Creating a Safe Space at Kids Creative

​At Kids Creative, our top priority is the physical and emotional wellbeing of our students. Earlier this year, I wrote about how we create an environment that is both physically safe and emotionally welcoming for students from all backgrounds. We recognize that when parents send their children to our programs, they are placing their ultimate trust in Kids Creative, and we take that responsibility extremely seriously.  With that commitment in mind, I want to elaborate on the many ways we protect the safety and wellbeing of our kids.
First and foremost, Kids Creative has a rigorous screening process to find the most qualified staff for our programs and to ensure all employees share our creative and educational mission and commitment to the safety of our students.

• Our hiring process includes multiple interviews, a reference check and background checks from the NYC Department of Health, including utilizing the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Sex Offender Registry, prior to hiring anyone to work at Kids Creative.
• During the vetting process, each employee is made fully aware of Kids Creative’s policies and procedures, as well as the high standard of safety, supervision and instruction that is expected of Kids Creative employees.
• Faculty and staff receive initial and ongoing training on preventing sexual harassment and assault and on respecting and honoring appropriate boundaries with students. To ensure that we are following best practices, those procedures are reviewed regularly by outside experts.
• For long-term employees, background checks are regularly renewed to ensure ongoing compliance with Kids Creative’s high employment standards.

We also have policies in place for all our sites to ensure that each and every one is a fun, welcoming and safe place for our students.

• Every site has at least one staff member who is certified in CPR and First Aid.
• We communicate our emergency plans to students and parents, and, as staff members, we routinely practice fire, lockdown and other emergency drills.
• We maintain an appropriate student to teacher ratio that ensures adequate supervision of students at all times and prohibits teachers from being alone in a one-on-one setting with a student.
• We enforce a student buddy system to supplement the above.
• Our staff is trained to recognize and report potential cases of abuse.

We also seek to provide parents with additional tools to protect their kids and ensure the learning continues at home. Learning never stops, and parents play a critical role in their children’s development.

• Speaking with your kids about their day and their experiences is an important step to help your child feel safe and to spot any problems they might be having.
• We recognize that sometimes those conversations aren’t easy, which is why we’ve provided a number of resources here on the Kids Creative website that can help you navigate difficult subjects. Below are some suggested resources to help guide you in difficult conversations that might arise.

1. Your school’s counselor
2. This list of articles on handling a variety of child development topics  from NYU Langone Medical Center’s Child Study Center
3. Difficult Conversations with Kids from Care.com
4. Talking to Your Child about Sexual Abuse from U.S. Department of Justice