R 400.8125 · R 400.8125 1 Staff; volunteer; requirements. (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times.

I was able to correspond with the complainant through e-mail and it was established that Child A's mother was bathing him on April 3, 2023, she noticed a large scratch on his left leg inner thigh. When asked what happened to Child A, no one at the center knew anything about it or how it happened. On April 7, 2023, I made an unannounced onsite inspection to the child care center. I interviewed program director Mandie Drake. Child A's mother called on Monday night saying that she noticed a scratch on Child A's leg, near the diaper area when she was changing his pull up. She interviewed Child Care Staff Member 1 (CCSM1) who could not recall Child A getting injured or doing anything that could result in the mark to his leg. On April 3, 2023, Child A was dropped off at 6:50am and was picked up at 5:05pm. He was in the Pre-K room. Child A has attended the center for approximately three weeks. Ms. Drake was able to give me a copy of the picture of Child A's leg taken by his mother on April 3, 2023. In the picture, there is a deep red mark approximately one- half inch in length surrounded by what appears to be an abrasion rash. You can see blood on the outside of Child A's pull up in the picture, indicating it was in direct contact with the mark. I asked to see Child A's intake paperwork to see if the center had been notified if Child A were still in pull ups, but Ms. Drake could not locate the intake form as another CCSM had done the orientation and paperwork for Child A. That CCSM is no longer employed at the center. While at the center, I interviewed CCSM2. She was not working in the Pre-K room on April 3, 2023, but she was asked by CCSM1 to take Child A to the bathroom. The Pre- K class was outside at the time. This happened around 4:30pm. Child A's diaper was soiled with both urine and feces, this had gotten on his pants. It appeared that Child A had been in the pull up for quite a while due to it being so full and sagging, CCSM2 recalled that Child A had been wearing sweat pants that day. After she changed his pull up, she looked for extra pull ups or extra clothing in Child A's cubby but did not see any. She was able to find a spare pair of pants to put on Child A and a pull up. She acknowledged that the pull up might have been smaller than the one he usually wears but that it was the only one she could find. She did not recall seeing the scratch on Child A's leg when changing him. When she informed CCSM1 about the pull up, 3 CCSM1 seemed surprised to learn that Child A was wearing a pull up. When she found out about the mark on Child A the next day, Ms. Drake asked if her ring could have caught on Child A's leg, but the mark was on the opposite leg that would be in contact with her ring. I also was able to interview CCSM3 while at the center on April 7, 2023. She verified that she was in the Pre-K classroom when CCSM1 took her break. She did not recall Child A complaining about anything. She was not aware that Child A was still in pull ups and did not check or change his pull up during the approximately 30 to 45 minutes she was in the classroom on that day. On April 11, 2023, I interviewed CCSM1. She started work at 8:00am on April 3, 2023, and was there when Child A was picked up. She remembered telling the person who picked up Child A to bring extra clothing and that person acknowledged that they forgot to pack extra clothes for Child A that day. She did not recall Child A complaining about anything on the day in question but acknowledged that he is a very quiet child. She was not aware that Child A was still in pull ups. Toileting in the classroom consists of children using the adjacent restroom on their own, as needed. I attempted to contact Child A's mother both by phone and e-mail but as of the date of this report, I have not heard back from her.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8137 · R 400.8137 Diapering; toileting. (6) Diapers and training pants must be checked frequently and changed when wet or soiled. I

Child A was in a pull up from at least 8:00am until 4:30pm on April 3, 2023.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: recordkeeping. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8125 · 1 R 400.8125 Staff; volunteer; requirements. (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times.

