Create an Interim Plan for a Head Teacher

Every child care center program or group child care home needs a head teacher who is on site 60% of the time your program is open. 

If your designated head teacher leaves your program, you need to make an interim plan. OEC needs to approve it. Your interim plan outlines how your program will run until you hire a new designated head teacher.

Timeline

• If your head teacher leaves your program, you must report the change to OEC within 5 business days
• You must create and send this interim plan to OEC within 30 days of a change in your head teacher
• If OEC approves your interim plan, it can be in effect for up to 6 months

Creating your interim plan

Your written interim plan needs to include 3 key elements.

1. Outline the expanded role of your program’s educational consultant

While you don’t have a head teacher on staff, your approved educational consultant will take on some of their role. In your plan, make sure to include:

• Name of the approved educational consultant
• How often the educational consultant will visit your program (must be at least once a month)
• What the consultant’s role will be, including but not limited to:
  • Reviewing and assisting in developing daily plans
  • Providing staff development and support
  • Preparing regular written reports with recommendations for developing and implementing daily plans
  • Following up to make sure the recommendations are implemented

2. Show you have a plan to hire a new head teacher within 6 months 

You need to show you’re committed to recruiting and hiring a new head teacher within 6 months of your plan’s approval. In your written plan, include any progress you have made hiring a qualified applicant, such as:

• Classified ads, including CTAEYC’s job board at www.ctshares.org
• Contact with professional organizations (that may be able to advise the program about marketing techniques, appropriate salary ranges and benefit packages)
• Job postings at colleges with programs in early care and education
• Contact with the Department of Labor
• Efforts to have current staff members take classes to meet the qualifications of head teacher

3. Include time frames for progress

Set out specific dates for meeting your goals of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring a head teacher.

The plan must include specific dates for recruiting, interviewing, and hiring a new head teacher, as well as time frames for documenting the hiring progress to be made available to the agency upon request.

Submitting your plan to OEC

Send your written plan to OEC through our Notification of Change form.

OEC will evaluate your plan and get back to you. If we need changes, we will let you know. 

After your plan is approved 

Your plan may be approved for up to 6 months. 

Over the coming weeks and months, make sure to keep records of your work trying to hire a new head teacher. OEC may want to check in on your progress.

What happens if you don’t follow the plan?

If you don’t follow your approved plan or don’t make progress in hiring a new head teacher, we may schedule a meeting with you to discuss the situation.

After that, if you still don’t hire a new head teacher — or you don’t make substantial progress on making a qualified staff member head teacher — we may have to refer you to OEC’s Legal Division for possible disciplinary action.