Custer GSRP

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.

There is not enough evidence to find that Child A did not receive appropriate care or supervision, or that she was dragged by Specialist 1. CCSM 2 and CCSM 3 both reported seeing the interaction for only a few seconds, and the two statements were not consistent. Witness 1 was also outside at the time and did not observe Specialist 1 drag Child A. Specialist 1 adamantly denied that she dragged Child A, saying that she had made several attempts to pick her up, but Child A continued to squirm to the ground as she was walking. Although CCSM 1, CCSM 2, and CCSM 3 indicated to seeing a red mark on Child A's neck, the description of this mark was not consistent. CCSM 1 stated that it was possible that the red marks may have come from something else. CCSM 2 observed a red mark on Child A's neck after nap time, saying that she called over CCSM 1 as she was not sure what the mark was from. Child A's Mother did not report seeing a mark on Child A's neck on the day of the incident.

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R 400.8158 · R 400.8158 Incident, accident, injury, illness, death, fire reporting. (2) A licensee, licensee designee, or program director shall report to the child's parent and the department, directly or via phone, fax, or email, within 24 hours of the occurrence of any of the following: (a) A child is lost or left unsupervised. (b) An incident involving an allegation of inappropriate contact. (c) A fire on the premises of the center that requires the use of fire suppression equipment or results in loss of life or property. (d) The center is evacuated for any reason. 611 W. OTTAWA • P.O. BOX 30664 • LANSING, MICHIGAN 48909 www.michigan.gov/lara • 517-335-1980

The department was not notified within 24 hours of the licensee designee being notified of a possible incident involving inappropriate contact.

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R 400.8158 · R 400.8158 Incident, accident, injury, illness, death, fire reporting. (4) A licensee, licensee designee, or program director shall submit a written report to the department of the occurrences outlined in subrules (1), (2), and (3) of this rule, in a format provided by the department, within 72 hours of the verbal report to the department.

The department did not receive a written report within 72 hours of the licensee designee being notified of a possible incident involving inappropriate contact. ............................................................ ..........................................................................................................................................

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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.

I interviewed Ms. Last, licensee designee. She stated that on 4/3/23, Child A was accidently left in the bathroom by Child Care Staff Member 1 (CCSM 1). CCSM 1 took three children to the bathroom. CCSM 1 counted three children before leaving the bathroom, but it is believed that she accidently counted the wrong child from another room. The bathroom is located directly across the hallway from Child A's Room. In addition, while CCSM 1 was bringing the children back to the room there was a disturbance at the door with another child. Child A was found quickly by another Child Care Staff Member 4 (CCSM 4) by her room door, and Child A was returned to her room unharmed. Ms. Last stated that there has not been any previous care or supervision concerns regarding CCSM 1. CCSM 1 will be written up for not following the center's name to face counting, as she only counted heads. Ms. Last stated that the child care staff members in the room are all new this year. Despite this, she believes they are "good staff." The CCSMs in the room at the time included CCSM 1, Child Care Staff Member 2 (CCSM 2), and Child Care Staff Member 3 (CCSM 3). Program director Ms. Cooley was also in the bathroom with another child. Child A's Mother was notified of the incident. Child A still attends the center. I interviewed CCSM 4. She stated that on 4/3/23, she was working in Room 11, which is down the hall from Child A's Room. Ms. Cooley, program director was also working in Room 11. Ms. Cooley took Child D to the bathroom. When Ms. Cooley returned, CCSM 4 quickly left the room to go on break at about 10:20a.m. When she left Room 11, she observed Child A standing outside her room which is located across the hall from the bathroom. Child A was not saying anything when she first approached her, but she then told her that she was left in the bathroom. CCSM 4 used her keys to open the classroom door. CCSM 1 was standing next to the door, saying that she had just returned from the bathroom with the children. CCSM 1 did not realize that Child A had not returned with her to the room. CCSM 1 told her that she took Child A, Child B, and Child C to the bathroom. CCSM 1 told her that she counted three children before exiting the bathroom. Child B started struggling with her behaviors and she did not want to go into the room. She had just returned to the room and closed the door. CCSM 1 told her that she was in the process of doing name to face attendance when CCSM 4 arrived with Child A inside the room. CCSM 4 stated that she spoke further with Child A. Child A told her that she saw Ms. Cooley in the bathroom. Child A told her that she was in the bathroom stall, and that when she came out there was no one there. Child A said that she walked across the hall to her room, but the door was locked. She did not knock on the door. CCSM 4 state that she also spoke with Ms. Cooley, who said that she saw CCSM 1 leave the bathroom with two children. Ms. Cooley did not know that Child A was in the bathroom. Ms. Cooley left the bathroom shortly after CCSM 1. When Ms. Cooley 3 and Child D left the bathroom, they walked directly to Room 11, at which time CCSM 4 quickly left the room to find Child A in the hallway. As such, CCSM 4 believes that Child A was separate from her room for under 2 minutes. CCSM 4 stated that the center has a lot of new CCSMs this year. She has observed the CCSMs doing name to face counting. She believes that this incident was an accident due to lack of experience. CCSM 4 believes that all the child care staff members want to do a good job, and they are taking the incident seriously. Child A's Mother was notified of the incident and that she was very understanding. Child A is not considered a "runner." On the day of the incident, Child A's Room contained 18 children with 3 CCSMs, ages 4 years old and older. I interviewed Ms. Cooley, program director. She stated that on 4/3/23, she was working in Room 11. She took Child D to the bathroom. When she arrived CCSM 1

