Professional Development, Training, and Requirements

WAC 110-301-0100

This aligns school-age WAC 301 with center and family home WAC 300. School-age providers wanted DCYF to make this change so they could accommodate some of those 14 year olds. It is also important to note that providers do have the ability to set stricter requirements if they choose. Just because WAC allows for 14 years old assistants/volunteers, it does not mean the program must allow it.

WAC 110-301-0100

Yes, a site director must have 12 college credits upon hire and then must meet a total of 30 college credits within 5 years of being promoted.

WAC 110-301-0100

A program director must have completed twelve college credits prior to being hired or promoted, and complete an additional thirty-three college credits within five years of the time of hire or promotion. A site director must have completed twelve college credits prior to being hired or promoted, and complete an additional eighteen college credits within five years of the time of hire or promotion.

WAC 110-301-0100

For school-age providers credits no longer needs to be in ECE. College coursework can be in any field of study, as long as it is documented in MERIT. MERIT doesn’t record a course that is not at 100 level or above.

WAC 110-301-0100

This will depend on what the exemption was for. If the requirement was recorded in MERIT as being met, it will be accepted and honored. However, based on the new requirements that accepts a larger spectrum of college credits, the exemption may no longer be needed.

If there was a waiver needed, and the need still applies, the provider will need to submit a new waiver request under WAC 301.

WAC 110-301-0100

This will depend on the individual and circumstances.
It is possible that a person had a degree that was not previously accepted, but now could be accepted. In this case, the individual would not need to resubmit. In MERIT, next to the credits, the page will say “final approved.” This means the transcripts went through the full review process. Once DCYF is able to go through the IT process for enhancing MERIT for school-age programs, there will be a green highlight to show the credits were approved. They may first be marked as qualified, but the credits won’t have the individual check marks.

Examples of denials that would need to be resubmitted:

• They submitted unofficial transcripts (they would need to resubmit transcripts that are official)
• Courses were not at level 100 or higher (they would need to resubmit to show courses that are 100 level or higher)

WAC 110-300-0100( c)(i)

Yes. Anytime a director is away from the facility, they must leave someone in charge as their designee, however the designee only has to meet qualifications of a director, assistant director or program supervisor if the director is not on-site 50% or more of the time.

WAC 110-300-0100(1)(e)(i)

Yes. Anytime a family home licensee is away from the facility, they must leave someone in charge however the designee only has to meet qualifications of a family home licensee if the licensee is not on-site 50% or more of the time. If the licensee is going to be absent more than ten consecutive days, the licensee must submit a written notification to the department according to WAC 110-300-0015(1).

WAC 110-301-0100(2)

WAC 110-301-0100 establishes the minimum licensing requirements. A program may impose additional hiring requirements that are not contrary to the rule.

WAC 110-300-0100(2)

Family home providers are not required to have prior experience to become a licensee. The experience requirement is only applicable for the center director, assistant director, and program supervisor roles.

WAC 110-301-0100(3)(d)

A lead teacher can fill in for up to 2 weeks which means that if the Site Director is off site, a lead teacher is a person who could fill that role for anywhere from a few minutes to 2 weeks. No, there is no requirement that they meet the qualifications of the program director or site coordinator for these short term situations.

WAC 110-301-0100(7)

Other personnel who do not directly care for children is intended to be a general category to accommodate differences among licensed programs.

WAC 110-300-0100(7)

Currently, this WAC is being revised for correction to include the verification requirement in MERIT. Licensors may give technical assistance regarding this requirement as it is presently written, however the WAC does not currently specify verification is needed.

WAC 110-300-0100(7)(c)

A staff person walking children to the restroom needs to meet the minimum requirements of an assistant teacher. The second person available for emergency situations is not required to be a staff person but must have a cleared background and, if they are not a child care staff person, should not be doing routine care of children.

The assistant teacher staff may be left alone daily with regular, scheduled oversight but they may not be the primary teacher of that classroom for the majority of the day. This allows them to be alone with children during breaks or at the beginning or end of the day when the primary lead teacher is off or other short time frames that the lead teacher may be out of the classroom. In addition, WAC 110-300-0100 (7) (c) does allow an assistant teacher to substitute for the lead teacher for up to 2 weeks. This would mean they are the primary caregiver during that 2-week period of time. This is allowed for continuity of care for the children.

WAC 110-301-0100(8)

If the volunteer is there for practicum or intern, they would not need to complete the health and safety requirements. If the volunteer is counted in the staff to child ratio, they would need to complete them.
The professional development team has a resource document about volunteers, and the content applies to family home, center and school-age programs. Select this link to view the resource: Volunteering in an Early Learning Facility.

