• 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 4/20/22, I received an email from licensee designee, Gina Debelak, about an incident at the center that morning when a child was left unsupervised. On 4/21/22, Ms. Debelak said that on 4/20/22 at about 10:00am Child A (5 year-old female) was left behind in the classroom. The rest of the children went to the gym with two child care staff members, Grace Hawkins and Nathan Fox. A child care staff member from a different classroom, Chyanne Gardner was walking down the hallway when she heard a child crying. She could tell the sound was coming from Ms. Hawkins and Mr. Fox's classroom so she went into the room and found Child A who was visibly upset. Ms. Gardner then escorted Child A to the gym knowing that was where the children and child care staff members from that room would be at this time. On 4/27/22, I made an unannounced visit to the center. Ms. Hawkins and Ms. Gardner were not working that day but I was able to interview Mr. Fox in person. Mr. Fox confirmed that on 4/20/22 he had been working with Ms. Hawkins. They had just finished reading a book then the children used the bathroom before lining up to go to the gym. At about 10:00am, Ms. Hawkins had been talking to Child A in the bathroom because she was not feeling well. After that, Child A joined the line to go to the gym. Mr. Fox said that he thought Child A may have left the line to go back into the bathroom but he was not sure. Mr. Fox said that a dry erase board is used that is a visual for how many children are present at any given time. This gets updated by the child care staff members every time a new child arrives or a child leaves. Mr. Fox said he did not recall looking at the dry erase board prior to when the group left the room at about 10:05am. He saw Ms. Hawkins count the number of children before they left the room and it was 12. He also did a head count as they were walking down to the gym and it was 12. Mr. Fox knew a child would be leaving early that day at 12:30pm. It is possible that both he and Ms. Hawkins were thinking the child had already left and they were only supposed to have 12 children. At about 10:15am, Ms. Gardner arrived in the gym with Child A. Child A cried for a few minutes and then calmed down. On 4/27/22, the child and staff records that I requested for 4/20/22 were received by email. Ms. Hawkins and Mr. Fox were in compliance with child and staff ratios. On 5/2/22, Child A's Mother said Ms. Hawkins had called her the morning of 4/20/22 and explained what happened. Ms. Hawkins told her that Child A asked to go to the bathroom then was left behind in there. Ms. Hawkins said that they usually do a head count but they had not done this when they left for the gym. Child A will continue going to the program because she loves it there. Child A's Mother said her concern was that no one noticed Child A had been missing. On 5/3/22, Ms. Hawkins said she remembered Child A having problems in the bathroom on 4/20/22. At about 10:00am when they lined up the children to go to the gym, she thought Child A had already come out of the bathroom and had lined up. What probably 3 happened was that she went back to the bathroom after getting in line and they did not realize this. The number 13 was on the dry erase board with a note written about a child that would be leaving early later on that day. She did not check the dry erase board before they left the room. She counted 12 children before leaving the room but thought this was correct because she may have been thinking about the child that would be leaving later. When they got to the gym, they did not notice that Child A was gone. They did the head count again and it was 12 and again, they thought this was the correct number. At about 10:15am, Child A arrived to the gym escorted by Ms. Gardner. She called Child A's Mother as soon as possible and explained what had happened. She did not recall talking to her about not doing a head count. On 5/4/22, Ms. Gardner said that she was walking down the hall p

Child A (5 year-old female) was left in the classroom unsupervised for 5 to 10 minutes.

Disposition: Substantiated