• Violation

  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 11/03/22, I made an on-site inspection to the facility. I interviewed Cecelia Lunstead, site supervisor. There were 11 school age children and two child care staff present. Ms. Lunstead waits at the outside door by the courtyard to escort Child A from her classroom. Child A goes through the courtyard to the after-school program. Ms. Lunstead can see Child A leave the classroom and arrive to the after-school program. Ms. Lunstead picked up Child A that day from the door and escorted her to the program. Child A put down her backpack and sat on the floor in the square like the children always do waiting for attendance to be taken. Ms. Lunstead went to get the attendance record. She returned to take attendance. Child A was the third on the list. She observed Child A was no longer sitting in the square on the floor. Ms. Lunstead immediately started looking for Child A in the room. She asked Nolan Fisher, child care staff member, the whereabouts of Child A. He was not aware since he was assisting another child and was not aware where Child A was. Ms. Lunstead looked for Child A in the hallway while a student looked in the bathroom for Child A. When Child A was not in either of those places she called Courtney Powell, multi- site school age program director, to notify her of the situation. She checked Child A's classroom, cafeteria, and music room which all are in the same area of the afterschool program. She went to the office to ask the school secretary, Joanne Coates, to assist her in looking for Child A. She was on the phone with Ms. Powell during the time she was looking for Child A. Ms. Coates followed Ms. Lunstead back to the area of the school where the afterschool program is located. Ms. Coates looked outside on the playground and found Child A around the corner of the building. She brought Child A to Ms. Lunstead and Ms. Lunstead took Child A back to the room. She thought that Child A's whereabouts were unknown for about three to five minutes. During the inspection Ms. Lunstead took me though her route and it did not take three minutes walking and she was running while looking for Child A. Ms. Lunstead said that Child A will always have someone by her to prevent this from happening again. They are also going to position a child care staff member at the door so that a child will not unexpectedly leave the room. Ms. Powell provided screen shots of her telephone call record. There is a call that came in at 3:50 p.m. from Ms. Lunstead and lasted five minutes. Ms. Powell talked with Ms. Lunstead while she was looking for Child A and was on the phone for a little bit after Child A was located. She ended up being disconnected from Ms. Lunstead. Ms. Powell was in route to the facility to assist Ms. Lunstead. When Child A's Mother arrived to pick up Child A at 5:15 p.m. she informed her what happened with Child A. Ms. Lunstead and Ms. Powell both stated that Child A had been attending the program since the Fall and there has never been a time where she wandered off 3 from the room and they were not informed that this is something that Child A did from her mother either. On 11/04/22, I interviewed Child A's Mother. On the day of the incident with Child A she picked up Child A later than she normally does because she did some overtime at work. When she arrived to pick Child A up from the program, she was informed that Child A left the room and they couldn't find her for a few minutes. She was located outside on the playground. Child A has never done anything like this before this time and it was out of character for her. When she asked Child A why she left the room Child A told her that the children outside playing looked like they were having fun. These children were not part of the afterschool program. Child A now has a buddy that she picks and someone will always be close by her. On 11/17/22, I interviewed Joanne Coates, the school secretary, who assisted Ms. Lunstead in locating Child A. Ms. Lunstead came to the office to see i

On 10/28/22, Child A (female, 5 yrs.) arrived at the after-school program. During attendance it was observed that she was not in the room. Child A was found outside after searching the bathrooms, classroom, and music room after about five minutes. 2

Disposition: Substantiated