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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.

I interviewed Ms. Braden, site leader. She was not working in the building at the time of the incident. She stated that Ms. DeLormier notified her, and that she investigated the situation. Child A (age 4 years, female) attends Room 7 which is directly across the hall from the bathroom. The child care staff members (CCSMs) in the room that day included lead caregiver Ms. DeLormier, assistant CCSMs Ms. Bean, and floater Ms. Banks. There were 17 children ages 3-5 years in the room, with most of the children being 4 years old. Based on speaking with the CCSMs involved, she learned that Ms. Banks took six or seven children to the bathroom before nap time. While in the bathroom, another child had a behavioral issue and locked himself in a bathroom stall refusing to come out. Ms. Banks had to crawl under the stall to unlock the door, and then she had to carry the child across the hall to the room. Ms. Banks thought she took all the other children back to the room. About three to four minutes later, Ms. Cooley, a CCSM from another room, brought Child A back to her room. Ms. Cooley found Child A unharmed in the bathroom. The CCSMs in Child A's room did not realize that Child A was gone. Ms. Braden stated that she has had no previous concerns regarding the care or supervision of the children in the room. She believes that Ms. Banks became distracted by the other child refusing to unlock the stall door. Ms. Banks was described as a "newer worker." She stated that normally "new workers" are paired with an experienced worker; however, due to child care staff member shortages everyone currently in that room lacks experience. Ms. Braden described Child A as a "good child with no behavioral issues." She also believes that the CCSMs may need to work on having more open communication. Since this incident, the room now has a white board by the door to better monitor the number of children present in the room. In addition, Child A's Mother was notified on the day of the incident. Child A continues to attend the center. I interviewed Ms. Last, licensee designee. She was not on-site when the incident happened, saying that Ms. Braden contacted her. She stated that the center is taking this incident seriously and is working to change their policies and procedures regarding counting children and providing active supervision. The CCSMs will all receive additional training. The rooms are also adding white boards to promote better communication regarding the number of children in the rooms. Ms. Last indicated that continued staffing shortages have led to a CCSMs having less child care work experience. Despite this, Ms. Last believes that the CCSMs are motivated to provide the children with good care and supervision. I interviewed CCSM Ms. Banks. She has worked at the center since August 2022 as a floater. She stated that she "loves" working at the center. On the day of the incident, there were 17 children with three CCSMs in the room. Before rest time, approximately between 12:45p.m. — 1:00p.m., a few of the children needed to use 3 the bathroom located directly across the hall. Three children lined up at first, but then more children said they wanted to go, possibly to prolong not having to rest. She stated that she got "a little confused" on the total number of children who wanted to go to the bathroom, but she believes she took seven children with her. She did a quick count, said out load that she was taking seven children, and left shutting the door. When she first arrived at the bathroom, CCSM Ms. Cooley was just getting ready to leave the bathroom with some of her children. There were also some school-age children in the hallway. As such, it was "chaotic" due to the number of children in the area and the hand dryers being loud. While in the bathroom with her group of children, one child locked himself in the stall and refused to come out. The other children were lining up go back to the room. Ms. Banks stated that in order to get the other child to

