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 12/06/2022, I made an unannounced site visit. I interviewed Kristan Gothels who is the principal and program director. I made her aware of the allegations. She reported Child A's Mother emailed requesting a meeting because 2 Child A recently moved to GSRP and was having issues adjusting. She told Child A's Mother she was on vacation and asked her to try to resolve the issues with the child care staff members and contact her if it was unsuccessful. Child A's Mother has not contacted her, so it was assumed there were no issues. Ms. Gothels said she is aware of the event that led to this investigation. She does not believe the child care staff members (did anything wrong. However, they recently made changes that will help when they are short staffed so an issue like this will not happen again. If a child care staff member needs to leave for any reason, they would use the walkie-talkie to radio for someone to cover for them. This way a staff member could step away to address something and there will not be ratio issues. On 12/06/2022, I interviewed Ms. Karen Gothals she stated a few minutes before it was time to go inside from recess, she was approached by Child A (a five year-old, female) and Child B (a four year-old, female) who told her they both wet themselves. Since there were not enough staff member on the playground for ratio, she notified the substitute who was covering the classroom they needed to round up the children to go inside. Within two minutes they had gathered all the children and went inside. Once inside, Child A and Child B were changed. She notified the parents at the end of the day. She denied allowing the children to remain wet for ten minutes and stated it was no more than five minutes. She does not remember if it was cold or warm outside that day. She added under normal circumstances there would be enough staff for someone to go inside right away and change them, but they were short staffed that day. On 12/06/2022, I interviewed lead caregiver Ms. Rachel Brand. She was not working that day but added they discussed ways to address something like this in the future when short staffed. On 12/08/2022, I interviewed substitute child care staff member Ms. Jenn Kearns. She was somewhat aware of the incident but did not have all the details. She remembers being approached by Ms. Gothels while the children were outside playing. She recalled the children seemed fine. The children were inside and changed no more than five or ten minutes after she found out. Overall, she was not concerned at the way things were handled. On 12/20/2022, I interviewed Child B's Mother. She said Child B has had a few "pee" accidents lately but there is nothing that stands out about the center's care other than her child and another child has "pee accidents" together. She believes her daughter is changed properly and they always send the wet clothes home. On 12/10/2022, I interviewed Child C Mother and Child D Mother's who did not report any concerns. They believe their children are properly cared for and the staff do a good job. 3 On 12/12/2022, I called Child A's Mother. There was no answer. The phone did not have a voicemail. She returned the call shortly after and had nothing additional to add.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. (1) Positive methods of discipline that encourage self- control, self-direction, self-esteem, and cooperation must be used.

On 10/29/2020, licensee designee and program director Ms. Kristin Goethals contacted me by email to ask about an incident that had occurred the previous day (10/28/2020). The incident involved child care staff member Ms. Monica Crockett redirecting Child A. Ms. Goethals explained that she was not certain if this incident rose to a level where it required submitting an incident report to licensing. Ms. Goethals indicated that she had asked Ms. Crockett to describe the incident to both of us so that it was clear if an incident report was needed. Ms. Crockett emailed me with the following explanation of the incident: I am reaching out to you in regards to Extended Day. There was an incident yesterday where I redirected a child that was not listening and talking after many reminders and after moving her out of line she said that I hurt her arm. I was not trying to pull on her or cause any harm. I had talked with her and asked her to 3 move to another spot in line and she was choosing to continue to not listen or follow the rules. We were taking attendance before going back inside and the other children could not hear their names being called because she was talking. She was asked to stop and please be quiet several times before I moved her from the line. I wanted to let you know about this. Please let me know if you need me to follow up with any other paperwork. Thank You! I responded to Ms. Crockett's email and asked for an incident report and for the incident report to include the actual action that moved the child out of and from the line of children. Ms. Crockett responded via email with the statement, "I moved her out of line by holding her arm." On 10/30/2020, I received the incident report signed by both Ms. Crockett and Ms. Goethals which indicated the incident occurred as described above and Ms. Goethals would be meeting with Child A (female, 8 years) and her mother later in the day. I spoke with Child A and B's Father and he explained that Child A and Child A and B's Mother would be meeting with Ms. Goethals. Child A and B's Father stated that Child A was very upset about the situation. It was upsetting in general and because Child A had tried to handle the situation with Ms. Crocket. Child A tried to tell Ms. Crocket that she (Ms. Crockett) had hurt her arm and Ms. Crockett responded to Child A with a comment like, "Then you should not have been talking." Child A and B's Father did not think the situation rose to an allegation of abuse; however, it seemed like inappropriate discipline and he does not want it to happen again. I spoke with Child A and B's Mother. She explained that Child A had said that she was in line and talking while the child care staff members were taking a roll call. Child A had said that Ms. Crockett came over and grabbed her arm and told her to get in the back of the line and the grabbing action had hurt her in the moment. Child A later tried to talk with Ms. Crockett and Ms. Crockett had said to Child A something like, "Then you shouldn't have been talking." Child A and B's Mother explained that she has not had other concerns with the extended day program. She felt that Child A had been really courageous and had tried to handle the situation. However, the situation was not resolved, so she and Child A would be meeting with Ms. Goethals. Child A and B's Mother also explained that Child A has said that child care staff member Ms. Grace Thon was also present when the incident occurred. I spoke with Ms. Goethals and informed her that there would be a special investigation. I explained that I would be doing an on-site inspection and due to COVID-19, I was not sure when that would be. I asked for contact information for Ms. Thon. Ms. Goethals promptly texted me Ms. Thon's phone number. Ms. Goethals explained that she had spoken with Child A and Child A's Mother. She had indicated to Child A that she had done the right thing by telling her parents. 4 On 11/02/2020 I spoke with Ms. Thon. She described th

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: ratio. Open / not marked corrected.