Child Care Sites are used to set up the locations for your Child Care Programs. Site Sections indicate the dates, days of the week and start and end times that each site runs.
Before and After School Child Care Programs may create a Site including multiple Site Sections based on the care being offered (i.e. one Lincoln Elementary Site with two Site Sections - one section for Before School Care with a start time of 6AM and an end time of 9AM and a second section in that same site for After School Care with a start time of 3PM and an end time of 6PM).
Preschool programs using the Child Care module typically create a site with one site section per class (i.e. a M/W/F AM Site with one section reflecting a start time of 9AM and an end time of 11AM, a M/W/F PM Site with one section reflecting a start time of 1PM and an end time of 3PM , an All Day PreK Site with one section reflecting a start time of 6AM and an end time of 6PM).
There are 2 Budget Code fields. The one labeled Tuition will be used when invoices are created. The one labeled Registration Fee allows staff to use a unique budget code for Registration Fees collected for each site. Leave blank if using the same code for both Tuition and Registration Fees. Note: To ensure the registration fees are allocated to the correct budget code, you must select the check box labeled Use Same Budget Code As Child Care Site for the Budget Code field under Registration Options.
The Maximum Participants field in the Site Section is intended for Administrative users to see where the participant numbers are currently and try to prevent too many contracts from being approved for that site or section. This field does not prohibit staff from approving over the maximum number, nor does it keep parents from registering when a certain number of contracts have been submitted or approved.
The Available Online setting defaults to Yes. If a section is no longer accepting any new registrations, you can set that to No and it will no longer be displayed online.
The online registration Start Date should be set (usually with a future date) when creating the Site so staff do not have to remember to manually go back and change that before registration is to start.
The online registration End Date for the Site can be set to stop an online registration when a Site is full. By making the end date in the past, it will allow current families to see and manage their contract without anyone submitting new contracts. The Site specific Online Instruction Text field can be added to alert parents that certain sites or site sections are full. The setting for Online for the site should be kept as On so current parents can view and/or change their contract as needed online.
The Confirmation Notes are sent to the account owner only when the contract is reviewed and accepted. If there are any directions that account owners need to see before the contract is submitted and accepted, it is recommended to add them to a different field (i.e. the Program Long Description, the Online Instruction Text for the Season, Online Instruction Text at the Site level, using an Information (No Answer) enrollment question, etc).
Note: In order for a site to be available for online registration, staff also have to assign that site to an existing Rate or create a new one.
To create a Child Care Site and corresponding Site Section(s), follow the steps below:
- Point to Child Care.
- Select Sites.
- Select Add Site.
- Complete the New Child Care Site form. If the requirements for this Site are unique from all other Sites, use the Online Instruction Text field to provide the specific instructions for this site.
- Select Create.
If using the Child Care Attendance app, be sure to add an Access Key by selecting Add Access Key on the left. Access Keys should be changed on a regular basis if any Site Staff transition from the program.
Modifying Start/End Dates
In some cases, staff may need to modify the start or end date of a Child Care Site (i.e., extending a school year season or pushing back the start date of a summer season). The system will automatically update the start or end date for existing Consistent Schedule contracts if the contract reflected the same original start date or end date as the Site. If the start date or end date of the individual contract does not match the original start/end date of the Site (i.e. a consistent schedule contract set to end earlier than the last date of the Site, a contract that started in the middle of the season or a Pick Your Day contract where the start or end date is based on the selected approved dates), those contracts would need to be manually modified by an Administrative user to reflect the new start or end date.