Appletree Christian Learning Center

R 400.8182 · R 400.8182 Ratio and group size requirements. (3) In each room or well-defined space, the maximum group size and ratio of child care staff members to children, including children related to a staff member or the licensee, must be as shown in Table 4: (a) For infants and toddlers, birth until 30 months of age, there shall be 1 staff member for 4 children and a maximum group size of 12.

On 09/09/2021 a complaint was received by the Bureau which stated that at 9:30am that same day there were 14 children to 2 staff in the toddler room, which should maintain a 1:4 staff to child ratio. The complaint stated that "this is an ongoing problem every single morning and it continues to go unresolved," even after several complaints made to the management of the center from concerned parties. On 09/14/2021 I completed an unannounced on-site inspection at the center at 9:15am. I inspected the rooms and found them to be maintaining compliance with staff to child ratio at that time. The child care staff members that I interviewed for this report requested to be coded to protect their identity, as they feared retaliation from management for speaking out about the staffing issues. Program Director Denise 2 Faris and assistant director Erika Norris are the only people interviewed who will not be coded in this report. I interviewed assistant director Erika Norris, who stated that for the past 11 weeks the program director, Denise Faris, has been on maternity leave and Ms. Norris has been filing in. She said, "staffing is pretty rough right now. We lost a lot of staff this summer and haven't been able to fill those positions." When asked if any of the classrooms have been out of ratio in the past week Ms. Norris replied, "yes, it's been rough." In particular, the mornings have been a challenge to appropriately staff. "In the mornings it's harder, the infant and toddler rooms have been over more because they require a higher ratio. With preschool you don't need as many staff for ratio." Ms. Norris said that in an effort to help with the ratio issues, Appletree changed the hours of operation of the center for this week so they don't have to cover as many hours. They've also made some adjustments to staff schedules. "I've worked here for 8 years and I've never seen staffing like this." CCSM1 indicated they work in one of the toddler rooms and stated that in the mornings their room has been over the staff member to child ratio often. "It's been chaotic. We try to move kids around for ratio, but there's no room so we are stuck." On the morning of 09/14/2021 CCSM1's classroom was in ratio, but they indicated that they had been out of ratio "2-3 times in the last week." CCSM2 stated they also work with toddlers at the center. They said, "It's pretty stressful. Usually every day we are over, throughout the morning." The center has had to close a few rooms mid-morning because they don't have enough staff to cover them. "They should figure that out ahead of time — the day before. It's not fair to call parents halfway through the day to come get them." CCSM2 said management had talked about central office staff coming to fill in but they have not yet. According to CCSM2 the room they were in on the morning of 09/14/2021 was over prior to my inspection. "This morning we were over and then you came in just minutes after Erika Norris came in to help, and then we were in ratio again." CCSM3 stated they work in one of the toddler rooms and said the room is "usually over when I arrive, but me getting here helps put us into ratio. Usually it's better for me, because I'm one of the later ones getting in." On the morning of 09/14/2021, "there were 9 kids with 2 teachers, so they were over. I put them back into ratio." CCSM3 stated, "Pretty much everyday we are over. Some mornings there's sixteen 1.5-2.5-year-olds with 3 teachers." CCSM4 stated they work with older toddlers, aged 2-2.5 years. They said there is a window of time every morning where they are usually over. "Most of my kids arrive between 8-9am, so that's when I'm over. During the week of 09/06/2021 they were alone one day with up to 7 children from 7:45am-9am, before the next child care staff member arrived to put them back into ratio. "It's daily that we are over at some point." 3 I spoke briefly to Program Director Denise Faris, who stated 09/13/2021 was her first day back from mater

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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 06/08/2021 the facility submitted an incident report identifying inappropriate contact between two child care children. The report stated that Child A and Child B were playing along with another child in the classroom. Child care staff member (CCSM) Aleksi Kemppainen was assisting another child about 6-10 feet away from Child A and Child B. Mr. Kemppainen looked over at Child A and Child B and reminded them it was time to clean up and then turned his head to assist a child 0 in the puzzle area. A moment later he turned to look back at Child A and Child B and observed Child A on hands and knees with ■ pants down around thighs. Child B was sitting ehind Child A reaching toward wit ■ hand. Mr. Kemppainen immediately stopped the interaction. 2 On 0611012021 1 spoke to Child A's Father by phone. He was aware of the incident and stated he has no concerns with the supervision in the classroom. He identified that CCSM>s are great with the children and he has no reservations about the incident that occurred. Child A's Father stated he did not think things could have been handled differently. He stated that his only complaint would be that when the classrooms have sub CCSM's they don't have as much familiarity with the children but identified this is sometimes inevitable. Child As Father appreciated the cornmuncation with the center during this incident. On 0611012021 I spoke to Child B's Mother by phone. She was aware of the incident and stated Child B was as a result. She was upset by that decision and stated there had been two prior incidents. She identified that Child B had exposed once. The other incident was when Child B and a few other children started taking their clothes and told the CCSM they were pretending to take a bath. Child or B's Mother stated she spoke to Child B's no concerns supervision but identified there are a lot of staff changes. On 0611512021 l completed an unannounced onsite inspection at the facility and spoke to program director Denise Faris and CCSM's Melissah Baareman and Aleksi Kemppainen. Ms. Baareman stated during the incident she was in the classroom restroom assisting another child. She denied hearing or seeing anything between Child A or Child B. She identified that Mr. Kemppainen was with the other children in the classroom. Ms. Baareman stated there was a previous incident when she was the only caregiver in the classroom. She identified that Child A, Child B and two other children were running around with their pants off saying "i'm Stinky". She stated they were pretending to get ready for a bath. The other incident Ms. Baareman recalled was when Child A attempted to pull down pants and show . bottom. She stated she stopped the incident before any children could see. I spoke to CCSM Aleksi Kemppainen. He stated he was in classroom covering a break but stated he was familiar with the childrent hine Mtheec room. Mr. Kemppainen was aware of the two previous incidents that occurred in this classroom. He identified that when he entered the room Ms. Baareman started potty breaks with children and he began to have the rest of the class clean up for lunch. Mr. Kemppainen identified when he came into the classroom one child was struggling and had been crying since was dropped off. Mr. Kemppainen stated he was walking around the room keeping children on task during clean up. Child A and Child B were cleaning up in the kitchen area and they were trying hide under the kitchen table. He spoke to them about not playing under the table anEd waskheod them to keep cleaning up for lunch. He then walked over to console the little was still crying. He identified that he had a direct line of sight to Child A and j d B but turned his head to talk to the crying child. When he looked back, he observed Child A on hands and knees with Child B behind He identified that Child A's pants and un erwear were down to mid thighs an .` ild B was pointing at Child As . When he asked `. dd A and Child B what they were doing they sa

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