Center Name: Uni-Vision Childcare| Location: Lancaster, PA
THE CHALLENGE
Keeping up with the growing demands of documentation.
The priority has to be the children and I feel like we started getting away from that because there was just so much demand for paperwork
Champagne Domingo, Center Owner and Director
Champagne Domingo is the center owner and director of Uni–Vision childcare, a Spanish immersion center located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They opened their doors 5 years ago, and for roughly the first 3 years of operation, they did everything on pen and paper. As a new childcare owner and director, Champagne was shocked at all the paperwork that was required, especially for centers that participate in keystone stars, and other quality rating systems.
Paperwork was extremely time consuming. Trying to track and file everything was just so overwhelming. And the more stars you get, the more documentation they need
Champagne
The more stars the center achieved, the more documentation they had to show. Champagne quickly realized she had to find a way to maintain their star ratings and provide the necessary documentation, while still ensuring they were focusing their time on meaningful engagement with the children.
My whole goal was to make things as easy as possible so we could dedicate all of our free time to educating our children
Champagne
THE SOLUTION
To maintain their star ratings, Champagne explained that they have to show records of conferences and professional development, parent engagement, staff communication, classroom documentation, and on top of all that, developmental and health observations for each individual child. When licensing representatives would come into the center, all of these records would be on multiple pieces of paper, in multiple locations.
Champagne brought HiMama into their center to transition all of their documentation from pen and paper to HiMama. Champagne built HiMama into her educator’s schedules to make the transition as simple as possible for them. Each educator is allotted an extra 15 minutes each day to do their documentation. She explains, that with HiMama “15 minutes is all they need to upload pictures, input meals, and diapers and still be mindful of individual observations. They simply input all the information during this time and the system does the rest for them.” By transitioning to HiMama, they managed to streamline all their observations, records, and communication history into one spot. Making the lives of educators, parents, and even their licensing professionals as easy as possible.
To provide the highest quality education and care, and to continue to improve their star ratings Champagne brought Pearson assessments into their center. Pearson is an assessment feature available in HiMama to support enhanced observations, assessments, and developmental tracking of children.
Assessments and observations are now at our fingertips. When licensing comes in, everything is right in one spot for them. Whatever they need to see, they can just go into HiMama. It was much more chaotic before with tracking down multiple paper sheets
Champagne
Similar to many other childcare centers, Champagne’s educators are on split shifts to avoid burnout. They have a morning educator who opens the classroom, and an afternoon educator who closes the classroom. Champagne explained that without an internal communication tool, there was always worry that communication would get lost from one educator to the next
Information no longer gets lost between having to relay it from one staff to another, it all just goes through HiMama which is extremely helpful. Everyone is now always on the same page
Champagne
Not only could information get lost from one educator to the next, but sometimes important paperwork could physically get taken out of the center by mistake. If an educator brought the documentation home, then got sick, there would be no record of the program planning at the center. Not only would they not be able to provide these records to their licensing representatives, but the activities themselves also would not be accessible for the other educators to take over the programming. With HiMama, they have eliminated this as a possibility entirely.
With HiMama, it is now impossible for an educator to take the lesson plan home and be the only one who has access to it. With the lesson plans in HiMama it is so much easier for one educator to take over and pick up right where the other educator left off
Champagne
HiMama has helped create transparency of information for all educators at Uni-Vision childcare. Ensuring that no matter what, all communication and documentation is accessible to those who need it at all times.
THE RESULT
“Educators now have more time to engage and interact with the children and provide quality education, which was my whole goal.”
Uni-Vision childcare has found a routine with HiMama that enables the educators to speed up their documentation and enhance the quality of their programming. All while making the organization and accessibility of their records as efficient and transparent as possible for their licensing representatives.
When licensing representatives come to our center now, everything is right in one spot for them, with no chance of missing information
Champagne
HiMama has supported Uni-Vision in achieving its goals of always striving to increase its star ratings, without sacrificing time spent with the children in deep learning.
Champagne has found such success with HiMama that she now uses HiMama as a marketing tool for new families seeking childcare.
I always tell new parents we use HiMama. To let them know that we have these capabilities, that parent communication is so easy and that their involvement in their child’s learning is so accessible. I always make sure to mention HiMama to new families
Champagne
Uni-Vision Childcare is one of many HiMama customers who have improved their center quality with HiMama! Fill out the form below to learn more about how HiMama can help you save time and improve documentation!
