Kiddie Academy

Kiddie Academy Educational Center: A Franchise-Based Educational Establishment

Kiddie Academy Educational Center is a franchise-based educational establishment in the United States. The academy has licensed more than 24 schools in roughly 23 states since it was founded in 1981. The Baltimore County, Maryland organizations founded by Pauline and George Miller with the goal of providing childcare with an educational focus were established (Cuervo et al., 2014). Kiddie Academy also makes it possible to buy franchisees with curriculum and helps them get all the licenses and permits they need to build and run the business. The Kiddie Academy of Murrieta, located on Juniper Street in Murrieta, California, is one of these franchisees. Specifically, Elizabeth and David Holmes are the franchise’s owners and operators. Importantly, the facility provides care for children from the age of six weeks to twelve years, and it is determined to establish a safe and effective environment of exploration and learning for the students under their care (Castells, Caraça & Cardoso, (eds.) 2012). Since it is situated in Temecula Valley, there are wide ranges of economic and cultural classes of people that interact. The paper will examine the general and task environment of the organization.

General environment

Economic dimensions

The local economies affect the daily running of the organization and the approaches to maintain an affordable care in the event of raising costs of transportation, food and wages. The economic conditions of Murrieta, California are likely to influence the performance of the kiddie Academy. When the economy of particular areas improves, it is highly likely that investment in quality education will increase (Ault & Ault, 2015). For instance, the rate of unemployment in Murrieta is 5.30 per cent while the recent job growth is 3.40 per cent. Murrieta also has a mean self-employment of $32000 per annum, which represents third highest rate as compared to other areas in southern parts of California (Bandong & Bandong, 2016). Temecula has the highest rate of self-employment, which is 11.5 per cent higher as compared to Murrieta. In addition, the self-employment rate in the area is 22.5 lower as compared to that of California. In addition, the household income in the county is approximately $74,000 and future growth of job is expected to be 41.5 per cent. The city of Murrieta has also witnessed significant increase in population, which is likely to lead to higher rate of children requiring education (TownChart, 2017). Currently, the Murrieta has 114,000 people. In addition, higher quality of life, affordable housing, good education and higher family income characterize the county. Murrieta has the second biggest percentage of persons who commute to work every morning. The contemporary economic environment is suitable for provision of education facilities, which meets the needs of the current job market. In terms of infrastructure, the county has good public roads such as whitewood road and Keller interchange which can facilitates the improvement of economic conditions of the county (Ault & Ault, 2015).

In terms of poverty levels, it has one of the biggest percentages of people who are poor below 12 years of age. In addition, it is ranked second in terms of people in poverty who are between 18 and 34 years while Temecula occupies the first position. The area has big share of people of black descent who have poverty rate of 14 per cent (Bandong & Bandong, 2016). Secondly, the region is occupied by many American Indians whose poverty rate is at 29 per cent. In this respect, the area has third largest per cent of persons who are unemployed and in poverty at 18.2 per cent (Castells, Caraça & Cardoso, (eds.) 2012). Furthermore, 6.9 per cent of households in the area receive public assistance such as food stamps, which holds fourth position. Therefore, high poverty levels, unemployment, inability to be self-employed and low-income rate which influence the ability of Kiddie Academy to offer quality and affordable education to all children in the region (TownChart, 2017).

Due to high proportion of child poverty in Murrieta, Kiddie Academy should come up with approaches intended to maintain affordable care in the face of ever-increasing cost of transportation, food and wages. In this regard, Kiddie academy should engage with parents to ensure that their participation is convenient and affordable in provision of on-site care and transportation (Bandong & Bandong, 2016). Additionally, learners from humble backgrounds should be given access to equal pedagogical and curricular opportunities as children from affluent families (Ault & Ault, 2015). Furthermore, the school should also teach the learners on injustices that negatively affect the poor such as environmental pollution, labour unions, consumer culture and classism that help to develop new generation of learners to achieve an equitable world. It should also be innovative to ensure that learners are enrolled into talented and gifted programs to provide them with chances that are normally earmarked for students from upper social class (TownChart, 2017). More importantly, Kiddie Academy in Murrieta must provide continuous opportunities with the parents even when they are unresponsive in order to build trust (Ault & Ault, 2015). Finally, the management should institute mechanism to prevent stigmatization, prejudice and biasness against disadvantaged children by creating awareness of the inequitable situations in the society, classrooms and schools (Cuervo et al., 2015).

