Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Certification Policy Manual
Comments can be entered into WISCCRS in several modules (e.g., Complaints Module, Enforcement Module, etc.). It is recommended that comments placed in each comments field should only be used to document additional information that is not already contained in the data entry fields in the module itself.
For example, the certification worker may receive a phone call, an email or an office visit from the certified operator with questions or concerns regarding a complaint about his/her program. In the comments section, the certification worker can make note of the date that such a contact occurred and that the subject matter of the contact was the most recent complaint. The comments section should reflect the contact but it is recommended it not include extensive detail, confidential information, information already documented in other fields in WISCCRS (e.g. complaint findings), or highly sensitive information that would not be appropriate to be released to the public.
The comments fields in WISCCRS generally document information on the following:
Date (and time, if deemed relevant) of a contact with the applicant/operator or operator’s staff/household members, whether via telephone, email, personal visit to the office, etc.
Purpose or reason for the contact, such as ‘received question regarding requirements for attendance recording’ or ‘request for clarification of the violation cited on DCF-F-294 on 1/10/2014’ or ‘called to inform certifier that provider will no longer provide transportation’. It is best if the comments do not describe the conversation itself in detail.
Notification that the provider is temporarily closed and for how long.
Notations regarding transaction adjustments.
The comments fields in WISCCRS should not include the following information:
Complaint findings.
Planned subsequent actions that may be taken, such as notation that there is a possibility of sanction.
Personal notes or reminders to oneself.
Information that is not relevant to the particular WISCCRS module in which the comments are entered.
Although a staff and child identification key may be included in the comments field on the New Violations screen, the text of the comments in other fields in WISCCRS should not identify children’s and staff person’s names.
The comments fields in WISCCRS are subject to open records requests and may be made available in discovery requests resulting from appeals of contested sanctions / enforcements. Documentation in the location / facility “general’ comments section can also be viewed in CSAW. Additionally, comments entered under location / facility general comments in WISCCRS cannot be deleted or modified after they have been added. All comments are retained as history in WISCCRS, even those that have been modified. Therefore, certification workers should enter comments into WISCCRS with the understanding that anyone may be able to view them. Comments entered in WISCCRS should convey a professional and objective tone, should be factual, accurate, concise, concrete, specific and recorded in such a way that the meaning is clear to persons unfamiliar with the applicant / certified operator / program. There should not be misspellings or grammatical errors which hinder understanding of the comments. Any references to colleagues and partners should be respectful. Confidentiality must be maintained at all times.
Best practice for entering comments includes the following:
Confine the comment to factual information and avoid opinion statements.
Avoid a conversational or too casual tone.
Keep unnecessary or personal information out of comments.
Avoid use acronyms (without definition), abbreviations, jargon, meaningless phrases or irrelevant speculation about a person’s motivations.
Avoid unprofessional or negative references to colleagues or partners.
Avoid personal biases and feelings about the situation or the behavior of the persons involved in the situation, derogatory comments and subjective observations such as “I feel” and “I sense”, or second hand information that is not verifiable.
Avoid including comments recorded in WISCCRS that would cause personal embarrassment for yourself or others if the comments were made public in an open records request.
This page last updated 08/24/2015.