Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/living-in-the-real-world-jeans-pretty-good-kind-of-affordable-child-development-center/5007429/
It was an average day for Jean, an average director of a pretty average child care center which she founded 15 years ago in a pretty average neighborhood. First thing in the morning, a parent was in her office in tears because of her struggles to pay her outstanding bill. Three hours later, one of her assistant teachers told her she was probably going to leave to work as an elementary school aide because she couldn't live on what she was making.At a staff meeting later, the primary staff complaint was the difficulty of operating at minimum ratios, with an aging facility and not enough materials. Later in the day, she thought back to the leadership conference she went to that made her feel that her 10 hour days were too short. She needed to do more marketing, budgeting, coaching her staff, advocacy, developing her board, and more community outreach.
Jean decided it was time. She either had to figure out a way to resolve the problems of her center or go crazy. She noted that she may have already gone crazy if she thought she could improve things. However, feeling plucky, and ...