R 400. 8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (3) In each room or well-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of caregivers to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, shall be the following: (a) For infants and toddlers, there shall be 1 caregiver for 4 children and a maximum group size of 12.

On August 02, 2023, the department received a complaint stating that during drop off time in the mornings, typically Tuesday through Thursday, there is only one teacher with several children. Because the complaint was anonymous, I was unable to interview the complainant. On August 04, 2023, I interviewed Kelly Millar, who is the licensing consultant for the center. She did not have any recent violations for ratio or supervision. On Tuesday August 08, 2023, I completed an unannounced onsite inspection at the facility from 7:34am to 8:45am. I observed the gymnasium as soon as I entered the building. CCSM1 was present and working with six children, who were ages three and older. The toddler room (across the hall from the gym area) had CCSM2 working with two toddlers. I was greeted by program director Tania Gramer, who had just arrived. Ms. Gramer was surprised by the allegations and indicated that no one has recently complained about this issue. She then showed me the infant room, which had three children present and two staff, CCSM3 and CCSM4. All of the rooms were within ratio. The rooms were clean, had developmentally appropriate toys and equipment. I interviewed CCSM’s 1-4. CCSM’s 1-4 denied that there is an issue with being out of ratio and that there are too many children who are alone with just one teacher. They had no idea where the allegations were coming from. No one had made a complaint to them, and they do not have several children when they first open. CCSM1 stated that she is the center opener and arrives by 6:30am every day. Usually, she has three children by 6:45am and then CCSM2 arrives at that time. She didn’t recall a time being out of ratio, unless recently when CCSM2 was just coming in as some of the early morning children were arriving. CCSM2 did not recall the center being out of ratio. She is the second staff to arrive each day and usually only three or four children are there, depending on if the parents are on time or a little early (or late). CCSM3 and CCSM4 arrive around 7:00am or after, and they do not even work in the gymnasium. They go straight to their rooms and work with the smaller children. During the inspection, I reviewed the attendance sheets for the children and staff for the current week and the week before. They were in compliance for all of those days except, on Wednesday August 02, 2023. That day, CCSM1 was working with Child A-E alone for a few minutes, by the time CCSM2 signed in for work. Child A (male, age 4) arrived at 6:30am. Siblings Child B (female, age 6) and Child C (female, age 4) arrived at 6:30am. Sibling group Child D (female, age 7), Child E (female, age 5), and Child F (male, age 18 months) arrived at 6:45am. CCSM2 was not signed in until 6:50am, therefore leaving the center out of ratio for 5 minutes. They would require two staff persons present when the youngest child, Child F arrived, because he requires ratio of 1 caregiver for 4 children due to his age (toddler). Ms. Gramer acknowledged that it is 3 possible that CCSM2 wasn’t in the gymnasium with CCSM1 and the children during drop off that day, and therefore someone might see that they were out of ratio for a couple minutes. She was unaware that this had happened, since none of the staff reported this, but the sign in sheets show when they start working and when the children arrive. Ms. Gramer explained that this could mean the difference of a parent arriving earlier than usual and dropping off before a second staff arrives. We discussed ways in which to have an extra staff present for that situation, or having parents remain onsite until the second staff is in the room so they are not out of ratio and in compliance. Because they are located in a church building, there is always another adult in the building (like the janitor) in the mornings. Ms. Gramer agreed to look at staff schedules and to ensure that they have enough opening staff present for when children are dropped off. By the time the other children arrive

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

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.

Appropriate care and supervision were not provided when Child C was cut on glass that had been shattered on the floor in the gym during lunch. However, I did not find that appropriate care and supervision were not provide regarding the other incidents.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.