On 12/07/2022, I completed an on-site inspection and interviewed program director Eryn Hannink. Ms. Hannink stated she made a decision to close a classroom on 11/16/2022 due to not having enough staff. She knew the night before that the center would not have enough staff to ensure appropriate ratio requirements were maintained. She texted licensee designee Kim Dimmett around 10pm on 11/15/2022 to notify her of the staffing issues for 11/16/2022, but Ms. Dimmett did not respond. At approximately 10:30pm on 10/15/2022, Ms. Hannink decided to close a classroom for 11/16/2022 due to the staffing issues. She sent Ms. Dimmett a notification regarding her decision to close a classroom due to staffing issues. Ms. Dimmett responded to her notification regarding the classroom closure at 1:44am. Ms. Dimmett indicated that they would need to talk about the classroom closure. The following morning, Ms. Dimmett stomped into her office demanding to know why she closed a classroom. Ms. 3 Dimmett instructed her to never close a classroom ever again. Ms. Hannink stated that she routinely subs in the classrooms to ensure appropriate ratio requirements are maintained; however, that has greatly impacted her ability to fulfill her duties as program director. She stated that subbing the classrooms has interfered with her ability to process data entries for food program income eligibility and weekly meal attendance, review licensing requirements as a new program director, field parent communication, post jobs, and conduct interviews. Additionally, she has missed meetings due to subbing in the classrooms. On 01/11/2023, I received an email from Ms. Hannink outlining how subbing in the classrooms has specifically affected her ability to fulfill her responsibilities as program director. She has not been able to develop, implement, or evaluate the program or center policies since she was hired as program director on 07/18/2022. She has subbed in one or both classrooms full time since the beginning of the school year. On 12/29/2022, she was instructed by Ms. Dimmett to only be in the classrooms to observe and that her place was in the office. Ms. Dimmett advised her to let the staff in the classrooms "fend for themselves." Ms. Hannink believes that by allowing staff to fend for themselves that she is not making herself available to address child and staff issues. Ms. Hannink's email also states that she is unable to monitor or evaluate staff due to her subbing in the classrooms so often. She indicates in her email that she has 1,632 unread emails in addition to the many emails she has read but has not been able to handle due to time constraints of subbing in the classrooms. On 05/22/2023, CCSM 1 stated that she has no knowledge of the center not following appropriate ratio requirements. She stated that Ms. Hannink frequently helped in the classrooms and was always available to her and other staff. She has no knowledge of Ms. Hannink not being available to address child, staff, or parent issues.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: ratio. Open / not marked corrected.