Political/legal dimensions

The education system in Kiddie Academy in Murrieta is the Federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Its main role is to enhance social and economic well-being of communities, individuals, families and children with resources and leadership for effective, compassionate provision of human services. In addition, it builds chances for families to live socially and economically productive environments (ACF, 2017). Kiddie Academy benefits from the programs offered by this department, which play a critical part in assisting children to grow into healthy people. Moreover, it empowers communities living in the Murrieta and Temecula to become supportive and prosperous (Castells, Caraça & Cardoso, (eds.) 2012). Since the school is located in an area with higher number of poor people, ACF programs are very beneficial because they facilitate economic efficiency and independence among individuals and families. Through such initiatives, the communities become supportive, healthy and stronger which ultimately lead to positive effects on the child development and quality of life (CDSS Programs, 2017). Furthermore, it is a source of solutions in the Kiddie Academy in Murrieta which p, asses the racial or ethnic barriers and strengthens partnership among different communities, providers and individuals. More importantly, the academic institution through the ACF is able to meet the demands and address the abilities, strengths, and needs of migrants, refugees, and persons with disabilities (ACF, 2017). Finally, Kiddie Academy is able to integrate reform and plan services aimed at enhancing essential access.

Task environment

Customers

Kiddie Academy uses a wide range of strategies to attract new customer and to satisfy the desires and needs of existing customers. Importantly, enrolment is one of the factors that affect influence the operations and management of the school since it defines the functions. When there is inadequate number of learners, the learning institution is affected by salaries, strategies, maintenance, and hiring (Ault & Ault, 2015). For this reason, the management of Kiddie Academy Schools are determined to ensure that it attains its full capacity hence attracting many learners is a critical responsibility of the leadership team of the schools. The first strategy in this process is to address the need and preferences of the parents. In this regard, most of the parents select schools they love and that is good for their kids (CDSS Programs, 2017). Therefore, they are preferences for legacy schools of their families. Kiddie academy also addresses the concerns of the parents at the end of natural breaks such as 8th grade, 5th grade and Pre-K when most of the children are transferred to other schools. In so doing, the school is able to address the issues affecting the customers. Moreover, the school director ensures that prepare of children enrolment by identifying the population with appropriate characteristics for recruitment (Cuervo et al., 2014). The schools recognize where the target customers live. Furthermore, Kiddie Academy develops recruitment presentation to be distributed to parents, which delivers relevant and attractive data about the school. Importantly, Kiddie Academy is also open to interactivity by allowing the parents to ask questions. It also provides brochure and cards (Castells, Caraça & Cardoso, (eds.) 2012).

Kiddie Academy in Murrieta faces difficulties in communicating and sharing information to prospective customers easily and effectively. For this reason, it uses traditional forms of communication in order to promote the schools through print advertisements, radios ads, direct mails and billboards (Cuervo et al., 2015). More importantly, it has adopted the use of modern communication technologies in order to attract more customers using websites, social media platforms, and search engine optimization. Precisely, Kiddie Academy has developed website, which enables easier marketing. The website is visually appealing, enables easier navigation and has a proper design. The ability of any organization to appeal to new families, which can subsequently lead to higher enrolment, is based on the capacity to have an amazing website. Parents who visit the websites link to social media such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. The school has taken advantage of the optimization mechanism to maximize its content, blog posts, and website pages by using keywords (Cuervo et al., 2015). Finally, Kiddie Academy School also uses successful marketing approaches such as blogs. The blogs are useful for the school because it share crucial academic information, which is useful to current and prospective families.