On 01/12/2023, I completed an unannounced onsite inspection at KinderCare Learning Center. I interviewed Mandie Drake, program director. Ms. Drake was providing a tour for a family looking at the day care when she saw the playground door open. Child care staff member, Adriana Luzi was bringing in the Pre-K classroom, two boys bolted in ahead and she went down to round them up. Child care staff member, Emily Sova was coming out of another classroom, and she asked her to go help Ms. Luzi with getting the kids in the room and settled down. She told Ms. Luzi to make sure she did a name to face check and ensure all the children were accounted for. It was at this time they realized Child B was not in the classroom and had been left outside. They believe it was for less than two minutes, but she was left outside on the playground alone. She contacted Child B's mother to notify her as well as her regional director Kyla Hall-Elzy and contacted licensing. Ms. Luzi has been placed on leave regarding this incident and she is working with their risk management and her director regarding what has happened and will happen to Ms. Luzi. She has not been disciplined previously but has been given coaching plans. Ms. Luzi is not receptive to feedback at times and has been encouraged to take more ownership of her classroom and what happens in there. She will contact licensing regarding Ms. Luzi and what happens with the leave. I completed an interview with child care staff member, Emily Sova. She is technically in the Infant 2 room; however, she is muti-talented, and just floats wherever they need her to go at the time. She was coming out of the Toddler room on Tuesday when Ms. Drake asked her to help Ms. Luzi to get the children into her classroom and settled down. She followed one child who ran into the Toddler 3 room, he has a sister in there, he hugged his sister, she told him they needed to go back to Pre-K, and she scooped him up and took him back to Pre-K. When she got to Pre-K, Ms. Luzi was doing her name to face count. Ms. Luzi said, "where is Child B," and a different child said, "she is still on the playground." She ran down to the doors to the playground opened them and Child B was standing there crying. She picked her up and consoled her and assured her she was okay and brought her back to the Pre-K room. Child B was still upset and crying, and Ms. Luzi was visibly upset and asked Child B if she was okay. She does not know how many children were in the classroom originally or on the playground as she was not in that classroom but was asked by Ms. Drake to help. 01/19/2023, I received an email from Ms. Drake indicating Ms. Luzi had put in her resignation. I emailed back acknowledging receipt of email. On 01/20/2023, I attempted to contact Child B's mother, a voicemail was left requesting a call back. On 1/20/2023, I attempted to contact Child C's mother, a voicemail was left requesting a call back. On 1/20/2023, I conducted an interview with Child D's father. He is not aware of any issues at the daycare. They had a great teacher named Ms. Katie and she is not 4 there anymore, and it seems like they have been struggling since she left. There was always routine, he felt like his son was going to be prepped for kindergarten. Ms. Katie used to meet him at the door and tell him about how the day went. On one day he was dropping off his son, he asked for help with something, and the girl in the room who was college aged said she only worked there part-time. He has no real issues or complaints but does not find it acceptable a child was left on the playground. He was contacted by CPS few weeks ago, they wanted to interview his son, but he did not allow it. On 1/20/2023, I received a voicemail from Child B's mother. On 1/20/2023, I conducted an interview with Child B's mother. She was not informed of the incident by anyone at the center when it happened. She was called by Ms. Drake after she had picked up her child and left the building. Ms. D

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

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: Age Child Care Staff Maximum Group Size member to Child Ratio d)Preschoolers, 4 years of 1 to 12 Not applicable ................................................... age until school-age................................

