✅Admin

Activity & Attendance Policy

Last updated 2026-09-29

In this article

Neztio operates on one rule: attendance establishes presence, presence enables care activities, and documentation can exist independently. This page explains how that rule is enforced across the apps and what auditors should expect to see in the data.

The Rule in One Sentence

A child must be checked in for the day before staff can log a care activity for them. Documentation activities (photos, videos, notes, observations, announcements) do not require check-in.

Care Activities (Require Check-In)

  • Meal, snack, bottle
  • Nap start and nap end
  • Diaper, potty
  • Health check, temperature, medication
  • Incident reports
  • Outdoor time, classroom or learning activities
  • CACFP meal events and per-child meal outcomes

Documentation Activities (No Check-In Required)

  • Photos and videos (parent and admin can see them at any time of day)
  • Observation notes, mood entries
  • Room-wide announcements and parent broadcasts
  • Portfolio and assessment evidence

How It's Enforced

Enforcement happens in two layers so the policy cannot be bypassed by any client.

  1. 1On the teacher iPad, Android tablet, and webapp: when a teacher selects a child who is not checked in for a care activity, the app shows a one-tap prompt, "This child isn't checked in. Check in & continue." There is no skip option for care activities.
  2. 2Behind the scenes: Neztio checks every care activity against that day's attendance before saving it. If any child in the activity is not checked in, the activity is not saved, and the teacher is asked to check the child in first.

CACFP Reimbursement

Meals can only be claimed for reimbursement when the child was physically present. Neztio's claim generation excludes any meal record whose child was not checked in for the same day. This matches USDA requirements under 7 CFR Part 226 (specifically 226.10(c) and 226.15(e)(8)).

State Licensing

Most states require attendance to be recorded as separate entries, each with a date and time, for each child in care. Neztio's attendance records are the official record of who was present and of your ratios. Activity logs are supplemental documentation; they do not substitute for attendance in licensing audits.

Daily Admin Reconciliation

Each morning, Neztio lists any activity logged the previous day for a child who was not checked in. Center admins can review and resolve these in the dashboard. This catches older records from before this rule took effect (May 2026 and earlier) and any edge cases.

Audit Trail

Every check-in is saved as its own attendance record with the date and time, the staff member who did it, and where it was done (teacher app, web, kiosk, or room tablet). Every care activity records the same details. An inspector can match any activity to the check-in that came before it. The Activity Log section exports both record types for inspection packets.

Compliance counsel review recommended before going live in any CACFP-participating center or any state with strict attendance requirements. This article reflects product behavior, not legal advice.

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