The buildings are in sad disrepair, and are too small for the amounts of children. Nightly cleaning crews only come three days a week and are incompetent, leading to gross rooms and furniture. The only time allotted for Staff to clean and prepare for lessons is nap time, which generally is when the children are most active. Nap Time allows for higher children-teacher ratios, so it is not uncommon to have 30+ three-year-old children "sleeping" to one teacher. Since Staff cannot leave children unattended, should a child have a bout with diarrhoea or vomiting, or just wet themselves, Staff have to deal with this while in ratio with the other children alone, even if the child's spare clothes are located elsewhere. The management I work with are kind and fair, but basically have to keep the establishment together with duct tape as they are not provided the resources to keep staff motivated, or repair faulty plumbing, etc. The facilities breed disease and less-than-sanitary practices, not because the Staff are lazy, but because the charts are impossible to follow with only one teacher in a room with a maximum State-allowed ratio. In my building, the School Age children do not have a bathroom or a sink. Those children must leave the room to use the facilities and are expected to share toilets with children who are still learning proper toilet etiquette (don't pee on the seat, etc). The toilets are constantly backed-up due to children throwing entire toilet paper rolls in and attempting to flush. Why? Because Teachers cannot monitor them due to the design of the building and the shortage of staff. The staff are expected to come to work sick, even with flu-like symptoms or gastro-intestinal issues as ratios must be maintained at any cost. Many of the Staff have their own children enrolled, and are all but forced to bring those children while ill as they must be at work. I have enjoyed 50% of my time at La Petite suffering from this virus, or that bacteria. The microbes are the only happy life-forms at La Petite! Forcing ill Staff to work so they aren't "written up" causes illness to spread no matter how many times to wash your hands... we aren't asked to remove our clothes and wash them after every sneeze or cough; thus the threat is never eliminated.
