Child Care Assistant Director Interview

The first interview question I asked Ms. Freshwater was to describe the typical workday

at the center. She said “I never know what my day is going to be until I arrive”, so every day is

different for her. She works from 9:00 am to 2:45 pm at the center. Typically when she arrives at

the daycare she does check-ins with the teachers to make sure they are okay and everything is

running smoothly. She then gets recaps of the mornings from the opening supervisor to know

what has been happening in the morning. She also does a lot of crisis intervention, so if there are

any problems going on in the classrooms or teachers need extra hands, she steps in. Another part

of her day is professional development planning, schedule, staff files, credentials, and

maintaining tier 2 status.

Then I asked her what she enjoyed the most and least about her job. She enjoys being

able to “make this center inclusive to children of all development and sociological backgrounds.”

She did this by reducing the teacher-to-child ratio in each classroom, helping the staff with stress

and the children are able to do more 1 on 1 with the teacher. Her least favorite has to deal with

staffing issues. She said that it is hard, especially in centers, to “maintain high-quality care with

turnover.’ She had also mentioned that it could also be taxing on the vertine staff. I also asked

her what her typical work hours were. Her hours stay consistent and are from 9:00 am to 2:45

pm. She then works from home in the evening until 5:00 pm because she has to be home for her

children. She then mentioned how the center is very good about working mothers and offers

schedules that work best for people and their families. Another question I asked was the typical

pay someone can make starting out as an assistant director of a child care center. She said the pay

is typically 36k to 40k a year at the energy level.

 The next question I asked Ms. Freshwater was about the different opportunities there are

for career advancement and how one would get promoted. She said just by continuing education

and getting as much experience as you can. I then asked her about her educational background

and the different certifications she had to get to become an assistant director. She has an associate

degree and is currently in school for child development and family studies with a minor in early

intervention. She has a background as a childcare teacher and worked as a coordinator for Birth

to Three. This led to me asking about the typical degrees or certifications professionals in this

field have. She said that they have a minimum of a CDA or a certain number of early education

hours, and 100 hours of work experience or 12 credits of college.

Then I asked her about the diversity of her clientele. Her staff, she said, is fairly diverse

in age, ability, and ethnicity. Within the clientele, it is just now getting more diverse. Ms.

Freshwater had said that Holy Family had started out with more private families but now it is

starting to level out more. She said, “ 30% of families meet the free reduced lunch guidelines and

30% are under the poverty line.”

Lastly, I asked Ms. Freshwater why Holy Family decided it was important to have an

Occupational Therapist and Physical Therapist at their center. She said it was important to

provide individualized plans for children with developmental disabilities and delays. The center

even has a partnership with West Liberties speech therapists for their students to come observe

and work with the children to get hours. The center also provides the staff with different training

such as de-escalation and prevention, dealing with parents, and temper tantrums. These are

provided through a registered behavioral technician.