Thank you for your interest in Bee Bops Little House LLC. We are a small company with 3 locations, 15 employees and can serve 47 children in any given day.
I started childcare in my home when I was 20 years old and 24 years later still working with children. I have had 1-3 locations over the years and also owned and operated a Center here in Tigard from 1999-2001. My husband helps to run Bee Bops and my daughter Merissa is the Manager/Lead Infant Teacher at the Bumble Babies location.
We have 6 Children ages 10-27 and 4 grandchildren and 2 golden doodle puppies and have been together 17 years. We strive to be good employers to our staff and provide environments that enrich your child and make you feel good to leave your child; we want you to say “ you GET to stay here today” to your child rather than “ you HAVE to stay here today”. We are close to our families and pride ourselves in communication.
Thank you for your enrollment, we are happy you have joined us. Debbie
Please read through these guidelines for Bee Bops and let me know if you have any questions. If we can get on the same page before you start then when a situation arises it will be easier to explain.
Bee Bops Mission Statement
The Program for Infant Toddler Care seeks to ensure that infants get a safe, healthy, emotionally secure and intellectually rich start in life.
1) provide quality specialized child care for children under age three;
2) disseminate information that increases the practice of responsive, respectful and relationship based infant toddler care; and
3) influence national, regional and local policies and practices so that the needs and interests of individual infants, toddlers, and their families are the foundation for all curriculum development and program activity.
Bee Bops Philosophy
Our Infant/Toddler program equates good care with trained infant/toddler Teachers who are preparing themselves and the environment so that infants can learn. For care to be good, it must explore ways to help infant/toddler Teachers get "in tune" with each infant they serve and learn from the individual infant what he or she needs, thinks, and feels.
We believe infant care should be based on relationship planning -- not lesson planning -- and should emphasize child-directed learning over adult-directed learning. Rather than detailing specific lessons for infant/toddler care teachers follow the child’s lead .
Good infant care is neither baby-sitting nor preschool.
It is a special kind of care that resembles no other.
State Certified:
Bee Bops is State Certified for 16 children. We focus and specialize in infant/toddler care and our staff has extra training in this age group. Our location is annually inspected by the State of Oregon and the Health Department. In addition we have a few unannounced visits from the State and 4 unannounced visits from the USDA who are required to report any non-compliance issues. Our annual inspections take place in December each year. We are open 7:00-5:30.
Ratio/Rates:
Our ratio is 1:4. Our Teachers are specially trained to care for infants/toddlers and the training that they acquire through the year is focused on this age group. We find that our rates are comparable to other Centers/In Homes in the area and that having infants/toddlers in a group that is the same age provides them with better care and attention.
Compliance:
Bee Bops takes much pride in being able to say that you will never have to worry about us being out of ratio or over numbers. I take special time to enroll kids so that our daily attendance schedule is never out of compliance, on our end. In addition I schedule staff to arrive and leave based on the schedules that you are contracted for. Parent’s awareness of this is critical as if you arrive early or pick up late, then we are forced into being in non-compliance and this effects the staff’s hours, could violate a BOLI rule ( staff may need another break ), and or if we have an unannounced USDA or STATE visit, we will be considered out of compliance if we are over numbered. ( ex: a child arrives early and we are not yet staffed appropriately )
Teachers:
We strive at hiring qualified and experienced Teachers and Assistants and look at all the skills they bring to the table. Some have more experience than others, but one thing they all have in common is that they love children and babies are their favorite age group. All Teachers are required to be in the Criminal Registry Background and renew every 2 years, have CPR/1st Aid training, food handlers and obtain a minimum of 15 clock hours specific to Infant/Toddler development. Some Teachers go beyond this required training and they are attending school ,taking college level classes, some have their CDA ( child development associate ) and others are working the steps in the Oregon Registry through PSU for a Professional Development Certificate. All which is additional training hours in 10 different categories pertaining to child development.
Lead Staff:
Merissa Bowers Manager/Lead Infant Teacher
Samantha Gotschall Lead Toddler Teacher
Waiting List:
After you have toured and are interested in being on the waitlist, there will be a $5.00 per month fee. This fee is to show that you are indeed interested in enrollment and if a spot opens up that you are interested in enrollment.
When you are contacted to inform you of an opening, you may pass on the opening and remain on list for next opening or you may take the spot. If you are taking the spot then enrollment forms must be filled out and returned along with ½ the first months tuition. This payment will be applied to your child’s first month.
Hold:
If you are going to take some time off from bee bops, but do not want to lose your spot then there is a hold fee. The hold fee is ½ your normal tuition. This secures your spot. If you are able to attend bee bops during this time, then you may come to daycare, up the amount of the credit. Holding a spot may not exceed 3 months.
If you are interested in enrollment for the future, and we are holding a spot to start at a later time, then there is a fee of 20% of what your normal rate will be ( based on amount of days you are enrolling for ).
Tuition:
Payment obligation is based on the enrollment slot that you enroll in, not actual days and hours of attendance. Both full and part time tuition is due regardless if child is out of daycare including missed days due to illness, holidays, parent vacation and inclement weather.
