22VAC40-185-80 Attendance Records and Reports

A. For each group of children, the center shall maintain a written record of daily attendance that documents the arrival and departure of each child in care as it occurs.  Is this truly necessary? I believe that daily attendance records shall be kept, and we currently do that. We have designated arrival and dismissal times. When children arrive before the designated time, we document their arrival time (enter or Before Care program). When children leave after their dismissal time, we document their departure time (leave our After Care program). Do we really need to document that a child arrived at 8:36 when that falls within our designated arrival time? Or that they departed at 3:04 when that falls within our designated departure time? Those high-volume times of arrival or dismissal can be hectic. We focus on the children’s safety as that is our priority. Writing down times seems a bit overkill and an unnecessary responsibility when a child’s safety should prevail.