On 01/12/2023, I completed an unannounced onsite inspection at KinderCare Lapeer. I interviewed Mandie Drake, program director. On Tuesday there were two issues which occurred, around 11:35 AM. Child A was brought to the center, and went into the Pre-K classroom, however she was not signed in. Staff did not add her attendance to the sheet they have in the classroom. She remained in the classroom unaccounted for between the hours of 11:35 AM and approximately 2:45 PM. A teacher went into the classroom to provide a bathroom break to child care staff member, Adriana Luzi and at the same time a different child was leaving. The preschool teacher saw that child leave and wanted to send a child back to the Pre-K classroom who had been shifted down due to ratio. When the teacher counted, she counted 12 in the classroom still even after the other child left, and it was realized Child A was never added to attendance and the room had been over ratio for a little over three hours. Ms. Luzi has been placed on leave regarding this incident and she is working with their risk management and her director regarding what has happened and will happen to Ms. Luzi. She has not been disciplined previously but has been given coaching plans. Ms. Luzi is not receptive to feedback at times and has been encouraged to take more ownership of her classroom and what happens in there. I completed an interview with child care staff member, Emily Soya. She is technically in the Infant 2 room; however, she is muti-talented, and just floats wherever they need her to go at the time. She is not aware of any ratio issues in the classroom during the day as she was not in the classroom. On 1/20/2023, I attempted to contact Child A's mother, a voicemail was left requesting a call back. On 1/20/2023, I attempted to contact Child C's mother, a voicemail was left requesting a call back. On 1/20/2023, I conducted an interview with Child D's father. He is not aware of any issues at the daycare. They had a great teacher named Ms. Katie and she is not there anymore, and it seems like they have been struggling since she left. He has no real issues or complaints. On 01/20/2023, I received a voicemail from Child C's mother. On 01/20/2023, I conducted an interview with Child C's mother, she has no concerns with the center, or the classroom. She is happy with the daycare. On 01/20/2023, I conducted an interview with child care staff member, Adriana Luzi. She has been at the child care center for a year and a half. She was currently working in the Pre-K classroom but has also been in the preschool and toddler rooms. She denies Child A was not signed in. She knew Child A had arrived. however, she was supposed to arrive at 11:30 AM, and did not arrive until 12:30 PM at which time all the children were already sleeping. She had initially asked Ms. Drake what she wanted her to do when Child A arrived, and that was to send another child down to the preschool classroom. Since the children were sleeping already, they did not wake up the identified child who was supposed to go the preschool classroom, instead they allowed her to sleep. Later, when they were doing snack, and doing the name to face check they realized they were over by one and she had 13 children the classroom. At that time, they moved the other child to the preschool classroom. On 01/20/2023, I attempted to contact Child A's mother. A voicemail and text were sent to her requesting a call back. On 01/20/2023, I completed an exit conference with Ms. Drake. On 01/20/2023, I conducted a phone interview with Child A's mother. It has been different since the previous teacher quit. Child A loved that teacher, and she can be hard to win over. There have been no issues with the center or the teachers. She feels like since the current program director Ms. Drake has taken over things have been much better. She is making good changes and things seem better. The previous director was sending texts all the time saying they didn't have st

R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. (2) All of the following means of punishment are prohibited: (a) Hitting, spanking, shaking, biting, pinching, or inflicting other forms of corporal punishment.

On 12/12/2022, I exchanged emails with MDHHS regarding the complaint, visit to center, and seeing Child A. On 12/13/2022, I attempted to contact Child A's mother via telephone. A voicemail was left requesting a call back. On 12/13/2022, I received a call from Child A's mother, interview conducted. Her oldest child had already transitioned to kindergarten, so it was just Child A at the center still. Her older child did not have any issues with child care staff member, Katherine Scarcella. She believes his last day was around 11/01/2021. Child A was miserable, crying and dreading to go to school each day. Which is abnormal, as she is a teacher, and they are into school as a family. Looking back now she does remember seeing him with bruises and fingerprints but never put two and two together. There was a time she looked at the fingerprints and they were the same size as her fingers, so she did not know where they came from. After the initial call from MDHHS they talked with Child A again about daycare, and he then said Ms. Scarcella had hit him, but he had never said anything about her hitting anyone until after they talked to him about it recently. Child A told her that Ms. Scarcella also hit Child C on the head for not listening. She knew a different child from the classroom, so she contacted them to see if they had any concerns, because Child B is very well behaved. On 12/14/2022, I completed an unannounced onsite inspection at KinderCare Lapeer, and conducted an interview with program director Mandie Drake. Child A's mother is a teacher, and if they had seen marks or bruises, they would have been mandated to report. The incident was initially handled by the previous program director Alicia Cagle; however, she went out with COVID. She talked with Ms. Cagle about setting up a meeting, but it was never followed through with. There was a lot of the time back then that Ms. Cagle was not in the center, and she was in the classrooms due to staffing issues. She believes Ms. Cagle is currently a program director at a center in Waterford. She provided the last phone number she had for Ms. Cagle. She also shared that Ms. Scarcella is dating Ms. Cagle's stepson. They were not dating during the time the incident happened she does not believe but they are currently dating. She never had complaints about Ms. Scarcella before this one. She had a good reputation as a teacher, her kids learned a lot. On 12/14/2022, I received an email from Ms. Drake with the child information cards. On 12/14/2022, I exchanged emails with MDHHS regarding upcoming interviews, and law enforcement involvement. On 12/15/2022, I received a call from MDHHS, we have permission from Child A's mom to interview him at his current school on 01/05/2023. On 12/21/2022, I received a follow-up email from Ms Drake seeking information on whether or not law enforcement has decided to investigate. A On 12/27/2022, I exchanged emails with MDHHS regarding follow-up on law enforcement involvement. On 12/29/2022, I attempted to contact Child B's mother. A voicemail was left requesting a call back. On 12/29/2022, I completed an interview with Child C's mother via telephone. She has no concerns in the slightest about Ms. Scarcella or the center. She is good friends with Ms. Scarcella. Her son still talks about her and that he misses her. She would never think this was something Ms. Scarcella would be capable of, she is very loving, very kind. There were other workers at the center she could imagine this with but not Ms. Scarcella. She has a younger son, and they are closed a lot due to staffing. She spoke with MDHHS, and she does not think there is a reason to interview her son. On 12/29/2022, I received a voicemail from Child B's mother. On 12/29/2022, I interviewed Child B's mother via telephone. She is friends with the other parent, and she had heard from them about this and what Ms. Scarcella had done to her son. Ms. Scarcella was Child B's Pre-K teacher, he misses her. They had a

