BI children’s center bucking the trend of staff turnover

Published 1:30 am Thursday, June 25, 2026

First Years Children’s Center on Bainbridge Island reported they haven’t had to hire new staff in about a year, something that’s not typical in a preschool environment.

Early childhood educators have annual turnover rates of between roughly 26%-40% across the U.S. per a 2016 study published in the Journal of Research in Childhood Education.FYCC serves kids from four weeks old to five years old and currently has roughly 91 students enrolled, providing full-time five-day-a-week infant care. About 33 employees work at the center.

“We’re the largest center on the island for the ages that we serve, and the only center on the island that offers full-time…infant care. Our infant room is very full all the time, so that’s really hard when we can only take 12 babies at a time,” FYCC executive director Emily Criss said.

Criss began her career at the center as a part-time high school student in 2003, before working her way up the ranks, including as both an assistant teacher and lead teacher, and then moving into the executive director role in 2019. Criss received a degree from Olympic College in early childhood education in 2008.

“It’s such a benefit to have started kind of at the lowest you can, as a high school part-time student, and bringing that experience and knowledge to the executive director position has been extremely beneficial in helping with staffing,” she said.

Criss said one way the center has reduced staff turnover is by prioritizing staff well-being with the goal of creating an atmosphere emulating a home away from home.

“These aren’t just your coworkers…they’re your partner every day. It is really important (to make) sure that you have the same vision for the room that you’re working in. You can’t just hire anybody and put them in a room. Over the last several years, I really focused on making sure people were able to work with friends (who) had the same vision and wanted to see the same thing out of the room as each other. That’s really important to their happiness, because they’re here all day, every day with each other…That’s been a really important factor,” she said.

Criss said the center also partners with Bainbridge Island School District to provide high school students with opportunities through the district’s Career & Technical Education (CTE) program to explore possible careers in early childhood education.

FYCC has also participated in the State Department of Children, Youth and Families, Early Achievers Program since 2012 and is preparing to be reevaluated again in 2027, Criss said.

“We see with adults as well, where they might just think, ‘oh, this is easy, it’s like babysitting,’ and it’s really not, it’s a high-energy job, and by the end of every day, you’re pretty worn out, but you love it, because you love kids,” she said. “Or you kind of go, you know what, this was a little more than I thought I could handle.”

Criss said staff turnover isn’t an issue that’s unique to BI but part of a larger nationwide issue, and discussed other ways the center is fighting the trend.

“It’s prioritizing our staff…and making sure that they’re working with people that they enjoy working with every day, and in the age group that they really want to focus on is another thing. We don’t just go, ‘‘You’re going to go to the infant room.’ Infant teachers are in there because they love infants, our toddler teachers are with our toddlers because they love the toddlers, and so it’s really important to just remember that their opinion matters and what makes them happy matters, and not treating everybody as the same…Getting to know everybody personally is also really important,” she said.