INTEROFFICE

CORRESPONDENCE
Los Angeles Unified School District
CASTELAR EARLY EDUCATION CENTER
Date: August 14, 2014

TO: ALL STAFF

FROM: Ana Oregel, Principal

SUBJECT: SUPERVISION OF STUDENTS

In order to ensure the proper supervision of ALL students, while indoor or outdoor, please follow the
safety tips provided below.

Active and Positive Supervision (Academy of Pediatrics)
Supervision is much more that watching children, it involves your skills as a teacher.
Supervision is YOUR responsibility and commitment to the families who have trusted you with
their children. It is also YOUR responsibility and commitment to the children who rely on you
for guidance, nurturing, protection and support.
You should use direct and active supervision. This means that you should be able to HEAR and
SEE all children at all times. This includes indoor, outdoors and naptime.
o Active and Positive Supervision involves:
Knowing each childs abilities
Establishing clear and simple safety rules
Being aware of and scanning for potential safety hazards
Standing in a strategic position
Scanning play activities and circulating around the area
Focusing on the positive rather than the negative to teach what is safe for the child and
other children
Teaching children the appropriate and safe use of each piece of equipment (e.g., using a
slide correctly - feet first only and teaching why climbing up a slide can cause injury,
possibly head injury)
Avoiding conversation with other staff members

o Keeping Children Safe: Maintaining Accountability for Children
Because families have trusted you with their children, you must ensure the safety of
each child form the time they enter the building until the time and approved caregiver
has sign them out. Children move very quickly, and it is not uncommon for children to
attach themselves to another group, slip out an open door, or hide during a transition.
Below are a few important strategies for ensuring all children are accounted for at all
times (Caring For Our Children, 2011, p.65).
Count children by matching name to face.
Count at every transition (e.g., transition from one classroom to another, transition
from indoor to outdoors and outdoors to indoor, transition from the classroom to
the restroom and from the restroom to the classroom).
Be sure you can state the number of children in your care at all times
Note the children who leave the group (i.e., go with another adult to get the
breakfast count, those who are picked up early).



o RELEASING CHILDREN TO AUTHORIZED PERSONS
Children should only be released to an individual under the following conditions:
the person is authorized on the emergency card to take the child from the
center
the person is over the age of 18
the identity of the person has been confirmed by comparing a picture I.D. to
the name on the emergency card or a signed note from the enrolling parent
NEVER assume that the person picking up a child is on the emergency card,
if unsure, PLEASE ask for an ID, dont just take their work for it.

o Center Staff are responsible for the safety and supervision of students. Staff members
are to know where their students are and how many students are present at all
times.

Suggestions to increase the safety of children:
Children are to be accompanied by an adult when they go to the bathroom.
When dismissing children from one area to another (room to room, yard, etc) an adult should
ensure that the children make the transition safely.
Know full names of the children assigned.
Check all areas of the center for hazards; halls, yard, bathrooms, etc
Be sure that every child present has been signed in and is accounted for.
Take periodic head counts of children, especially during transition times.
Parents must come inside the building to sign the child in and out. Never allow the child to meet
the parent outside.
Staff members should stand in a position to avoid possible accidents. If a staff member is helping
one child, he/she stands so that the group can be seen.
Children are not allowed in the kitchen for any reason.
If the child has been signed-in, attendance at the center has been verified, and the child is
subsequently missing from the program, you should immediately check with other center staff
to determine if the child has been picked up by an authorized adult. If the child has not been
picked up by an authorized adult and is still missing you should notify the Site Administrator
immediately!

*****It is very important that you take your role as a supervisor

very seriously. Distractions can be deadly. You should NEVER be
so engrossed in an activity that are not watching the
children.*****