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: recordkeeping. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. (2) All of the following means of punishment are prohibited: (d) Inflicting mental or emotional punishment, such as humiliating, shaming, or threatening a child. 11

On 12/13/2022, I received a call from Child A's mother, interview conducted. One day Child A came home from school, and they asked him how his day was, and he said, "My teacher thinks I am stupid." They recorded it and it was very upsetting to them. They pulled him after this as he said he did not want to return to the school, and he was miserable all the time. She called the center to talk to them about what he said. However, the previous program director was out with COVID, then the teacher got COVID, then the Oxford school shooting happened, and they never got to sit down and talk about what happened. They had already made the decision to pull Child A from the school. He attended a different daycare in between leaving their and going to school at the school she works at. He never had any issues at the next day care or at school now. She initially talked with the previous program director Alicia Cagle, but when she took Child A out of the daycare, she spoke with the current program director who was the assistant then, Mandie Drake. They had previously had their children enrolled in the center from 2018-2021. On 12/29/2022, I interviewed Child B's mother via telephone. She was present when Child A reported to his mom about being called stupid. Her son is very close with Child B. On 01/05/2023, I along with MDHHS made an announced visit to Lakeville Elementary School in Oxford Michigan. MDHHS completed a forensic interview of Child A. MDHHS completed a forensic interview of Child A. He is five years old; he enjoys recess at school and enjoys playing with his friends. He went to a school called Goddard before he came to this school. He had teachers named Ms. Katie and Ms. Barbie. He did not like Ms. Scarcella who he calls "Ms. Katie." He reported she called him "stupid, it made me feel sad." There were no other reasons he did not like Ms. Katie. He left the school because "she said stupid to me." He was cleaning up toys and she called him stupid because he was cleaning up toys. He was looking forward to going back to class and playing at recess. On 02/02/2023, I along with MDHHS made an unannounced visit to Lynch Elementary School in Lapeer Michigan to interview Child B. MDHHS completed a forensic interview. He does remember she hurt another child's feelings who was being mean to him. She sent him to the office to see Ms. Alicia. He did not see Ms. Katie call anyone names. He likes his old school better; it was a lot more fun with things to do. On 02/02/2023, I along with MDHHS conducted an unannounced home visit to child care staff member, Katherine Scarcella's home. Ms. Scarcella denies she called Child A stupid or a dumbass. She was told by Ms. Drake that a complaint had been made, after she was told she was upset, had other things going on at home, and asked to be able to leave early that day, which she did. She did not meet with Ms. 10 Cagle, or Child A's parents, a meeting was never arranged. She did speak with Ms. Drake she had her listen to a recording of Child A saying she called him stupid. She does not remember if he ever returned to class after that. On 02/02/2023, I along with MDHHS completed an unannounced onsite inspection at KinderCare to complete follow-up questions. She did speak with Ms. Scarcella regarding the incident at the direction of Ms. Cagle, who was off with COVID. She had Ms. Scarcella listen to an audio recording of what Child A reported to his mom, and then Ms. Scarcella asked to go home early which she made arrangements for her to do so. She took the phone call from Child A's mother when she officially pulled him from the center, and she packed up his belongings. She tried to get Ms. Cagle to set up a meeting but it never happened. Ms. Cagle told her she did not think Ms. Scarcella called Child A stupid. On 02/03/2023, I completed an interview with Ms. Luzi. She reports Child A is the type of child who will follow others, so if others are running around, he will too. She stated that day he was ru

R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. (2) All of the following means of punishment are prohibited: 12 .................................................................................................... (a) Hitting, spanking, shaking, biting, pinching, or inflicting other forms of corporal punishment. ................

