• Violation

  R 400.8125 · R 400.8125 Staff; volunteer; requirements. ...................................... ......... ........ .................. ........... (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times.

  On 8/4/22, licensee designee Susan Thompson said that on 8/3/22 the school-age class and staff members were playing in the school gym. Child A had been climbing behind the bleachers in the gym and child care staff member Maija Kilpela saw him back there and told him he needed to come out. Child A didn't say he got cut and Ms. Kilpela didn't notice any injuries at first. Child A and a classmate of his started to walk out of the gym. Ms. Kilpela went over to them to tell them to stay in the gym and that's when she noticed the cut on Child A's leg. Child care staff member Kayla Parkin cleaned the wound and applied gauze and medical tape. The wound didn't look too serious so it was decided to inform Child A's Mother of the incident when she picked up Child A about 40 minutes later. On 8/4/22, Child A's Mother notified school-age coordinator Melissa Parker that Child A had gone to the hospital and gotten stitches. On 8/5/22, an incident report was received. On 8/9/22, an inspection was made on-site. Children and staff were not observed because the summer program had already ended. I looked behind the bleachers in the gym and there were metal bars that had some sharp spots on them. On 8/9/22, I received an email from program director Emily Tervow explaining that the children knew they weren't supposed to play behind the bleachers. She said she had a talk with all the children and reminded them of the rules and expectations. She let the staff know that they needed to review the rules with the children each time they go to the gym. The staff are now more diligent about their positioning while they are in the gym so that there isn't any "blind spot" areas that they can't see. This includes positioning staff near the bleachers so that they can react quickly if children decide to go back there. On 8/17/22, I spoke to Child A's Mother about the incident. She said that when she picked up Child A at about 5:00pm he had been bandaged up. She looked at the wound and it had been cleaned well by staff. She thought it looked deep so she decided to bring him to the doctor's to have it looked at. She let the center staff know this. Child A needed three stitches. Child A's Mother is a nurse and removed the stitches herself when they were healed. She said she didn't have any concerns about how the staff handled the incident and knew that Child A and his friends played behind the bleachers sometimes where they weren't allowed. On 8/24/22, I reviewed child and staff attendance records for 8/3/22 and the center was in compliance with child and staff ratios. 3 On 8/24/22 child care staff member Leo Eikenberry-Ureel said that policy is children are not allowed behind the bleachers while using the gym. Child care staff members spread themselves out so they can see all areas. Sometimes, when the children play "cops and robbers" they go behind the bleachers and the staff always asks them to get out. On 8/3/22, he didn't notice Child A behind the bleachers. On 8/24/22, program director Emily Tervow said she had been working that day but wasn't in the gym when the incident happened; she had been in her office which is in the same building. On 8/3/22, there were six child care staff members in the gym with 12 children. On 8/4/22, when Child A came back he said he got stitches. She called Child A's Mother and talked to her about it.

On 8/4/22, Child A (9 year-old male) was injured while he was playing behind the bleachers in the gym during the summer school-age program.

Disposition: Substantiated