10A NCAC 09 .2510. STAFF QUALIFICATIONS

(a)  The individual who is responsible for ensuring the administration of the program, whether on-site or off-site, shall:

(1)           Prior to employment, have at least 400 hours of verifiable experience working with school-age children in a licensed child care program or 600 hours of verifiable experience working with school-age children in an unlicensed school-age care or camp setting; or have an undergraduate, graduate, or associate degree, with at least 12 semester hours in school-age care related coursework; and

(2)           Meet the requirements for a child care administrator in G.S. 110-91(8).

(b)  At least one individual who is responsible for planning and ensuring the implementation of daily activities for a school-age program (program coordinator) shall:

(1)           Be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to employment;

(2)           Have completed two semester credit hours in child and youth development and two semester credit hours in school-age programming.  Each individual who does not meet this requirement shall enroll in coursework within six months after becoming employed and shall complete this coursework within 18 months of enrollment.  An individual who meets the staff requirements for administrator or lead teacher shall be considered as meeting the requirements for program coordinator, provided the individual completes Basic School-Age Care (BSAC) training, or its equivalent; and

(3)           In a part day program be on site when children are in care.  For a full day program, the program coordinator must be on site for two thirds of the hours of operation.  This includes times when the individual is off site due to illness or vacation.

(c)  Staff who are responsible for supervising groups of school-age children (group leaders) shall be at least 18 years of age and have a high school diploma or its equivalent prior to employment, and shall complete the BSAC training, or its equivalent.

(d)  Staff who assist group leaders (assistant group leaders) shall be at least 16 years of age and shall complete the BSAC training, or its equivalent.

(e)  The individual who is on-site and responsible for the administration of the school-age component of a center which also provides care to preschool-age children, shall meet the requirements for child care administrator in G.S. 110-91(8) and Section .0700 of this Chapter.

(f)  When an individual has responsibility for both administering the program and planning and ensuring the implementation of the daily activities of a school-age program, the individual shall meet the staff requirements for an administrator and shall complete the BSAC training, or its equivalent.

(g)  Completion of the BSAC training course, or its equivalent, counts toward meeting five hours of one year's annual on-going training requirements in Section .0700 of this Chapter.

(h)  As used in this Rule, the term "experience working with school-age children" means experience working with school-age children as an administrator, program coordinator, group leader, assistant group leader, lead teacher, teacher, or aide.

(i)  All staff shall receive on-site training and orientation as follows:

(1)           Within the first two weeks of assuming responsibility for supervising a group of children, each employee shall complete at least six clock hours of training on:

(A)          the recognition of the signs and symptoms of child abuse or neglect and in the employee's duty to report suspected abuse and neglect;

(B)          the center's operational policies;

(C)          adequate supervision of children, taking into account their age, emotional, physical, and cognitive development; and

(2)           Within the first six weeks of assuming responsibility for supervising a group of children, each employee shall complete at least three additional clock hours of training on maintaining a safe and healthy environment and developmentally appropriate activities for school-age children.

(j)  Staff in part-time, full day, or track-out school-age care programs required to complete BSAC training or its equivalent, shall do so within three months of becoming employed.  Staff in summer day camp programs required to complete BSAC training or its equivalent, shall do so within four weeks of becoming employed.

 

History Note:        Authority G.S. 110-85; 110-91(8),(11); 143B-168.3;

Eff. July 1, 1988;

Amended Eff. August 1, 2010; November 1, 2007; July 1, 2000; July 1, 1998; January 1, 1992; September 1, 1990.