WAC 110-300-0105

TB tests are not required annually. As an existing employee with a TB test, you need to have proof of a negative TB test on-site. As a new employee, family home member over 14 or volunteer, you have to get a TB test before you can be on-site at the program.

If you have already had a TB test in the past 12 months, and have not been exposed, that proof can be accepted and needs to be on file with the early learning program. If you have had a positive TB test, a current negative chest radiograph and documentation of clearance to safely work or reside in an early learning program is required.

Keep in mind, upon notification of TB exposure, early learning providers may be required to be retested for TB as directed by the local health jurisdiction.

WAC 110-301-0106

A similar policy is in place for CCDF requirements as was in place for early learning providers under WAC 300. Anyone who has completed the School-Age Basics up to this date will not need to complete the updated version and will be offered the supplement. They will not have to complete the trainings but will be available in case they are interested. Those individual health and safety trainings would be completed by a volunteer who has not completed SA Basics.

WAC 110-301-0106

The continuing education has to be on a college transcript to be counted as meeting an education requirement. College coursework that is level 100 or above will go towards the education requirement. If the continuing education is something other than college credit, the education could potentially be added to the 10 hours of in-service for the year.

WAC 110-301-0106

WAC states they have 3 months from when WAC 301 goes into effect or from when the person is hired into the position. An individual can completed it through SOWA, which offers School-Age Basics at no cost to providers.

WAC 110-301-0106

The Workforce Registry, MERIT, is our record for all professional development requirements. If education or training is verified in MERIT, a licensor can accept that as proof. If a licensor is conducting a monitoring visit and a person just took their training, so it isn’t in MERIT yet but they have paper copies, the licensor can use the paper copies.

WAC 110-301-0106

This is an essential CCDF requirement that, when not met, does place children at higher risk. If the staff cannot obtain the class within 5 days, the supervisor can grant an exception to the 5 day recheck or a safety plan may be developed to address the risk until the class is completed. The licensor and supervisor would be able to consider the contingencies of individual situations to determine what action to take until compliance can be met.

WAC 110-300-0106

No. If you are an "ongoing volunteer" and will count in ratio, you will complete Health and Safety trainings. These can be found on the training portal, or you can choose to complete Child Care Basics, which includes these topics. See the Foundational Quality Standards Guidebook for more information.

What if I complete the Initial Certificate?
If you choose to complete the college course ECED&107 Health, Safety and Nutrition, which is part of the Initial Certificate, and you can complete that within the timeframe allowed for your position to finish the Health and Safety training requirements, that will count in place of Child Care Basics. All content of Child Care Basics is offered in this course.

WAC 110-300-0106

WAC 110-300-0106(1)(10) requires that early learning providers complete BBP training prior to being issued a license, or working with children. DCYF does not regulate to L&I regulations and therefore does not require proof of annual BBP trainings to be on site or recorded in MERIT. Child Care Licensees and business owners are responsible for following any additional requirements that are outlined in local, state or other requirements as per WAC 110-300-0410(2)(b).

WAC 110-301-0106(3)

DCYF is working with School’s Out Washington (SOWA) to get a contract going. At this time, School-Age basics will not be available via the DCYF Online Training site because we need to embed the health and safety requirements. School-Age Basics will undergo a full revision this fiscal year. SOWA is building a new learning management system platform and we are waiting to see where it will live. SOWA does offer School-Age Basics at no cost.

WAC 110-300-0106(3)

All early learning roles, except for the volunteer, must meet the initial Child Care Basics training requirement. There are multiple ways to meet this. If someone has more than 12 ECE credits recorded in MERIT, and one of the college courses was not ECED&107, this individual must complete the Health and Safety modules on the DCYF Online Training site. The first step is to refer to the instructions in MERIT and submit your transcripts for evaluation. To learn more about the available options for meeting Child Care Basics, review this guide.

WAC 110-301-0115

Documentation of annual evaluation and observation must be in the staff records.

WAC 110-301-0115(3)

There is no change to how DCYF determines who the licensee is. The licensee may be the corporation, church, school, other or it may be an individual. The role an individual holds within the structure of the program does impact their specific responsibilities including managing the overall requirements, but that person or persons may be hired by the licensee to do that work.

WAC 110-301-0115(3)(f)

WAC 0115 (3)(f) is applicable to only the MMR immunizations and documents. This is more specifically outlined in WAC 0120. A reference back to WAC 0120 may be added in future updates to WAC 301.