On 11/14/2022, I spoke with MDHHS, Kerni Rupe, she is awaiting a call back from State Trooper post in Lapeer, set onsite inspection date. On 11/15/2022, I interviewed the complaint source for additional information. This incident took place on Halloween. Last Friday child care staff member, Katherine Scarcella, was left in charge of the center when both the program director and assistant were out of the building. Right around the same time as this incident there was a different incident with a different teacher and different child, that teacher was fired. I reviewed allegations with complaint source, who confirmed Ms. Scarcella yelled at Child A, grabbed his arm, dragged him out of room and down to office. On 11/16/2022, MDHHS emailed me a few times and I responded to each email that was sent. On 11/17/2022, I spoke with MDHHS. The complaint was assigned to Lapeer Township Police Detective Wenzel on Monday, 11/17/2022, so no interviews with perpetrator or victim until at least Monday. We can make our onsite visit and meet with program director. On 11/17/2022, I completed an unannounced onsite inspection at KinderCare Lapeer with MDHHS. Interview completed with program director Mandie Drake. She has been the director since May/June of 2022. She was the assistant director prior to that. She did call her consultant on Wednesday 11/2/2022. She did not complete a written incident report after discussing it with her consultant. She felt like the incident just kept getting blown up and it had more to do with the workers then the actual incident. The initial report of the incident was not what it is now. The initial report was Ms. Scarcella was loud with Child A after an incident in the classroom, where he was then brought down to the office. Child A had broken another child's art project and he was brought down. Child A was not upset when he was brought down and was just chilling in the office. Ms. Scarcella was very upset about the art project being broken; they had spent a lot of the time on the clay handprints. Ultimately 5 when Child A was in the office the other teacher in the classroom, child care staff member, Madisyn Knickerbocker, went and told Child A's mother who also works here, what had happened, and that Child A was in the office. The story just kept getting progressively worse and so she had a conversation with Ms. Knickerbocker about not going to tell other teachers and to leave that up to the director to address issues. The next day Ms. Scarcella had to leave early as her children were sick, then she was on vacation. When Ms. Scarcella was back, she pulled both Ms. Scarcella and Child A's mother into the office to discuss what had happened. Each talked about what their perspectives were on the situation. Ms. Scarcella had asked to be moved from the preschool classroom for a break as she did not want to return there at the time. She has been in the Toddler room as well as the school age room. They will be going over trainings with her regarding what is okay and what is not okay to say to a child. Ms. Scarcella was upset and did admit she said to Child A she did not want him in her classroom any longer. A few days after all this, Ms. Knickerbocker expressed concern about Ms. Scarcella, and stated she picked Child A up by the arm and walked him very forcefully from the classroom. However, she saw how Child A entered her office, and how he was walking in. He did not appear to be fighting being brought to the office, she did not see Ms. Scarcella using any force or pulling him to bring him into the office. Child A's mother expressed she did not want Ms. Scarcella to get fired but did expect that she treats Child A the way she would treat her child which is not what happened. Currently, Ms. Knickerbocker is working at the lead in preschool as Ms. Scarcella is in preschool. Ms. Scarcella wanted to take a break to see if the preschool room was too stressful for her. She does not believe Ms. Scarcella gets frustrated easily,

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: recordkeeping. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. (2) All of the following means of punishment are prohibited: (d) Inflicting mental or emotional punishment, such as humiliating, shaming, or threatening a child.