Tuition payment options:
After enrollment you will be enrolled in the childcare pay system. You will receive a welcome letter along with a username and password. You will receive invoices from Bee Bops at the end of each month for the following month. You do not have to pay through this site, but it is a convenience for the company. Within this site you will also be able to print receipts and track your own payments. It does take about 5 days for payments to post, so it is asked that you plan ahead when paying through the site. Bee Bops also accepts checks and can be left at daycare, please make check payable to Bee Bops. You may also use billpay through your bank and have your bank mail your tuition. The address to have payments mailed is 8855 SW Omara St Tigard Or 97223. Regardless of your method of payment, you will still be invoiced through the childcare pay site.
All payments are due by the 15th of the month.
Fee’s:
Waiting list fee: $5.00 per month
Registration Fee: $50.00
Hold spot: ½ your regular tuition
Late payment: See Contract/Fee Agreement form
After Hours: $10.00 fee will be charged for each 15 minutes past 5:30pm. Fee will be tracked and added to the following months invoice.
Absent:
It is requested that you let the Manager know of any upcoming absences as well as emailing Debbie to let her know. It is critical to know our ratio and adjust staffing as needed so that we are always in compliance. If it is last minute, please call or text the Lead Teacher as soon as you know your child is not going to daycare.
Arrival and Departure:
We open at 7:00, please do not drop off prior to 7:00, even if the Teacher is on site already. Some Teachers arrive early to prep curriculum, get room ready or simply arrive a few minutes early to drink a cup of coffee. It is appreciated if their time is respected. Please make drop off time quick. I know that sometimes leaving is hard but the quicker it is the better for the child. There may be times where you want to visit and chat with the staff; this is hard on the staff as they have a bajillion things to do in the AM and when Teachers are talking to parents then they get behind on routine and they attention is not on the other kids in care.
Please plan your commute so that you are picking up your children and out of the daycare by 5:30 . Teachers will make sure that your child is ready to go, by going potty, changing diapers, shoes and jackets are on and supplies are ready to go home. We totally understand traffic and last minute work related things and so we have implemented the “after hours fee”. It is not per minute, rather for each 15 minutes. This fee will be to cover the staff that is paid to stay later, any extra food that is supplied and the costs associated with staying open longer. Please call the mainline to let staff know you are running late. Texting will not work, unless you know who is closing and you have their number.
Toddler Program:
Although Bee Bops does not have the word “preschool” in their name, we schedule a program that has the same components of a traditional preschool. Bee Bops follows a lightly structure all day and the children strive from being consistent and having set expectations. Our program is specially developed for Bee Bops from a local company here in Tigard and our Teachers add to it as needed. The lesson plans are posted for the parents to view, in addition a hand written summery for the day is posted near the sign in/out sheet. Our program consists of regular times of meals, outdoor play, toddler activities and resting.
We feel that playing outside could be the most important part of learning for the day.
Because of the great weather we have in this State it takes some team work to make outside play possible. For the most part just know that we will take your children outside daily. They need to be dressed for outside play every day. Proper clothing and shoes are critical for outside play. They will run, dig, get wet, roll around, stomp and explore and THEY WILL GET DIRTY!! Being a mom of a 5th grader this year I have learned that they don’t have recess other than lunch recess. This is so sad!! Kids need to play…..let’s let them play in these first 5 years of life as in elementary school recess is being cut :/ Help us by having rain boots for your kids to leave at daycare and extra clothes. We will do our best to have them cleaned up by pick up time J
Meals:
All Bee Bops locations are on the USDA program. We plan menus in advance and have them posted weekly. Meals consist of Milk, Protein, Bread, Vegi, Fruit. Children over the age of 1 are normally on the regular menu. Food is offered to your child, but never forced to eat. If your child is on a special diet or requires special diet items then you must provide items. Milk is 1% and foods that are prepared consist of low salt, sugar and organic when available. We also follow the USDA suggested serving sizes.
Children under age 1 are provided with iron fortified cereal and jar food when ready. Communication with the Lead Infant Teacher is critical so that foods are being added at appropriate times and home/daycare are working together at this time.
Snacks are served throughout the day and water sippy cups are always available to those that are drinking from sippy sups in addition to their regular milk cups.
Bottles:
We pride ourselves in feeding babies as soon as they require feeding. Due to the constraints of warming bottles (we use warmers and never microwaves) we ask for your help with the following:
FIRST BOTTLE OF THE DAY:
If your child arrives before or near 8am and needs a bottle within 30 minutes of arrival, please bring a heated bottle.
FROZEN BREAST MILK
Please do not bring frozen milk for same day use. We are happy to store breast milk in our fridge or freezer for future use; however, all milk should arrive unfrozen if the supply is to be used the same day it is brought.
Diapers:
Did you know Bee Bops Bumble Babies change on average up to 100 diapers a day?!?!?! We strive to help meet you and your baby’s needs. We pride ourselves in welcoming families who use reusable diapers. To help us be successful in our mission to accept cloth diapers, we ask that you please abide by the following guidelines: