2 Things To Consider Before Letting Your Teachers Use Their Mobile Devices In Small/Medium-Sized Centers 😐👀

By Kimberly Newman, Customer Success Leader @enrollsmart


Technology is everywhere today.  In my opinion, it has its place in the classroom; on a "measured" basis. We used a fantastic service called Letsgolearn.com (No, this is not a commercial for LGL) that worked out well for our Pre-K program.  We used LGL  on desktop computers and, the children, staff, and parents really valued it. That was around the time the smartphone revolution was beginning to take off (circa 2007).

Fast forward to today and, nearly everyone has a smartphone. We got quite a bit of experience dealing with smartphones in our childcare centers and with our van drivers.  We had to develop policies around smartphone use and, our policy was this:  

Smartphones were NOT to be used on the premises. PERIOD (with the exception of drivers and management).  

Today, we see all these various preschool/childcare apps focused on "parent engagement" and, keeping parents updated.   Before I get too much further, let me say that Enrollsmart has parent engagement features designed strictly for the Owner/Director to use; not staff.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about this "parent engagement" stuff 🤔.  Though I think there is some value in using technology to communicate classroom updates to parents, I see much more value in using technology to "operate" a childcare center instead of using it to keep parents updated.  Not that ours was the best way, but we focused on greeting parents and giving them oral reports of their child's day along with any work their child may have completed.  Parents could call and speak with their child or get an update from an infant teacher by phone. We also kept a close log of diaper changing, activity and eating habits for the infant room. Reports of challenging behavior, and accident/incident reports were usually left to be presented to parents by me or someone I trusted very much.

Over the years that we ran our childcare centers, we had the benefit of listening to an experienced licensing rep and, she always corrected us when we needed it and, told us why.  Of course, those in the licensed childcare universe know that complying with child/staff ratio is paramount but, I would argue that many providers may not know all of the ramifications of not maintaining proper ratios.  Our licensing rep put it in perspective for us: "It's not only the moral thing to do but, being out of ratio is one of the easiest things for a lawyer to point out if a child gets injured."

If your staff is using their mobile device, are you, "effectively" in ratio? The full attention of your staff should be focused on children, and, I find it very difficult to believe that can occur if smartphones are allowed to be used by staff.  One must also consider the reputation and security of their childcare center when it comes to allowing smartphones to be used by staff.  That being said, here are 2 things that I think should be considered in any small/medium-sized childcare center before allowing staff to use or even bring their smartphone on the premises:

Consideration #1: Child Safety

There are a number of ways that smartphone use by childcare staff can pose challenges to safety in the classroom.  It is unrealistic to believe that a staff person will make a decision to catch a falling plate of food instead of catching their falling smartphone. It is also unrealistic to believe that some staff will not post status updates, photos, etc. instead of just using the smartphone's childcare app. You can use your imagination when it comes to playground supervision and smartphone use by childcare staff.

Consideration #2: Your Center's Reputation

Smartphone use is everywhere. It's inescapable.  If you do not control the social media and pictures leaving your center, one of your staff could and, this could put you in a very vulnerable situation.  Additionally, childcare is such regulated business, it could very easy for a disgruntled staff person to sabotage your center. If you allow smartphone use in your center, I would strongly recommend that you have strong policies to control them. 

Kimberly Newman is Customer Success Leader at Enrollsmart and she has 15 years of experience owning multiple small and medium-sized childcare centers simultaneously.  


Enrollsmart supplies mobile websites, online child enrollment, childcare search, attendance tracking and childcare staffing technology for small and medium-sized childcare centers.  To learn more about Enrollsmart, visit

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