On 11/15/2022, I interviewed the complaint source for additional information. This incident took place on Halloween. After Child A returned from being taken out of the room, he had a snack (juice and goldfish crackers) with him, and Ms. Scarcella was upset feeling a though it was a reward for bad behavior. She grabbed it out of his hands, threw it in the sink and told him she did not want him in her classroom any longer. Child A was distraught and crying after having the snack grabbed from him. On 11/17/2022, I completed an unannounced onsite inspection at KinderCare Lapeer with MDHHS and program director Mandie Drake was interviewed. Child A's mother came to the office and asked him what was wrong. Child A's mother wanted to know if Child A was hungry, gave him a snack and took him back to class. Ultimately, Ms. Scarcella looked at the snack as a reward for bad behavior and so she was upset he received it, so she took the snack away from him. Ms. Scarcella admitted to her she took the snack away and threw it on the counter. When the snack was taken away from Child A, he became more upset, and Ms. Knickerbocker walked him back to the office. At this time, Ms. Knickerbocker was already talking to Child A's mother about the situation when he was brought back. Ms. Scarcella felt strongly that the snack provided by Child A's mother was a reward for bad behavior. Child A's mother gave him the snack because he said he was hungry, not as a reward but Ms. Scarcella did not agree with that. At this time, Child A's mother called her mother to come and pick Child A up from the center. She did tell Ms. Scarcella that it was not allowable to take food away from children as a method of discipline or for any reason. 13 On 12/06/2022, I along with MDHHS, interviewed child care staff member, Andrea Dukes. Ms. Dukes became aware of the incident by child care staff member, Madisyn Knickerbocker telling her what happened. She took Child A to her classroom for a minute, and then gave him a juice with goldfish snack crackers as he was hungry, then returned him to his room. She instructed Child A to apologize to Ms. Scarcella. Ms. Scarcella was upset Child A was returned to the classroom and upset he was given a snack. Ms. Scarcella felt it was a reward for bad behavior. Ms. Scarcella told Child A she did not want him in her classroom and that he was not allowed to go to the Halloween party. She took his snack away from him. Ms. Knickerbocker did not feel safe with Child A in the classroom, and so she took Child A back to program director Mandie Drake's office. She was told Ms. Scarcella ripped the snack out of his hands and threw it across the room into the sink area. Ms. Dukes was in the office talking with Ms. Drake about the previous incident when she heard him crying in the hallway and went to see what else had happened. He was crying and said, "Ms. Katie took my goldfish crackers." She did not see any marks or bruises on Child A. Ms. Dukes called Child A's grandmother and asked her to come and pick up Child A. Ms. Dukes did not go and speak with Ms. Scarcella because she was upset about the situation. Ms. Scarcella apologized for the incident. She admitted she was upset with Child A for breaking the handprint keepsake, that nothing was happening to him for breaking it, and then when he came back with the snack, she felt he was rewarded. I along with MDHHS interviewed child care staff member, Brandy Follen. Ms. Follen has been employed at the center since June 2022. She is a floater and has been in several rooms at the center. On the day of the incident, she was in the classroom with Ms. Scarcella during Ms. Knickerbockers break. She was in the room during lunch going into nap time. It was a very hectic day, there were a lot of behaviors in the classroom. There was a lot of overstimulation happening as it was Halloween, and the children were very excited about it and the party in the afternoon. Ms. Dukes, who is a staff and parent, brought in a

R 400.8140 · R 400.8140 Discipline. (2) All of the following means of punishment are prohibited: (e) Depriving a child of meals, snacks, rest, or necessary toilet use.