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

I interviewed Ms. Last, licensee designee. She admitted that Child A was unattended for a short period of time inside the center. Child A was found in the hallway outside of his classroom. He was not upset or injured. Ms. Last stated that she was working in Child A's classroom at the time of the incident, as she was observing small group instruction. There were 16 children ages 4 years old 2 older. There were three child care staff members (CCSMs), plus herself. The CCSMs included Ms. Cooley, Bezeau, and Ms.Reau. The children were divided into three groups for small group instruction. At the end of group time the children were preparing to go outside at about 11:10a.m. Child B and Child C were struggling to get ready to outside, so Ms. Last instructed the rest of the classroom to go outside as she would assist the two remaining children. Ms. Last did not notice if the children were counted, or if they were counted wrong before leaving the room as she was focused on the two children that would be staying behind with her. The classroom went outside. It took two to three minutes to get Child B and Child C ready. Ms. Last and the two children left the room. During those few minutes, she did not notice Child A in the room, but she believes that he was hiding. She did not complete a thorough check of the room before leaving as she assumed that she only had two children. Ms. Last and the two children walked out of the classroom door, which is located near the exit door leading to the play area. Ms. Last walked the two children to their group outside. As they were walking outside, she observed CCSM Ms. Braden, from a different room, lining her children up to come back inside. Ms. Last took the children to their group and returned in time to follow Ms. Braden's group inside the building. As she walked inside, she heard Ms. Braden say, "I got him" referring to Child A. It was then that Ms. Last learned that Child A was found in the hallway by Ms. Tyniw, playground aide. Child A was happy and unharmed. Ms. Last took Child A to join his classroom outside. Ms. Last estimated that she was away from the room approximately five minutes. Child A's Mother was notified immediately. She was not overly concerned, saying that she did not want a report made regarding the incident. Ms. Last stated that this is an isolated incident, and that the CCSMs all feel bad that this happened. She is taking this matter seriously and additional training will be provided to the CCSMs. According to Ms. Last, Child A's Room has some children with challenging behaviors. Despite this, she has no concerns with the CCSMs ability to provide good care and supervision for the children. She believes that this was an unfortunate accident. The CCSMs normally count the children frequently and complete a "name to face" counting chart. The center is also working to update policies regarding counting practices. I interviewed Ms. Cooley, CCSM. She admitted that Child A was found in the hallway unattended, saying that he was away from his classroom for approximately three to four minutes. Ms. Cooley stated that she was working in the room the day of the incident. The children were engaged in small group time. Ms. Last was also in the room observing. As group time was ending, the children got ready and line up to go outside. She counted 16 children in line, but Child B and Child C ran from the line. Ms. Last directed the classroom to go outside without Child B and Child C, saying that she would bring them outside in a few minutes. Ms. Cooley stated that she counted the children again and she counted 14 children in line. She remembered seeing Child A near the end of the line. The three CCSMs were spread out in the line of children with her in front. The group left the room and exited the building. She did not see Child A get out of line. She believes that he remained in the room as the 3 grouped walked out. She also walked backwards once outside of the room to better supervise the c

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