Regulators

Childcare institutions including Kiddie Academy are required to comply with regulatory provisions. Firstly, Kiddie Academy of Murrieta is supposed to possess a childcare license so that it can legally deliver childcare (Cuervo et al., 2015). Childcare licensing principles develop the minimum safety, and acceptable health standards for lawful running of programs designed for childcare. In most care, the term “regulated care” is used to refer to licensed care where each state in the country has its own provisions (ACF, 2017). Kiddie Academy in Murrieta must pay particular attention on the childcare licensing of California, which include crucial aspects such as fire safety, group sizes, food preparation and nutrition, and safety and health such as immunization, hand washing, diapering, and discipline policies. Furthermore, the license of the academy must also address parent communication, access and involvement, lightings, fire and exit doors, air conditioning, and construction materials (TownChart, 2017). Finally, the licensing addresses the issue of sanitation such as disinfection of toilets, carpeting, play equipment, development of food premises, and proper ventilation. The school must meet the demands of Child Care Resource and Referral Agency (CCR&R) in the locality. Moreover, the institution should meet the requirements in California before embarking on license application (CDSS Programs, 2017).

Kiddie academy should also ensure that it meet the legal provisions of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The institution should adhere to the requirements of Title III of the ADA. The legislation ensures smooth interactions between the childcare facilities and its stakeholders including guardians, parents, children and possible customer (CDSS Programs, 2017). Pursuant to title III, providers of childcare must not separate against individuals with disabilities based on their disability. In this respect, Kiddie Academy should deliver parents and children with disability with the same chances to engage in the child care facility’s services and programs (ACF, 2017). Certainly, the organization cannon dismiss children with disability from their services unless their presence poses a significant direct danger to the safety and health of others.

Kiddie Academy of Murrieta franchise balances the regulatory requirements by making modifications of the programs. In so doing, it ensures that overhead and regulatory costs are kept in check to meet the demands of staffs and suppliers (Cuervo et al., 2015). In so doing, the organization develops realistic modification to their practices and policies to incorporate regulatory provisions at reasonable cost (CDSS Programs, 2017).

Conclusion

Kiddie Academy of Murrieta is a private franchise, which deals in provision of childcare for children above six weeks and not exceeding twelve years in the region. Murrieta is located in South western parts of California, which is characterized by relatively high unemployment. Most of the households are enrolled for federal food programs (Ault & Ault, 2015). Large number of children is suffering from childhood poverty especially those of African Americans and American Indians (Bandong & Bandong, 2016). Therefore, these factors may affect the ability to pay for childcare services. The organizations use a wide range of approaches to entice customers including through the website, radio ads, and social media. Finally, the franchise pays close attention on the regulations such as ADA.

References

ACF. (2017). Home. Administration for Children and Families. Retrieved 21 November 2017, from https://www.acf.hhs.gov/

Ault, T., & Ault, T. (2015). Murrieta Economic Outlook, city continues to grow steadily | Valley News. Myvalleynews.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017, from http://myvalleynews.com/local/murrieta-economic-outlook-city-continues-to-grow-steadily/

Bandong, P., & Bandong, P. (2016). Economic Outlook, ‘The Future of Southern California is Murrieta’ | Valley News. Myvalleynews.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017, from http://myvalleynews.com/local/economic-outlook-future-southern-california-murrieta/

Castells, M., Caraça, J., & Cardoso, G. (Eds.). (2012). Aftermath: The cultures of the economic crisis. Oxford University Press.

CDSS Programs. (2017). Info & Resources > CDSS Programs > Community Care Licensing > Child Care Licensing > Resources for Providers > Laws and Regulations. Cdss.ca.gov. Retrieved 21 November 2017, from http://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/child-care-licensing/resources-for-providers/laws-and-regulations

Cuervo, A. A. V., Amezaga, T. R. W., Martínez, E. A. C., & Murrieta, M. U. (2015). Differences in the Participation of Parents in the Education of Mexican High School Students: Relation with Gender and Level of Studies. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 6(3), 53.

Cuervo, A. A. V., Murrieta, M. U., Amezaga, T. R. W., & Acuña, G. M. T. (2014). Relation between family dynamics and teachers’ practices with the participation of mothers in the education of the children. Journal of Education and Human Development, 3(3), 309-315.

TownChart. (2017). Murrieta CA Economy data. Towncharts.com. Retrieved 21 November 2017, from http://www.towncharts.com/California/Economy/Murrieta-city-CA-Economy-data.html