On 11/15/2022, I interviewed the complaint source for additional information. This incident took place on Halloween. Ms. Scarcella was telling him he 16 needed to stop behaving badly, or he could not attend the Halloween party this afternoon. Child A was distraught and crying after having snack grabbed from him and being yelled at and told he was not allowed back in her room. On 11/17/2022, I completed an unannounced onsite inspection at KinderCare Lapeer with MDHHS. Interview completed with program director Mandie Drake. This occurred on Halloween, all the classrooms were having a party that day. She did pull Ms. Scarcella out of the classroom to get her perception of the incident versus Ms. Knickerbocker's perception of the incident. Ms. Scarcella did say she no longer wanted Child A in her classroom for the party. She also talked to her about telling Child A he was not allowed in her classroom. They will be going over trainings with her regarding what is okay and what is not okay to say to a child. Ms. Scarcella was upset and did admit she said to Child A she did not want him in her classroom any longer. On 12/06/2022, I along with MDHHS, interviewed child care staff member, Andrea Dukes. Ms. Dukes became aware of the incident by child care staff member, Madisyn Knickerbocker telling her what happened. Ms. Scarcella denied telling Child A she did not want him in class, and he could not come to party. Ms. Scarcella stated she said that to Ms. Knickerbocker, but admitted it was in front of Child A and he heard it. I along with MDHHS interviewed child care staff member, Brandy Follen. Ms. Follen has been employed at the center since June 2022. She is a floater and has been in several rooms at the center. There were a lot of issues with Child A, and Ms. Scarcella was very much singling him out. Ms. Scarcella has been telling Child A he could not do things if he kept doing these things, and not going to get treats if he continued to behave certain ways. There was a time everyone was going to get a reward and get to wear pajamas to school. Ms. Scarcella told him "You will not get to wear pajamas and everyone else will because you are naughty." I along with MDHHS interviewed child care staff member, Adriana Luzi. She has been at the center for about a year and a half. She is transitioning from the Toddler room to the preschool room. There was an incident where Ms. Scarcella was calling students in the classroom stupid, she is not sure what they did with that or if they did anything with it. The mom then removed the child from the center after the she found out Ms. Scarcella was calling her child names. It happened quite a while ago, and the child had some problems and had some behaviors, and the child told his mom what Ms. Scarcella called him. There have not been any other issues. Child A was not a student in the classroom at the time this other incident occurred. She has seen Ms. Scarcella be hard on Child A, she gets very frustrated with him, she shuts down and does not want to deal with it. There are a couple of children in there who have behavior issues. Child E has behaviors and when he follows Child A it can get to be a bit worse. 17 I along with MDHHS interviewed child care staff member, Madisyn Knickerbocker. She has been employed since the middle of July 2022, she has been in the Pre-K classroom, preschool, and school age in the summer. When the kids went back to school she floated in classrooms as needed. The incident started during the day, but they were having a Halloween party in the evening. The class has made some handprint keepsakes done and then they were going to paint the handprints at the party. Earlier in the day, Ms. Scarcella's daughter's handprint keepsake was accidently broken, and she was upset it was broken. They put it on the book shelf, and they were going to try to glue it back together so it could still be used later at the party. The place she sat it was next to where Child A was taking a nap and h

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 April 8, 2022, I was contacted by program director Alicia Cagle regarding allegations that had just been made regarding a child care staff member in the infant room. I received a written incident report detailing this on the same date. On April 11, 2022, I made an unannounced onsite inspection to the child care center interviewed program director Alicia Cagle. On April 8, 2022, she became aware of allegations against child care staff member 1 (CCSM1) that took place on or around 2 April 5, 2022, in the infant room. Child care staff member 2 (CCSM2) reported concerns she had regarding CCSM1 regarding picking up children by the shoulder and being rough and aggressive with children. CCSM1 was immediately place on administrative leave and her last day working at the center was on April 5, 2022. After speaking to the staff involved, she spoke to the parents of the four children identified as being picked up by their shoulders. None of the parents report any injuries to their children. Ms. Cagle reported that up until the past week, there had been no concerns regarding CCSM1, who has worked at the center since last October. CCSM1 had primarily worked with CCSM2, CCSM3, and CCSM4. While at the center, I interviewed CCSM2. She was working in the infant room with CCSM1 on April 5, 2022, when she witnessed CCSM1 picking up Child A (female, age 8 months) by the shoulder with one hand. Child A was on the floor at the time and did not cry when picked up, but she stated that she couldn't believe the way CCSM1 was picking up a child. Later that day she witnessed CCSM1 pick up two more children from the buggy in this same manner. Again, the children did not cry but she was shocked at the way Child B (female, age 11 months) and Child C (female, age 11 months) were being held by CCSM1. At the time of both of these incidents, it was just CCSM1 and CCSM2 working. CCSM3 had worked in that classroom earlier in the day but left earlier in the day as they only had eight infants in the classroom. CCSM1 was also observed talking aggressively to Child D (male, age 9 months). When asked if she recalled anything specific CCSM1 said, she said it was something to the nature of "you can't keep crying" in a harsh manner. There were a lot of babies crying on April 5, 2022, and that CCSM1 seemed flustered that day. CCSM2 said at first, she was afraid to say anything about what she witnessed because she didn't want it to appear like she didn't get along with CCSM1. She said that CCSM1 did not leave any marks on the three children she picked up by the shoulder. I interviewed CCSM3 while I was onsite. She confirmed that she has worked in the infant room with CCSM1. She was present on April 5, 2022, but left early for the day. She had noticed CCSM1 being more frustrated and when she became more frustrated, she would become more aggressive with children and would yell at the children. She denied seeing CCSM1 picking up any child with one hand by grabbing them by the shoulder but did recall that CCSM1 would sometimes pick up infants somewhat aggressively and would yell "stop crying" at children. She did not believe that any parents had ever witnessed this as they pick up children at the door. On April 11, 2022, I interviewed CCSM1 by telephone. She said that when she was put on administrative leave on April 8, 2022, for using aggressive tones of voice with the infants. She said that the last day she had worked at the center was April 5, 2022, and that no one had said anything to her on that date. She denied ever lifting a child by grabbing them by the shoulder with one hand but did say that she has scooped up a baby under the child's arm/around their waist with one hand, but this was the only thing she could think of that would be close to what had been described as her doing to children. She would only do this if she had another child in her arms. She denied ever yelling at or using an aggressive tone with any child at the center and believes that the 3 center is

