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in accordance with this rulemaking. Two stakeholders commented about the requirements set forth in § 114.6, specifically asking how soon parents should be provided with notification and recommending that the four components were re-ordered. Section 114.6 sets forth what a Licensee must do immediately, once a Notice of Summary Suspension has been delivered. All four requirements must be completed, including providing written notification to parents immediately based on the circumstance for the suspension. Because all four requirements must be completed immediately, re-ordering the components is not necessary.

C. Requirements For All Licensees

Sections 118 to 121 set forth the overarching requirements for all licensed child development facilities, specifically for supervision and the adult-to-child ratios and group sizes. The State Superintendent received a number of comments on supervision and the adult-to-child ratios.

A commenter questioned whether the reference to § 115.3 in § 118.2 was incorrect. The State Superintendent agreed, recognized the drafting error, and amended the rulemaking to strike § 115.3 and replace it with § 118.3.

Supervision Section 120 provides the requirements for supervision of children while in the care of a licensed facility. Specifically, § 120.5 requires that a staff member should be assigned to a specific group of children, know both the names and whereabouts of the children, be physically present with the children and be able to state how many children are in their care at all time. This standard ensures that the facility knows which children are receiving care at any given time and who is responsible for directly supervising each child. One commenter recommended that this requirement not apply to child development homes, as they are often a multi-age group with one or more teachers working together. Regardless of whether a child development center or child development home, OSSE recognizes that supervision is key to ensuring safety and the prevention of injury and to maintaining quality child care. Therefore, the State Superintendent has decided to retain the requirement as proposed. Another commenter questioned whether this requirement was too specific and thereby interfered with a facility’s authority to create operational policies. Similarly, this commenter also noted that § 120.7, requiring that the performance of other staff duties should not interfere with the supervision of children, also interfered with a facility’s authority to create operational policies. The State Superintendent considered these comments, however, as noted above, OSSE recognizes that proper supervision is the fundamental to providing the District’s children with quality child care. The requirements in Section 120 establish minimal standards necessary to provide active and positive supervision, and therefore, the State Superintendent retains the requirements as proposed. This standard ensures that the facility knows which children are receiving care at any given time and who is responsible for directly supervising each child.

Adult-to-Child Ratios and Group Size Section 121 sets forth the various ratios and group sizes for child care centers, homes and expanded homes, based on the age and number of children served by a facility. Section 121 also offers flexibility where ratios may differ for various reasons. OSSE received a number of comments regarding the provisions in § 121.