Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 5 - DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION › Division 25 - Office of Childhood › Chapter 300 - License-Exempt Child Care Facilities › Section 5 CSR 25-300.010 - Application for Certificates of License to Teach on the Basis of Certification by the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE)

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This amendment updates the terms used
				  throughout Chapter 300 by removing, modifying, or replacing outdated terms and
				  removing those terms not relevant to regulated child care.
(1) The following definitions shall be used
				in interpreting the rules of this chapter:
(A)
				Adult is an individual eighteen (18) years of age or older;
(B) Caregiver is the facility director or
				other child care staff whether they are paid or volunteering;
(C) Child care is care of a child away from
				his/her own home for any part of the twenty-four- (24-) hour day for
				compensation or otherwise. Child care is a voluntary supplement to parental
				responsibility for the child's protection, development, and
				supervision;
(D) Child care
				provider or provider is the person(s) having the following responsibilities:
1. Ultimate responsibility for making and
				implementing decisions regarding the operation of the facility; and
2. Ultimate financial control of the
				operation of the facility;
(E) Child care staff member is a child care
				provider; persons employed by the child care provider for compensation,
				including contract employees or self-employed individuals; individuals or
				volunteers whose activities involve the care or supervision of children for a
				child care provider or unsupervised access to children who are cared for or
				supervised by a child care provider; individuals residing in a family child
				care home who are eighteen years of age or older; and individuals residing in a
				family child care home who are under eighteen years of age and have been
				certified as an adult for the commission of an offense;
(F) Department is the Missouri Department of
				Elementary and Secondary Education;
(G) Group size is the maximum number of
				children assigned to a specific staff member or group of staff members,
				occupying an individual classroom or well-defined physical space within a large
				room;
(H) Homeless children and
				youths-
1. Are individuals who lack a fixed,
				regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and
2. Include:
A. Children and youths who are sharing the
				housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a
				similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds
				due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency
				or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;
B. Children and youths who have a primary
				nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or
				ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
C. Children and youths who are living in
				cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or
				train stations, or similar settings; and
D. Migratory children who qualify as homeless
				because the children are living in the circumstances described above;
(I) Infant is a child
				less than twelve (12) months of age;
(J) Kindergarten is a children's educational program
				offered to prepare children for the first grade;
(K) License-exempt child care facility or facility is
				a nursery school not operated by a religious organization or child care
				maintained or operated under the exclusive control of a religious organization,
				not including religious organization academic preschools or
				kindergartens;
(L) Local public
				health agency is an entity that enforces local public health codes and
				ordinances and provides other services related to public health;
(M) Nursery school is an educational program
				for preschool-age children that is operated for no more than four (4) hours per
				child per day;
(N) Parent means a
				child's biological parent whose parental rights have not been terminated, a
				step-parent, an adoptive parent, a legal guardian, a caretaker relative, or
				other person standing in loco par- entis for the child;
(O) Premises is a house(s), dwelling(s), or
				building(s) and the adjoining land of a license-exempt child care facility;
(P) Preschool-age child is a child
				two through five (2-5) years of age not enrolled in kindergarten;
(Q) Religious organization is
1. A church, synagogue, or mosque;
2. An entity that qualifies for federal tax
				exemption status as a not-for-profit religious organization under Section
				501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; or
3. An entity whose real estate on which the
				child care facility is located is exempt from taxation because it is used for
				religious purposes;
(R)
				Religious organization academic preschool or kindergarten is a child care
				program provided exclusively for four- (4-) and five- (5-) year-old children
				that is maintained or operated under the exclusive control of a religious
				organization;
(S) School-age child
				is a child five (5) years of age or older who is enrolled in kindergarten or
				above;
(T) Staff/child ratio is
				the number of caregivers required in rela- tion to the number of children in
				care;
(U) Toddler is a child
				twelve to twenty-four (12-24) months of age; and
(V) Variance is approval by the department
				for a provider not to be required to meet a specific requirement of the rules
				of this chapter