. There must be at least one director or teacher, in addition to at least one staff member responsible for caring for or teaching children, per group of twenty children, if the group includes children three years old. g. There must be at least one director or teacher, in addition to at least one staff member responsible for caring for or teaching children, per group of twenty-four children, ages four to six. 3. When there are mixed-age groups, the number of children in each category is multiplied by the corresponding ratio number, converted to decimal form, and carried to the nearest hundredth. To determine the number of staff members responsible for caring for or teaching children necessary at any given time, numbers of staff members for all age categories are added, and any fractional staff member count is then rounded to the next highest whole number whenever the fractional staff member count amounts to thirty-five hundredths or more. If lower than thirty-five hundredths, the fractional amount is dropped. 4. If a child with special needs is admitted to the preschool, the child's developmental age level must be used in determining the child to staff ratios. 5. The operator shall ensure that a child with special needs requiring more than usual care and supervision has adequate care and supervision without adversely affecting care provided to the other children in the preschool.