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.

R 400.8125 · R 400.8125 j Staff; volunteer; requirements. (1) All staff and volunteers shall provide appropriate care and supervision of children at all times.

On December 13, 2021, I interviewed Child A's mother. She confirmed that Child A and his siblings attend the child care program. She found out about the incident when program director Alicia Cagle called her on the date of the incident. She also was told about it from Child A's siblings, who told her that Child A was trying to get up from a table and child care staff member (CCSM) Cynthia Rondeau 2 pushed him to sit back down and accidentally hit Child A in the face. She felt that the incident was handled appropriately and believes that Ms. Rondeau is no longer employed at the center. She had no other concerns regarding the care her children receive at the center. On December 15, 2021, I made an unannounced onsite inspection to the center, and I interviewed assistant director Mandie Drake. She recalled on the day of the incident; she received a call in the office from CCSM Cynthia Rondeau stating "I need someone from the office to come down to Cardinal Club (school-age classroom) right now" Cynthia seemed mad. She proceeded to walk down the hall. Program director Alecia Cagle was in front of her and arrived at the room first. Ms. Rondeau was visibly angry and had her fists clenched. Alecia asked her what was wrong and Ms. Rondeau "went off' saying that the kids were out of control. Ms. Rondeau stated that she no longer wanted to be in the classroom, so Ms. Drake took over for her. After Ms. Rondeau left, Child A told her that Ms. Rondeau hit him because Child A had been pushing a table. Child A was brought to the office to share what had happened to him. He said that Ms. Rondeau had pushed him down and when she did this, she hit Child A in the face. Child B (female, age 9) and Child C (female, age 10) were interviewed regarding the incident and they both confirmed that Child A had been pushing a table when Ms. Rondeau tried to force him to sit down and accidentally hit him in the face while doing this. While at the center, I interviewed ccsm Adriana Luzi. She was in the hallway when the incident occurred. She heard Ms. Rondeau yell "those fucking kids (she used their actual last name)" Ms. Rondeau said that Child A, Child B, and Child C had been flipping tables. Ms. Luzi looked in the classroom and did not see any of the tables flipped. She heard Child A saying, "she hit me." When Child A was asked what had happened, he said that Ms. Rondeau hit him when she took a water bottle from him. Child A wasn't crying but he seemed to be in shock. Ms. Rondeau said "I don't think I can do this anymore" and left the classroom. Ms. Luzi said that she had worked with Ms. Rondeau in the Pre-K classroom and that Ms. Rondeau would yell at and grab children in that classroom. Program director Alecia Cagle arrived when I was at the child care center. On the date of the incident, she was walking down the main hallway and Ms. Rondeau stepped out of the classroom and appeared to be frustrated and angry and made the statement "these fucking kids don't listen to me." She spoke to Child A, who told her that Ms. Rondeau pushed him down in a chair and hit him in the face. She did not see any marks on Child A. Child B confirmed this when asked about it. She confirmed that Ms. Rondeau has been on administrative leave since the incident and would not be returning. On December 17, 2021, I interviewed Cynthia Rondeau. She denied hitting Child A. She said when Child A, Child B, and Child C arrived in the classroom, they were play fighting and wrestling. She was trying to get the children to sit down at the table for snack. She continued to tell the three children to stop with the fighting/wrestling and to 3 sit down. Child A was flipping tables and throwing toys. She took Child A by the shoulders to have him sit down in the chair but denied hitting his face. Child A accused her of slapping him. When she asked Child A "how did I hit you?" Child A showed her how she did by lightly tapping his forehead.

Open Not marked corrected in the state record

Category: supervision. Open / not marked corrected.