The parents are happy, and so is the community. Mayor Helmut Zech had nothing but praise for the report on childcare
BY SIMONE WESTER
Pfaffenhofen - "The fact that the parents are so satisfied is due to the management and staff" - that is how Mayor Helmut Zech summed up the situation in the daycare centers in Pfaffenhofen. The western district community has so far been spared from trouble with foreign providers and angry parents.
The secret of success: The municipality has the strings in hand, the communication between administration and kindergarten management is excellent. The municipal councils and the spectators were able to get an idea of this at the meeting in the Unterumbach community center. Manuela Zech-Probul from the administration and kindergarten manager Christine Kalmbach presented the current situation in the municipal day care centers.
Cooperation and networking are as simple and easy as the calculation procedures are so complicated. "It's a complex story," said Zech. Not everything was better in the past either: "In the past it was just different," said Zech pragmatically.
The head of the municipality informed that the group started with three kindergarten groups in 2002. Manuela Zech-Probul hooked in there and presented the current figures to the committee. In the St. Michael children's house, which has received an unlimited operating license from the district office after thorough positive examination, 38 children under the age of three and 54 children from the age of three can be looked after. In the kindergarten on Kirchplatz there are 25 kindergarten children from the age of three. And in the new children's house in Egenburg, which will start operating in September, there is room for 54 children from the age of three and 19 crèche children under the age of three.
The children are looked after by childcare workers. In total, the municipality would incur costs of 1.2 million euros. Thanks to state and federal funding, as well as management and quality bonuses, the community currently has to pay 300,000 euros. The amount of funding depends on various factors. For example, the municipality receives more grants for children with a migration background and children with special needs, so-called integration children, for whom there will also be a group in the new children's home in Egenburg. The booking times as well as the working hours of the specialists and much more also play a role in the calculation of the state subsidies.
According to Mayor Helmut Zech, the municipality is currently refraining from increasing the fees, according to Zech, where parents sometimes have to pay 700 euros and more per month for kindergarten places.
Manuela Zech-Probul and Christine Kalmbach reported that after the childcare facilities in the community had to conclude on March 16 that they had been ordered by the authorities, 90 percent of the children will be present again in June. The head of the kindergarten also presented the guiding principle “hand in hand with every child”.
For the crib children, a good and stable acclimatization is the most important thing for a successful start, Kalmbach explained. The food is provided for everyone by the parents of the respective crib child for a complete week. The children are also wrapped. In addition to various offers, crèche and kindergarten children have time to play freely.
It is eaten together, rested and played in the garden - because of the corona pandemic, but separately according to groups. There are also various specially tailored programs for preschool and integration children. The children with impairments learn to live with them. The whole kindergarten group in turn learns how to deal naturally with the integration children. Mayor Zech expressly spoke out against using the word "disabled": "There are simply children who have to be pushed a bissal."
And how well this works in the Pfaffenhofen community became more than clear in the report by Manuele Zech-Probul and Christine Kalmbach.